“If Music be the Food of Love, Play on..... ― William Shakespeare

CIT Cork School of Music TY Orchestra

I participated in the CIT Cork School of Music TY Orchestra Project from 27-31 January. The conductor of the orchestra was Conor Palliser. I played Violin for the week. We rehearsed in the Curtis Auditorium every day and had a lunchtime concert on the last day in aid of local charities.

We received the sheet music about a month in advance. I was playing Violin 1 and the music was quite difficult. I brought the music into my violin teacher in the weeks leading up to the course and we worked on it in my lesson. This definitely made it easier in the course when we were playing the music in rehearsals.

I knew a lot of people doing the course from previous music courses and my own school of music. It was so nice to spend the week with my music friends that I don’t see that often, and also make new friends. It’s really easy to make new friends when you all have one passion in common…the love of MUSIC…..

Karla O Hare

The Old Violin

The Touch of the Masters Hand

'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"

But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.

"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."

"And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and bruised with hardship
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.

But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.

- Myra Brooks Welch