Crocheting + Sewing

Chain one. Double crochet. Yarn over. Pull through. Done! I set aside my newly crocheted textbook cover and reach for my backpack. Tomorrow is the first day of high school and I am trying my best to calm my nerves before bed. Though I am nervous, I am ready for a fresh start. For the first time in three years, I am no longer the new girl.

Upon entering high school, I joined my school orchestra and was seated as assistant concertmaster. Sitting in the front, I became friends with advanced players who played with full bows and ringing tones. I noticed, however, that towards the back of the orchestra, many players were beginners who played with little bows and soft tones. Having moved homes several times throughout elementary and middle school, I knew how scary it felt to play out in a new environment. When I saw a girl from the back crying to the conductor before class one day, I was concerned. When she told me later that she quit due to feelings of intimidation, I knew the environment of Orchestra had to be changed.

I tried to become friends with the people in the back rows. I made it a point to talk to them before class, encouraging them to play out and not be intimidated by the advanced players. Though we did become close, their apprehension was palpable as I strained to hear them from where I sat.

During the summer before my sophomore year, I sewed a skirt for a friend’s birthday gift. As I sewed, I thought about my Orchestra classmates. I wanted to make new orchestra members feel as special as my friends did when they received my handmade gifts. I decided to invite all thirty current orchestra members to my house to make welcome goody bags for the new members. Though only eight people showed up, as beginner and advanced veteran players cut out cards, decorated bags, and stuffed them with candy, we chatted and laughed. When the new members received their goody bags that year with excitement, those eight members exchanged proud smiles.

Gradually, I proposed more and more ideas for members to bond together through crafts. I planned a day for underclassmen to secretly meet to make senior graduation gifts and led a DIY Secret Santa gift exchange. With each activity I planned, participation grew. As I saw guys, who initially complained that crafts were silly, laughing at each other’s creations and bonding, I saw the power that crafts had in bringing us together.

Now, it takes more time for the conductor and I to quiet down the class as players chat across sections. When I peek inside the practice room after school and see a senior cellist mentoring a freshman cellist, I know my orchestra has changed. When members feel supported, they are naturally willing to put in their time for one another.

This year, as the first female president and concertmaster of Orchestra in four years, my goal is not to win competitions, but to allow all members to feel included. From where I sit, I can hear the back row play with full bow. Their music blends seamlessly into the notes of the advanced players. In the future, I want to become a developmental-behavioral pediatrician who allows each of her patients to feel special. Children with disabilities are sometimes like the players from the back; they are kids who struggle to be heard. Like I do for my orchestra members, I want to help my patients be heard. Whether this is through giving out handmade goodies after checkups or simply remembering small details about my patients, I want each patient to leave my office feeling like more than simply an appointment on my schedule. Crafting may seem an unusual way to bring musicians and people together, but it works.

We, united, make great music.