COLUMN
Whether rock or Bach, kids connect
By Bill Nemitz
Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Sunday, March 4, 2007
He is by no means a rock star. His all-time favorite musician is Johann Sebastian Bach. And his favorite instrument -- make that his
only instrument -- is a centuries-old classical bass.
So what was Richard "Dobbs" Hartshorne doing last week in front of 31 boys and girls at the Long Creek Youth Development
Center?
"I have a certain number of concerts I can do each year," Hartshorne said Thursday as a fledgling rock band warmed up in Long
Creek's chapel. "And I've decided I'd rather play for places that wouldn't get anything otherwise."
Places such as prisons -- he's played San Quentin -- and youth detention centers. Places where most in his audience have never
heard of Bach, let alone heard his 300-year-old music played on a classical bass.
Hartshorne's third concert in as many years here came courtesy of Music at Long Creek, a group of community volunteers who
decided back in 2004 that if there's one thing Maine's juvenile offenders could use in their troubled lives, it's music.
Thus, where once these kids had virtually no exposure to live music, they now have three teachers paid by Music at Long Creek to
teach them guitar, piano, keyboard and drums.
And Thursday afternoon, they had a guy with bushy white hair and beard who drove from his home in southwestern New
Hampshire to introduce them to Bach?
"Open yourself up and listen to it," urged Hartshorne, a Juilliard-trained musician who's played all over the world. "Listen to this and
think about how it makes you feel."
For 30 minutes, from-the-gut notes resonated through the chapel -- all from suites Bach wrote for the cello long before Hartshorne
adapted them for his bass. Row after row of boys and girls watched and listened with rapt attention while Hartshorne's fingers flew
up and down the neck, his bow in constant motion.
Then for 15 minutes more, they chuckled to one another as Hartshorne performed a musical "fairy tale" about a birch tree named
Billy and a beaver named Brenda. Many jumped in their seats when, without warning, he bellowed out the refrain:
"Love was hard for Billy and Brenda!
Love was hard for Billy and Brenda!
Love was hard for Billy and Brenda!
But love conquers all."
Hartshorne's performance complete, it was the kids' turn.
Brenden Morrissette grabbed his electric bass. Justin McLaughlin picked up his electric guitar, as did music teacher Jeff Shaw.
Shane Palmer sat down at the drums.
And for five blissful minutes, they let it rip.
The small crowd loved it. So did Hartshorne, who beamed as the young musicians closed their eyes and played as if their very lives
depended on it.
"If this didn't work, I wouldn't bother," said Hartshorne, who was brought here by Music at Long Creek volunteers Susan Wilder
and John Stetson. "It's been the most satisfying playing I've ever done in my life."
Morrissette, the young electric bass player, knows the feeling. He's 20 now, but can still remember playing a big classical bass just
like Hartshorne's, way back in middle school.
"Everything in my life now has something to do with music," Morrissette said. "Not having music here that would be like torture."
Whether rock or Bach, kids connect
By Bill Nemitz
Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Sunday, March 4, 2007
He is by no means a rock star. His all-time favorite musician is Johann Sebastian Bach. And his favorite instrument -- make that his
only instrument -- is a centuries-old classical bass.
So what was Richard "Dobbs" Hartshorne doing last week in front of 31 boys and girls at the Long Creek Youth Development
Center?
"I have a certain number of concerts I can do each year," Hartshorne said Thursday as a fledgling rock band warmed up in Long
Creek's chapel. "And I've decided I'd rather play for places that wouldn't get anything otherwise."
Places such as prisons -- he's played San Quentin -- and youth detention centers. Places where most in his audience have never
heard of Bach, let alone heard his 300-year-old music played on a classical bass.
Hartshorne's third concert in as many years here came courtesy of Music at Long Creek, a group of community volunteers who
decided back in 2004 that if there's one thing Maine's juvenile offenders could use in their troubled lives, it's music.
Thus, where once these kids had virtually no exposure to live music, they now have three teachers paid by Music at Long Creek to
teach them guitar, piano, keyboard and drums.
And Thursday afternoon, they had a guy with bushy white hair and beard who drove from his home in southwestern New
Hampshire to introduce them to Bach?
"Open yourself up and listen to it," urged Hartshorne, a Juilliard-trained musician who's played all over the world. "Listen to this and
think about how it makes you feel."
For 30 minutes, from-the-gut notes resonated through the chapel -- all from suites Bach wrote for the cello long before Hartshorne
adapted them for his bass. Row after row of boys and girls watched and listened with rapt attention while Hartshorne's fingers flew
up and down the neck, his bow in constant motion.
Then for 15 minutes more, they chuckled to one another as Hartshorne performed a musical "fairy tale" about a birch tree named
Billy and a beaver named Brenda. Many jumped in their seats when, without warning, he bellowed out the refrain:
"Love was hard for Billy and Brenda!
Love was hard for Billy and Brenda!
Love was hard for Billy and Brenda!
But love conquers all."
Hartshorne's performance complete, it was the kids' turn.
Brenden Morrissette grabbed his electric bass. Justin McLaughlin picked up his electric guitar, as did music teacher Jeff Shaw.
Shane Palmer sat down at the drums.
And for five blissful minutes, they let it rip.
The small crowd loved it. So did Hartshorne, who beamed as the young musicians closed their eyes and played as if their very lives
depended on it.
"If this didn't work, I wouldn't bother," said Hartshorne, who was brought here by Music at Long Creek volunteers Susan Wilder
and John Stetson. "It's been the most satisfying playing I've ever done in my life."
Morrissette, the young electric bass player, knows the feeling. He's 20 now, but can still remember playing a big classical bass just
like Hartshorne's, way back in middle school.
"Everything in my life now has something to do with music," Morrissette said. "Not having music here that would be like torture."
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