At 9AM this past Saturday I found myself downtown at Symphony Center, with a violin in my hands and a dozen five-year-olds in front of me. They all stared wide-eyed at my violin, and I remember being just as fascinated by the (what was then) huge stringed instrument when I was little.

Along with other DePaul music students, I was volunteering as part of the Chicago Symphony's “Once Upon a Symphony” program for young children. Today's show featured a live story-telling performance of Hans Christian Anderson's “The Ugly Duckling,” with music provided by Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Chicago Symphony.


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My friend, music education major, and fellow violist Uriel had introduced me to the opportunity and we now sat in front of our little audience and introduced them to the violin. It was our job to give them a small preview of the kinds of sounds and songs they would hear during the performance.

“Does anyone here know what happens in the winter?” Uriel asked our audience.

A dozen little hands shot up. “It's cold!” “It's really cold.” “It snows!”

“Yes, that's right! It's very cold and it snows. Now who can use their hands to show what snow looks like?”  Two-dozen little hands started making fluttering motions. Now it was violin time.

“Wow, I see some really beautiful snow,” I said. “Now we're going to hear a violin song that's all about snow. Can you make snowflakes and dance like snowflakes to the music?”

One thing I love about working with kids is if you ask them to stand up and dance like a snowflake, they will dance their hearts out and even make whooshing sounds in the wind. As I played part of an Aaron Copland Nocturne (a tune that would symbolize snow in the performance), I saw a dozen adorable snowflakes flitting about.

The following story and musical performance of “The Ugly Duckling” featured a great story-teller, lots of costumes, tunes by Copland, Respighi, and Saint-Saëns, and Yo-Yo Ma making “quack-quack” sounds with his cello. All the kids, of course, were mesmerized by the story and the instruments. For me, it was a refreshing experience to relate music to such enthusiastic listeners (and dancers). And having the chance to see Yo-Yo Ma “quack” with his cello was just an added bonus.