The ___ Senses of the Violin

The violin is on the table, palpable and aloof in its composure �" motionless yet vibrant. The young woman, mortal, dares touch the sacred instrument, and, as it is touched and lovingly held by a human’s stern hand, the first note rises and reverberates. The battle of overall omnipotence of human will over instrument or vice-versa has begun.

The seemingly uncomplicated wooden structure of the violin beguiles the woman to expect an effortless win. As she tries to produce an acceptable sound, the horsehair on the bow refuses control, and the strings instill pain against the tips of her tender fingers. Patience cracks and slowly rends her nerves; her hand trembles yet refuses to let go. The violin, resistant, anticipates eventual victory but fails to foresee the human capacity to fill all senses with beauty; it underestimates the tenacity of the young woman’s will, unaware of her ability to adjust to the challenge. Musician and instrument remain at war. The human becomes committed and drawn to endure every challenge the violin proposes: the hardening of skin around the fingers, the feeling of abject failure to tame a proud instrument, an impossible desire to extract and drink from the roots of pleasurable victory once more, every time. The neurons of the human body awaken to the smell and taste of the rosin that is excreted by the bow of the string, giving rise to reverberating melodies and harmonies, quickening the formation of the fingers as they lift, prance, and press the board at accelerating speed.  Woman and instrument merge into one spirit - one music; suddenly, as she shatters the boundaries of reality, accepting the equally powerful value of the violin, her soul takes flight; she transforms into a greater mortal and momentarily attains her aesthetic desire. As the beam of light shining on the two diminishes and begins to fade, the battle morphs to a dance.

The mutual and equal acceptance between woman and violin transform the unimaginable experiences of rhythm, cadence, tone, and brilliant notes into a concrete, vibrating reality. Even standing in front of the mesmerized crowd, the two are in their own world, together. As the notes resonate and fill every space, a magnificent power overwhelms the crowd provoking each individual to see a new world that is about to unfold. The auditorium is under a spell�"everyone listens at the edge of his seat. Within a single moment, the violin and its wielder are charmed by their own incanted hypnosis and drawn into a trance that recreates the world they had originally imagined to become more tangible, more undeniable than she had imagined. Each step the audience takes to follow, each note the violin evokes to craft this world, registers in the human neurons, creating an interconnection between those that have met serendipitously in this other world. Together, they become anything and everything: a gypsy sifting through the desert, a boar about to meet its end, a parent watching her child take his first momentous step, a bird fluttering its wings against the cold. They are all immersed in a world of heightened senses, soaring higher than the realm of the five senses. Theirs is a world that transcends reality and transcends imagination within that reality. Music releases the floodgates of human emotion, familiar yet different to the violin and its player, but foreign to the audience. The woman feels the story coming to an end and throws a glance at the helpless violin, which is composed of immobile cells giving it no control over the beginning and end of a story; yet it serves as a tool with which the human experiments to teach herself. Their mingled realities strengthen their unity, each grateful for the other’s existence: the violin kindled and stimulated the human senses, engendered realizations leading to the human’s enlightenment to attain her maximum potential; thus, the human released to the world the beauty which the violin had held back, unrealized. The inevitable end approaches, and the human, weary from the long journey she has rendered melodiously, exerts her remaining strength, tintinnabulating the final note. The moment is past, and remorse stirs in the woman’s heart, over the uproar of the crowd, beyond the voluminous space of the theatre. As the human stirs up the courage to open her eyes and glimpse the effects of music, she can only smile. Her eyes take in a new vision, her body moves differently, her feelings vary and extend their range, the sense of smell and touch gain unfathomable acuity. The audience’s neurons manifest the same stimulations as the human who had created her own while learning the music of the violin, creating the everlasting bond between the instrument and humanity�"a world made beautiful and whole.

Music is power. It reminds people of their inherent capacity to empathize, sympathize, remember, regret, laugh, cry; it connects to infinite emotions that we register in our physical systems. It reminds us that we are pioneering spirits�"adapting our selves to our world, while shaping our world to our vision by exchanging stories, intertwined with those who we might never have crossed paths with were it not for music. Most importantly, music awakens our neurons, our physical anatomy, to realize that we have the ability to extend our reality to the power we all possess and evoke.

In music, our physical configuration cannot discriminate; the connections created by song go beyond biases. It reminds us that each person’s experience is special. The physical anatomy of neurons, further tell us that we are creatures with the ability to push the borders of reality. Our neurons are a type of cell that never dies, in the way that the connections we make with each other, the emotions that are conjured, the memories, visual images created in our mind, will stay with us forever, resurrected each time through the music we play.

A person had once asked me, “Is there a real reality out there?” As a musician I can say, “Yes there is, it is what you make out of everything around you, what you choose to allow into your system. There is not one real reality, but 6.8 billion and rising.” 

Reviews

[Frankie]

This is really good, no, brilliant! It's so beautifully written, so well composed, I am not a musician myself but probably feel the same way about art and painting, but I can imagine that the most experienced players feel this and you pulled it off perfectly. I'm guessing you play violin, no? If not, then you are even more awesome for being able to write this without experience! But, I have to say that for the 'Able to Write?' contest, it doesn't really fit the description, as although a beautiful story, does not involve someone with a disability, unless I have not noticed? If I am incorrect, please correct me.
A fabulous story, well done!