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Student Strings: Adding Classical to the High School Playlist.

Samuel Barber’s plaintive Adagio for

Strings — one of the most popular

pieces of American classical music —

was played at the funeral of President

John F. Kennedy and featured in the flms

The Elephant Man and Platoon. More recent

versions, via Madonna and the Dutch mixer

and producer DJ Tiësto, boosted the tem-

po and added an electronic beat to achieve

mainstream radio airplay. Yet for middle- and

high-school students at Somers, N.Y., who

heard the melancholic music performed by

the Dover String Quartet earlier in the school

year, the piece was fresh and transformative.

After hearing the Dover’s version, many stu-

dents added Adagio to their playlists.

The Dovers, who visited Somers High

School in November and March as part of

Caramoor’s Student Strings program, “just

reached out and grabbed these kids with

the music,” said their teacher, Anne Harris.

“They just sat down and played, and the mu-

sic spoke frst. They didn’t give the students

anything to attach to it, and the kids respond-

ed to the way the music made them feel.”

Many of Harris’s students, who range in age

from 14 to 18, had never seen a string quartet.

“Student after student after student told me

that the piece changed their lives,” she added.

  One of those students, Marc Gorman, a

freshman who plays upright bass, called the

experience motivational. “It was interesting

to see their playing style and notice their fn-

gerings. They made lots of eye contact with

each other. I saw how important it was to not

only follow the conductor’s instructions, but

also to look at other orchestra members to

make your part work with them.”

After performing for students in Novem-

ber, the quartet, which includes violinists

Joel Link and Bryan Lee, cellist Camden

Shaw, and violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt,

talked about the music, ofering some schol-

arly background about the composer’s life

and the politics of the time. They answered

questions and then settled in among the stu-

dents to join in a rehearsal.

For ninth-grader Grace Dashnaw, a cel-

list, this mingling with the school orchestra

was surprising. Mr. Shaw, the Dover’s cellist,

suggested how to express phrases and ofered

technical tips, like how to hold the bow. “I

thought they were going to just listen to our

orchestra play and then give us comments,”

Ms. Dashnaw said. “But the fact that they sat

with us and played with us was a lot more in-

sightful. They could hear all our mistakes in

the section and give us individual tips rather

than group ones, so it was a lot more helpful

than I expected.”

The Dovers’ approach also surprised Ms.

Harris, who has directed the Somers High

School’s orchestra and participated in Cara-

moor’s Student Strings program for 15 years.

“Usually the quartet stands in the front of the

room and directs the music and works from

there, while I sit in the back of the room with

a score and mark it as we go forward. That

way I can hear things that I might not oth-

erwise hear. When the Dovers asked me to

conduct and said they would sit with the kids,

it was a little intimidating for me – to know I

was conducting world-class players. To have

these musicians right in our classroom, just

a few feet away from our students, it was just

unbelievable.”

The Dovers, who emerged as the grand-

prize winner of the 2010 Fischof Competi-

tion, formed at Curtis Institute of Music in

2008, when its members were just 19 years

old. In 2013 the group appeared at the Banf

International String Quartet Competition,

winning the grand prize as well as all three

By Christina Horzepa

Continued on Page 33

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special prizes: the R.S. Williams & Sons

Haydn Prize for the best performance of

Haydn, the Székely Prize for the best perfor-

mance of Schubert, and the Canadian Com-

mission Prize for the best performance of

a newly commissioned work. In addition to

becoming the frst Quartet-in-Residence at

Curtis, they were chosen as Caramoor’s 14th

Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence.

Caramoor’s residency, which forms the

foundation of the Student Strings program,

also includes spring and fall performances

in the Rosen House Music Room and a com-

mission written especially for the quartet.

On July 11, they perform the world premiere

of Volume XV of Caramoor’s A String Quar-

tet Library for the 21st Century with a new

work by David Ludwig.

While the Dovers are excited about the

commissioning project and Festival concert,

they are equally happy to spend time teach-

ing. After working with the students at ten

diferent middle and high schools in Novem-

ber, they returned again in March. “When we

came back in the spring the students were a

lot more comfortable and excited to see us

again,” said Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt. “It was a

really cool thing. It was almost like seeing an

old friend.”

Meghan Ryan, the orchestra director at

Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossin-

ing said that while all students in the mid-

dle school enjoyed the quartet’s visit, her

sixth-graders, especially, “were blown away

by them.” Because the quartet is young, her

students were able to connect to the musi-

cians, she explained. “There was an assump-

tion among my kids that classical music is

for older people; there’s an age barrier.  Now

I point to the quartet and say ‘Look! The Do-

vers are not much older than you!’”

Although they are relatively close in age

to some of the students they teach, the Do-

vers command respect, Ms. Ryan noted, ex-

plaining how during one of the concerts Ms.

Pajaro-van de Stadt broke a string and had to

replace it. When the class ended, an excited

sixth-grader ran up to her teacher, waving the

errant string. “Look, I have their string,” the

student exclaimed. To her and the hundreds

of students participating in Student Strings,

the Dovers are rock stars, and many of the

students asked for autographs. •

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