Jean-Michel Basquiat said, “With art, we decorate space. With music, we decorate time.” We fill our spaces with paintings, pictures, and posters, but we exist in a fourth dimension as well. Time. That always moving dimension that plods forward whether we want it to or not. This dimension deserves decoration. But we can’t decorate time with physical art, so we paint it with music.

I recently attended a memorial service for one of my violin teachers. Her life was devoted to music, and so rather than a typical service, the family held a memorial concert. Family members and former students painted time and said goodbye with the sound of the violin, viola, and cello. One of the most moving services I’ve ever attended.

My teacher’s name was Sonnhild Kitts. I was lucky to have her as a teacher at all since she lived in Gainesville, FL and we lived in Tampa. Over the summers, my regular violin teacher would travel to Colorado to participate in a summer symphony, and that would leave my siblings and I teacher-less for a whole twelve weeks. But, if we were willing to drive, my regular teacher’s mother was willing to teach all four of us.

So, every other weekend through the summers of the late 80s and 90s, we would pile into the trusty old Nissan^® Stanza wagon, loaded with kids, violins, music, and snacks, and we’d head to Gainesville for a long day of driving, playing, and for three of us at a time, waiting.

Sometimes as a kid, you don’t realize the opportunities that you have until way later in life. Now, don’t get me wrong, we did our lessons and practices, but I don’t think that at the time we realized what an amazing teacher we got the opportunity to study with, even if it was just for a little while.

Mrs. Kitts founded the 5th oldest Suzuki^® Violin School in the country, and she was an accomplished violinist (read her obituary). As a teacher, she was funny and witty, and she calmly pushed you to do better, play better, and be better. At the violin and as a person. She challenged you, but in the kindest way possible. I know I am a better violin player for having had her as a teacher.

At the memorial, some of her past students and her children and grandchildren, many of whom are professional musicians, played a song that they’d selected for the concert, saying goodbye in the best way they knew how.

The celebration ended with “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” played by all of her former students in attendance. That may seem like a very simple song, but it is the piece that all Suzuki students begin their violin journey with (here is an example from Abby). It was a fitting way to say goodbye to someone who had devoted her life to teaching children how to decorate the dimension of time with music.

P.S. Yoga in the Garden for this Saturday, July 1, is almost sold out; purchase now for the final few spots on the boardwalk.

If you don’t make it this weekend, we have it coming up again on the first Saturday of August, so click on the photo below or here for your tickets to join us August 5!