Nicole Cox was issued her violin when she was four years old in Kindergarten at the Catholic school in Singleton. Like the piano, string instruments have never quite escaped that lingering sense of traditionalism from a generation of kids who learned not always because of their innate love of it but because it was what was done in the name of one's children's education.
I remember my mum telling us as children how much she resented her weekly piano lessons because, even as a child, she knew music was not her calling, and all she wanted to do was go outside and train her horses. Besides, her instructor was a crab (allegedly) who insisted on such fascistic principles as disciplined practising and good posture.
It was a far cry from my own far more liberal musical upbringing, at one point thinking that it was entirely possible that I was secretly a prodigy drummer and making a lot of noise on a rudimentary kit in the garage to disprove that theory before - mysteriously - it disappeared, and Dad started sleeping better.
My sister, too, at one point, thought she might learn saxophone before realising, with some gentle encouragement from me, that in some countries, the noises she made would be considered war crimes.
Sometime later, I thought that, if not the drums, surely the trumpet was my calling before it too mysteriously evaporated. Clearly, no one appreciated my virtuosic honking.
It was replaced by the more agreeable, slightly quieter acoustic guitar, on which I laboured for several years as a profoundly below-average student.
I still keep a guitar and an even more infrequently played ukulele at home, if only to remind myself (and you, dear reader) that there are worse and much louder crimes than the ones I commit in print each day.
Still, though my exceptionally deeply buried nugget of musical virtuosity refused to surface through any instrument except in the form of what could only be most charitably described as "intermittent bursts of free-form jazz", music was nevertheless an important part of my upbringing. We were lucky to have the opportunity to honk, crash symbols, break strings and, in my sister's case, commit audible atrocities the likes of which would cause despotic generals of small nations to blush.
And now, as I've recently joined that non-exclusive club (which, I'm betting if you're reading this, you're probably in too) where the membership initiation is the crushing realisation that at some point in the last three years, you've become an adult because suddenly there are all these little people running around your ankles asking you questions and insisting that they're related to you, thought turns inevitably to the best way to infiltrate my sister's home with musical instruments for the nieces for reveng...I mean their full and rounded education.
"You missed your calling," Ms Cox, the lifelong musician turned teacher, graciously suggested when I mentioned my cut-short drumming career. For the past two years, she has turned her studio, where she teaches students from as young as three through to 18 to play the violin, into a not-for-profit affair that collaborates with guest tutors, accomplished conductors and instructors from musical organisations across the city.
Music, like all creative pursuits, Ms Cox believes, is lifelong and isn't relegated to a handful of virtuosos who fill concert halls. Ms Cox teaches the 'Suzuki method' developed by violinist Shinichi Suzuki, who taught that a student's love of music, like a student's native language, was developed from birth and in small increments.
Suzuki's philosophy was that music, rather than creating a few famous musicians, was a tool for teaching whole generations.
On September 21, Ms Cox's students the Newcastle Young Suzuki Musicians will perform an evening of classical music at the Harold Lobb Auditorium, including renditions of Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, and Mozart. The concert will bring together the network of music education camps that Ms Cox and her team have been building, which includes Julie Logan Music Song Crew and Junction Strings.
"They're all so excited," Ms Cox said of her students. "And to be able to collaborate with other groups in Newcastle. I think there needs to be more of that for families to see that music is accessible.
"You just have to find the way, and that is what we're trying to do."
Fourteen-year-old Zoe Tse is one of the nearly 80 students who will perform at Saturday night's concert and one of Ms Cox's most accomplished students. She has been playing the violin for more than half of her life and has been a student of Ms Cox since she was barely out of Kindergarten. She recently graduated from the highest level of Suzuki practice and will perform Mendelssohn on Saturday night.
"It's so uplifting," Ms Cox said of teaching. "You see the smiles on their faces, and all the kids are so excited."
The concert begins at 6.30pm. Tickets are available via the booking website, trybooking.com/CTSHW
About Topics:
- Topics is the Newcastle Herald's daily column exploring stories that shape the unique cultural identity of Newcastle, its suburbs, and the Hunter region. Simon McCarthy is a Herald journalist and feature writer covering culture, local news, and community issues in the region since 2017. He has been the Topics correspondent since 2023. Contact the writer via email. To read more from Topics, visit the Herald's opinion section.
