Music in Community

I came to Iceland with a suitcase, a backpack and my fiddle. I knew that the contents of my suitcase would just go into a closet, but I was unsure where my fiddle would take me. And after three weeks, I’m glad to have it with me.

Part of the learning in CELL is about sustainability but another important aspect is creating community. And the best way I know how to do that is through music. I like listening to music and playing familiar tunes on my fiddle, but the greatest part of music is to create music with others. At home in the States, I have friends that I can get together with and play music and sing. But here I have to find ways to create that.

One big thing happening at Solheimar right now is the spring musical. Every year the community comes together to put on a play and the CELL group is eager to get involved. Larus, the musician at Solheimar, is putting together a soundtrack and he invited me to record some violin parts. So many little things go into the play and I am glad that I can contribute in this way. 

I have managed to find friends who want to learn violin so I now have two violin students. One is Cosimos, who works in Reykjavik but comes to Solheimar on the weekends. The CELL group had an open house a few weeks ago and I met and got to talking to Cosimos about the violin. It turns out he had recently bought a violin so I offered to help him learn. So far I’ve given him two lessons and from it we have both learned a lot. He has been helping me with my Icelandic pronunciation and I have shown him the basics of violin. He is very motivated to play and at our most recent lesson he pretended to be Paganini, a great Italian violinist. He stood up and dramatically drew the bow across the strings. He tried playing a few notes over and over and all of a sudden, his intonation was perfect. It was his focus and confidence that allowed him to do it. Now if only I can use my focus and confidence to be able to roll my R’s and perfect the other sounds in Icelandic that I am not used to.

My other violin student is Emily, a fellow CELL student and my roommate. For the first lesson, I taught her how to hold the violin and bow and she practiced making sounds. Next she will be learning Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And after that the possibilities are endless. Emily and I have also decided to bring more music to the CELL group. We recently taught everyone to sing a round as our before-dinner activity. Most of the group was probably not enthusiastic about having to sing but they went along with it. And it worked out really well. As I sang with my friends I felt the power of our little community. It was a joy to sit around a dinner table with this group and catch each other’s eyes as we laughed and sang.

I also get the opportunity to make music every day with the entire village of Solheimar at the morning meeting. When we join hands and sing the morning song—in Icelandic—it really does not matter that my pronunciation is off and I do not know what I am saying. It reminds me every day that I am part of Solheimar even if I am still trying to understand what that means. Music helps me to connect with people. So when I stand in that circle and sing I feel the most connected with Solheimar. It is a great way to start each day. And I look forward to singing that song for the next two months I am here in Solheimar.

Julia