MADISON SMALSTIG | THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | April 1, 2024, 3:15PM
The Edith String Quartet, composed of four Juilliard students playing two violins, a cello and viola, prepares Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, to play for 11 men in the music composition course and about 60 Sonoma County residents in the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility. (Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)
The hums and harmonies from the string quartet flowed up and down, and the picks and plucks sharply exited the speakers into a classroom at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility.
Eight incarcerated men and a small crowd listened March 25 as a quartet — Juilliard School students on two violins, a cello and a viola — performed eight pieces, each composed by one of the inmates.
Fluttery movements and fluid melodies dissipated wanting, dissonant chords and bled into sharp and distinct dynamics. The composers had written some comments, including “cartoony” and “life is risky but never boring,” in their sheet music that dictated the vibe and emotions to be expressed in the music.
The performance in New York City was broadcast live to the Santa Rosa jail via Zoom.
The students’ pieces were the culmination of about nine weeks of work through a program called Music for the Future, which teaches incarcerated individuals about live music, composition and the life and compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven. The underlying goal is to help them gain skills to better themselves so they don’t return to jail after being released.
The music was played in no particular order. The inmates were composers in this moment and looked down at their music to follow the movements. Some twiddled their thumbs, gripped their faces with their hands and bounced legs in anticipation. Some teared up. Some smiled when the crowd clapped.
Eleven students were selected for the class. Each was already enrolled in Five Keys, a nonprofit charter school that offers high school and some higher learning courses in the jail. Each actively participated in classes.
They learned the basics in week one. They had written a short piece of music by the end of week three.
Since then, they wrote nonstop and stayed committed to class. Only one had to leave because of an infraction.
That was an accomplishment. And on March 25, they celebrated.