August 1975 was the summer that changed Robert Cafaro’s life. That was the year he spent four weeks at SPAC’s school of orchestral studies during the summer before his junior year of high school.
Summer at SPAC was the first time I ever heard an orchestra play. I was impressed; spellbound, said Cafaro.
Now, Cafaro has the chance to pay it forward and give back to the program that served as the launching pad for his career. A cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he spent a week in late March visiting area schools as part of SPAC’s `Classical Kids` program. On Thursday, March 25, he presented a lecture and demonstration to students at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs where he does a mixture of teaching, demonstrating and inspirational speaking to expose young students to music.
`The idea is that I can basically illustrate to students how grateful I am for the opportunities SPAC and the orchestra gave me and how those programs changed my life. I feel it’s my mission in life to enlighten these students to this opportunity that is right there in their backyard,` said Cafaro.
Cafaro starts with a brief introduction about who he is and why he’s there. Then he talks about the program he and the rest of the Philadelphia Orchestra will be playing at SPAC on Friday, Aug. 6. He uses music examples that date back as far as 1936 and explains how these great works are supported by characters in plays or have been developed into film scores with recognizable themes, which he plays and the students can easily identify.
`I demonstrate on a cello and take questions and answers from all the kids. They have so many great questions about how I became a member of the orchestra, what inspired me, how much do I practice and what kind of music do I listen to,` said Cafaro.
The answer to how many practice hours: he’s lucky if he can get in three hours a day but in his `heyday` he was up to eight or nine. As far as listening to music, he prefers to do other relaxation activities like yoga and reading.
Cafaro said his schedule is usually too busy for much relaxing. He does frequent visits to schools, nursing homes and other community organizations back home. He volunteers all his time to spread his message of music and it was at one of these presentations four years ago, that he had a very special experience.
`I played a recital at a retirement community and an elderly gentleman came up to me afterwards and wanted to know if I wanted to see his old cello. I went to his room and saw it, played it and it was amazing. He said when his time comes, he didn’t want to see it lined up in daughter’s attic; he wanted someone like me to have it and play it and be entrusted with it,` said Cafaro. `About a year ago he had cancer and could no longer play so he gave me his instrument, which is an old Italian piece far more valuable than my house; I would never have been able to attain an instrument like this on my own means.`
Cafaro said one thing he learned from that man was, `the only thing you can take with you in the end is what you are given` and that’s how he’s treating this gift.
`I don’t own this [cello], I’m its caretaker for my lifetime. Someday I’ll find someone to be caretaker for this instrument as well, when I’m gone,` said Cafaro.
It may seem like Cafaro’s appreciation and dedication to music runs deep, but he said he wasn’t even serious about the cello until after his experience at SPAC.
`Up until that point I was not serious at all. But I came and studied with the former principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and he was extremely inspirational and encouraging. I became what’s called ‘self motivated.’ That was the point I decided music was my life,` said Cafaro. `I devoted my life from that point on and practiced for hours to make up for lost time being a non-serious cellist.`
The value of exposure to music at a young age is priceless, said Cafaro, and is why even though he wants to someday be wealthy enough to be a patron of the arts, he’s content with volunteering his time for programs like `Classical Kids.`
`It saddens me to see budget cuts affect the arts for which our society is dependent on for the future. If we have a society with no culture and no training in the arts, it’s truly a valueless society. I started cello in public school at age nine and coming from a non-musical family, I’ll feel ever indebted for that opportunity and my goal is to see that for every child in this country,` said Cafaro.
Preserving what is frequently the first program to be eliminated when budget season rolls around is exactly why `Classical Kids` has existed since 1993, said SPAC’s President and Executive Director Marcia White.Servicing more than 500,000 kids total, 24 schools and 13 school districts, White said the program’s goal is to help create the next generation of artists and audience.
`I think it’s enriched their understanding of the arts. When a student is searching for a way to fit in, sometimes music is that perfect fit for them,` said White.
Students who participate are given a free pass to SPAC every year until they graduate. It targets elementary and middle school students, mostly in grades five through seven. In this year’s program, students studied Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Alec Baldwin will narrate the orchestra performance in August.
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