Urban Pulse Direct Black Violin Aug. 2018 | Page 11

impactful. Obviously, it’s impactful for the kids and
they’re going to be transformed from it but for the
community, the one’s making the decisions and policy
makers seeing us together on stage really makes an
impact and hopefully that can translate into continued
or increased funding for the arts.
Stacey - We were very impressed with that part of
the show. As Parent’s my husband and I found it dif-
fi cult to keep our sons interested in musicianship.
You’re set with the kids transitioned from classical
to something next level. How did the kids react to
this new style during rehearsals?
Wil B – Man… it’s just an incredible feeling. For me,
it’s something that’s really diffi cult to express but it’s
really gratifying to see people come out and support
you. Especially being from here. Oft en times, as art-
ist, you don’t get a lot of support from the people in
your home town so to see that was really incredible.
So, it was a home coming and we had a lot of friends
and family come out and I saw people I haven’t seen in
years. So, it was a lot of fun. It was a great crowd and to
be able to give bac Wil B – Obviously, they loved it and
they think it’s the coolest. As a classical musician, you
don’t get to play whatever you want. You’re told how to
hold the instrument and what to play. Here is Mozart,
he intended it to sound this way - Th ere’s no room for
individuality… not really. On the fl ip side, Hip-Hop is
the complete opposite. Hip Hop is about expression,
do you… So, a lot of these kids know both worlds but
they’ve never thought about them coming together.
Once they see that it can be done, they begin to think to
themselves, ‘man, what else can I do?’. It’s not necessarily
about music, it’s more about elevating your passion. We
need this younger generation to think diff erently. Just
because something has been done a certain way for a
hundred years doesn’t mean it’s eff ective. Even when we
speak with musicians on a higher level, it’s even crazy
for them because they’re trained, so getting them to ac-
cept seeing their craft in a diff erent way is diffi cult. For
trained, classical musicians to play something you feel
or something that’s not on a sheet of paper… that con-
cept doesn’t exist. Much of what we’re doing is diff erent
but, I’m not playing a whole lot of crazy stuff because
that’s not what’s going to capture people’s attention.
It’s the idea of you playing anything on this violin that
shows individualism is what stands out.
Honestly, with the kids that performed at the end of the
show… it’s something that we love doing. It’s something
that we feel is necessary for the community to under-
stand that the Arts really are important. For the crowd
to be able to see it full circle with us performing with
Continued on page 12
U R B A N PULSE DIRECT PAGE 11