Lafayette Campus News (www.lafayette.edu), November 16, 2007 — Meghan Cloonan ’10 (Fairport, N.Y.) is a history and government & law major. She plays violin as a member of the College’s String Ensemble.
Until just recently, playing the violin felt like a chore that I just could not for the life of me avoid. My parents made me agree that I could only quit at age 18. But to a four-year-old who thought the only true celebrities lived on Sesame Street, 18 might as well have been 80.
Coming to Lafayette I felt some new sense of freedom. I had served my time, received my pardon, and now for the first time in recent memory, I could choose whether or not I wanted to continue playing violin completely on my own terms. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I was just aching to quit the violin when I got to college.
I had been reading music for longer than I had been reading books and I put too much time and effort into my development as a musician to see it all disappear upon adulthood. But I finally had a choice. Luckily the decision was clear when I realized that I could spend a semester as part of Lafayette’s String Orchestra.
Playing violin in the ensemble was obviously all of the old clichés; rewarding, character-building, a story for posterity, etc. etc., but more than any of these things it was casual and fun. Between field hockey practice and school work, I really did not need another activity to suck the social right out of my life.
Thus meeting twice a week for a few hours to perform with other students who cared enough to get involved or stay involved in music was exactly what I was looking for. Stephani Bell, director of Orchestra and String Ensembles, was great as our conductor (being a musician herself). Even though the constant fear of being stabbed with a bow or tripped by a cello plagued our tiny practice space, the time was well spent.
Differences in years of experience likewise did nothing to disrupt the group. Students who were playing in an orchestra for the first time sat side by side with students who had been playing since before they could speak. I had never felt so in sync with people I barely knew and shared little in common with. Some kids laughed, others learned, and a few just played some kick-ass solos, but mostly we all reveled in the fact that no one had to be there. We chose to be there. I guess, after all, 18 years just wasn’t enough.
