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By KATHLEEN LEWIS
Next weekend, strings teacher Donald Olah will listen to the sound that flows from the thrust and tug of bows on strings, from the practiced placement of fingers and from the pleasure that comes when a musician's soul is stirred by the voice of the instrument he is playing.
Olah, who teaches at Freedom Middle School in Spotsylvania County, will be in the audience when the Rappahannock Youth Symphony performs a composition that he wrote for its 10th anniversary celebration.
The strings teacher has arranged music and produced original compositions since 1999, when he started teaching at Lee Hill Elementary School in Spotsylvania.
But this piece is special because it is his first commissioned work. With it, he had artistic freedom and didn't have to worry about whether it would have commercial appeal.
But there is another reason why the piece is special to Olah. The 49-year-old Spotsylvania resident composed the music for strings.
In Virginia schools, "orchestra" generally refers to stringed instruments, while "band" refers to woodwind, percussion and brass.
It took Olah about 21/2 years as a band director to realize that he was made to teach orchestra.
Olah grew up in Irwin, Pa., in a home where his parents supported his musical endeavors. With trumpet in hand, Olah joined the band in fourth grade.
"I wasn't very good, so I switched to tuba," he said.
Olah remained a tuba player through high school. He majored in tuba at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in music education. Then he earned a master's degree in music from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Olah said he chose a career in music over a career in science because, even though he was intrigued by both, music was fun.
When he finished his musical education, Olah expected to slip into the comfortable seat of band director and put his career on cruise control.
He got a job at a high school in Chesterfield County. The catch was that he had to teach a middle-school strings class.
Prior to teaching the class, Olah's only contact with the violin was in a required college class. Music education majors have to learn the basics of teaching all instruments.
Olah's knowledge was minimal. But even though he didn't care for the instrument, he bought a violin and began to play it to become a better teacher.
As he played, his appreciation for the instrument grew.
"I found the violin to be a fascinating instrument. Each one is a kind of work of art," he said. After a while, Olah realized that woodwinds, percussion and brass didn't stir his musical soul the way violas, cellos and violins did.
And he wanted more teaching assignments that would involve stringed instruments. He wasn't able to do that in Chesterfield County, so he took a job with Stafford County schools as an orchestra director.
After nine years, Olah left Stafford to join other teachers who were developing a new strings program and orchestra for Spotsylvania schools. After teaching at Lee Hill Elementary School, Olah taught at Chancellor and Battlefield middle schools and directed an orchestra made up of students from both middle schools.
For the last two years, Olah has chaired the painted violin project, a fundraiser for the Rappahannock Youth Symphony. It was through this association that the symphony board members asked him to compose a piece for the 10th anniversary.
His only request was that he be able to write it for strings.
Olah doesn't play tuba anymore. He sold the one he owned.
He plays his violin.
"A lot--mostly for my own amusement," he said.
Never professionally or with amateur groups, he said.
"I know my limits. I can't deliver what they would want, no matter how hard I would try. I got too late of a start. It's so much easier when you are a kid."
But Olah views his inexperience as an asset.
He offers it to his students--a gift for fellow strugglers.
For them, it can be the inspiration that keeps them going when their notes are off, when they can't find the right place for their fingers and when they forget how to hold their bows.
To reach KATHLEEN LEWIS:
Email: klewis@freelancestar.com
