The Sparkling Violin

Once upon a time, there was a violin maker by the name of Bill. After Bill completed his apprenticeship he and his wife, Elaine were searching for a lovely place to live and make beautiful violins. After looking and looking and traveling around, they decided on Fredericksburg, Virginia. There, they found a suitable building and set up shop. They loved their violins so much they never wanted to leave them so they moved right in with them, living in the same building, where he and his students made beautiful violins and where Elaine sold his instruments. It was a busy place, with students going in and out and folks coming in to look at and possibly purchase a violin.
 One day, Bill sat down to look through a new shipment of spruce, especially cut for violin tops. This is a very important item for Bill, because a violin can be no better than the quality of wood that goes into it!  He picked up each pair of boards, looked them over carefully, tapped on them to determine the “voice” of the wood and paid particular attention to the grain of each pair. After inspecting five or six pairs, he picked up a pair that looked very nice indeed. He gave them a tap or two, as he had done the others but something occurred when he tapped this particular pair of boards!  Not sure exactly what was happening Bill gave the wood another couple taps.  There it was again!  He could not quite believe what was happening when he tapped these two pieces of wood. The wood would sparkle. At first Bill thought he was imagining the sparkles but after another half dozen taps he realized that it was real!
 Bill thought about this for a bit, not quite sure what to make of it. Then gave all the wood in the batch a half dozen taps in order to determine if any other pieces displayed this quality. They did not! “I will have to think about this” Bill said to himself and he slipped the sparkling wood into a drawer he used for special projects.
 Time went on and eventually it came time to make a violin from the sparkling wood. Bill went to the drawer where it had been waiting, gave it a small trial tap, just to see if the sparkles were still there.  Indeed they were!
 Bill took the wood into his shop and began the construction process. The making of a violin requires a lot of very precise work, the construction of the front commences with gluing the two pieces together. After that, the chisels, planes and saws come out in order to shape the top properly to become a quality violin.
 Bill would tap the front from time to time just to check the sparkles and they remained, growing stronger as the front took shape. When a violin top is shaped, tapping it is an important step. The violin maker shapes the top, adjusting the thickness and tapping every so often to see what note is produced. When the correct note is heard, the violin maker knows the top is ready for the next step. Throughout this entire tapping process, the sparkles became more and more prominent as the correct note came to the fore.
 At last the special violin was finished, ready to be sold. Bill put it in the showroom but for a reason he did not quite understand, placed it toward the back where it was not prominent. Bill had mentioned to Elaine the violin was special but did not go into detail of exactly what it was that made it special. When potential buyers came through the door of their shop Bill would quietly go to the sparkling violin and slip it behind a cello so it could not be seen. When Elaine asked why he was doing this Bill replied “I don't know why – it just seems automatic. Sometimes I don't even realize I am doing it.”
 Thus, time went on, the sparkling violin remained unsold and for the most part – unseen! 
 Then, one day, out of the blue a small girl came in the Violin shop with her mother. Bill glanced up from his work briefly to nod and say hello, letting his wife, Elaine attend to them. As Bill looked back down at his work he was startled, just a little. Had he seen what he thought he had seen??  Could it be? He quietly thought about it, calming his senses to make sure. Then he glanced back up at the small girl for a moment and Bill could not believe his eyes! When the little girl talked, Bill saw sparkles above her head. The exact sparkles he saw in his sparkling violin! He knew immediately he had made the sparkling violin for this small girl. Bill went behind the cello, picked up the violin and brought it out to show the mother and daughter. When the little girl saw the violin she became transfixed!  Her eyes opened wide and she could not take her eyes off of it. My goodness! She said, what a beautiful violin! Her mother thought it looked like all of the others but her daughter saw the beauty in it. It sparkles! She whispered quietly, looking at Bill. Bill only smiled and leaned over the counter handing the small girl the violin. She held it as if it were a rare gem. Bill, still smiling, said to her “This is a very special violin. You can not play it now, because you are just beginning, but if you practice very hard and become a good violinist I will be happy to sell you this special instrument.” “At a very special price, I am sure” remarked her mother. It is not about money, I assure you, replied Bill. (it never was about the money for Bill!)
 Time went on and the little girl practiced very hard every day and became quite a good violinist. One day when she came in for her lesson, as a beautiful young lady now, Bill quietly slipped the sparkling violin from its case and took it up to her teacher with instructions to present it to her as she came in for her lesson.
 When she opened the music room door, there was her teacher and in her hands was the sparkling violin!  The little girl gasped as her teacher said “Bill presented this violin for me to give to you!”
 She was so happy she was crying as she placed it under her chin and began to play. The striking melody wound its way down to Bill's office, and as it reached his ears, he smiled, leaning back in his chair to enjoy the music, knowing he had made this instrument especially for this little girl, never having met her or even having known who she was. The joy of realizing his hands had brought this instrument to life for her gave Bill a joy that few human beings will ever realize.
 This little girl plays today, although no longer a little girl, all over the world. How can you recognize her? When you go to a concert and you see sparkles rising from the violin as she plays – You will have found her!
 
The end