Vanesa’s arm was just too short to reach first position on my full-sized violin, but as she wanted to play so badly, and because it was the only instrument available, I came up with a million things for her to do on open strings. She soon became the queen of Twinkle rhythms, mouthing the words as she played “Caminando todos juntos” (Mississippi Mississippi), “Yo vivo en Perú” (Mississippi Hotdog), “San Marcos, San Marcos” (Jack rabbits eat carrots), and the two I renamed just for her, “Vanesa, Vanesa” (Merrily Merrily), and “Aldea, Aldea” (Dr. Suzuki says never be lazy … ). At 5:30 every afternoon she and her aldeana brothers and sisters would slip into my house in the orphanage where we all lived, eager to place their feet correctly, bow, and make music on an instrument they had never really seen or heard before.

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