Touch Down

“What’s wrong with Roosevelt? We have a music school here. Why can’t you pursue your music here?” asked Ralph. He did not want his son to fade away from his life so early.

“I can’t be like you dad. I cannot be sitting at the back of an orchestra and keep swinging my bow to the conductor’s directions. I wanna be go out there and see the world. There is a world beyond Roosevelt and the Salt Lake City, dad. You would not understand that” replied Steven.

Those words felt like pieces of glass which pierced through him. Ralph never lost his composure during a conversation. He was always known to be the soft spoken guy in his group. He slowly walked away from the room, picked up his coat and got out for a stroll. Even though he knew most of what his son told him was true, he would rather not have heard that from someone else; especially his son.

Ralph lived all his life in Roosevelt, studied music there in the early 60’s. He did well in most of the areas including music direction. In fact his professor had urged him to take up music writing more seriously. But he ended up teaching violin in a school in the neighborhood.  The students who came never took the music seriously. If they did, they would not hang around much in Roosevelt. The only satisfaction he got was from the music he wrote. He kept writing notes after notes, but never did anything about them. He never approached any labels; never tried to find an agent who would promote his music. Things changed a bit in the late 70’s when he was forced to take up offers to be a part of the Utah Symphony, in Salt Lake City, for financial needs more than anything else. He used to drive down 150 miles to reach the city, take part in the practice sessions and perform at the hall near temple square. But again, it became a routine and even though there was a good audience for the orchestra, most of the adulations would go to the music directors or the lead players.

He sat there in the park watching the kids play softball and recollecting what his son told him. His wife, Margaret, had told him the same a million times too, over the years. But then he just brushed it aside as the usual cribbing. But that day, it felt different. It felt like he had wasted his life pretending to be content with what he had. He never had the courage to take his music to the next level. The notes he wrote never saw daylight. He would shut himself up in his room and play them. He would not even record them since he thought he would be laughed at. And when he found his spot in the symphony orchestra, he was more than happy to just play what he was directed to play. He was not alone in there. All his contemporaries who were a part of the symphony were in the same league. He knew that he was only a drop in the ocean and preferred to just be a part of the waves. He did so for over a couple of decades. While the composers and the directors changed, he along with his set of fellow violinists stuck to their positions as backing violinists.

After that day, he never felt the same while performing at the Salt Lake City. The words kept ringing in his head and he just could not concentrate on the music. So at 64, he decided to call it quits. His son was long gone that day. He had moved to Boston to pursue music. His wife could empathize with him. She thought that Ralph would not be able to live without his music. And she tried to urge him to continue for a few more years, for his own good. But it was tough to convince Ralph on anything once he had decided to go with it.

On the day of his last performance, he had invited his wife and a few friends who cared for him. His wife had persuaded their son to give his dad a surprise by attending this concert since she knew it would mean a lot to Ralph. Ralph knew that there would not be any sort of acknowledgement from the organizers as such, but all his fellow violinists knew that it was a special day for him. The audience applauded as the stage was taken. Ralph took his customary left corner in the group of violinists. The violinists responded by waving their bows, which was a traditional way of thanking the audience. But this time around all the members in the orchestra were looking at Ralph while waving their bows. Ralph felt a bit of satisfaction and nodded in acknowledgement. Silverstein was to be the conductor and leader of the orchestra for the day. A huge crowd had built up in anticipation to watch the maestro perform.  But as soon as the stage was taken, the curtains went down. An announcement followed, “Ladies & Gentleman. We apologize for the stoppage. There has been a medical emergency for one of our performers and we will update you shortly on the resumption of the performance”.

Behind the curtains, murmurs started to erupt. Everyone in the orchestra was assembled together. Keith, one of the organizers spoke to them, “Silverstein seems to have a medical emergency. He might not be able to perform tonight. We cannot abandon the show. That would mean we have to make huge refunds for the tickets. The show must happen”.  The artists remained silent. “We have to look at alternatives”, suggested Keith. “I can conduct tonight’s performance”, said one of the young Cello players. Keith frowned under his breath but gently declined his offer.

Keith looked at the group of violinists and he walked up closer to Ralph. “Ralph, can you do it“?

Ralph could not speak up for a few seconds. Things were happening all too sudden for him and he was not able to fathom the fact that he would be leading an orchestra. But then he felt like all the things in his life were leading up to this one evening. He nodded to Keith. The fellow violinists were elated. They called for one of the back-up violinists to fill Ralph’s place.

As the stage opened Keith addressed the audience, “Ladies & Gentlemen. We deeply regret to inform you that Silverstein would not be able to perform tonight due to a medical emergency. I hope you all would support me in offering prayers for his recovery so that he can come back here and enthrall you all once again”.

There was silence for a while in the audience. Many were preparing to leave the hall. Steven was forced to sit down by his mom. There was a hustle in the crowd.

Keith continued his address, “But, as they say, the show must go on. We have with us one of the members of the orchestra who would be leading the orchestra.  He has been with us for over 20 years now and has been an integral part of the Utah symphony. I wish you would join me in welcoming Ralph Morris”.

There was a delay, but soon the people in the audience were applauding. A few with skepticism, a few for obligation and a few with optimism. Margaret and Steven could not believe what was happening. Ralph took the center stage and bowed to the audience before he started playing his violin. Soon the restlessness in the audience started to vanish and everyone got into the groove of the music. Ralph performed Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 to start with, which was one of his personal favorites.  He followed it up by Tchaikovsky, Bach and a few others. As he drove to the end of the concert, he picked up the microphone and announced, “The final piece is one of my own compositions. I would like to dedicate this to all my fellow violinists who spent their life time in the shades of great musicians. I would like to call this piece, “Destiny”. And as he performed his last piece the audience was high on the music. They were captivated by the piece. Margaret cried openly while a few drops of tears rolled out of Steven’s eyes. 

As Ralph finished, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. And as he bowed out of the stage, he glanced one last time towards the left corner at the seat he was supposed to take amongst the violinists. A smile ran across his face and he bid good-bye to the crowd and to the symphony too.