Practice
-3 months later-
"Make sure to keep your back straight at all times, Rosa."
Isabella corrected her posture. "If you slouch, that will affect your shoulders, and the bow will squeak on the strings."
"Sí, sí, gracias." The girl replaced her chin on the chinrest, focusing on the simple tune she had to play. She grunted upon getting it wrong, her ears crying from the screeching sounds. "Argh! This is impossible!"
"Patience, chica. Skills don't come overnight, especially one like violin playing. But that's the beauty of playing an instrument. You practise for a long time and one day, you realise how far you've come, and that will grant you so much joy!"
"Easy for you to say," Rosa grumbled under her breath when her teacher was searching for something in the songbook. Her eyes pinned her student in place, not with annoyance, but rather with sadness.
"You think I was good at it from the start? Would you believe me if I told you that I despised playing the violin when I was little?"
Rosa couldn't speak from astonishment.
"My parents forced me into it when I was seven. They thought it would bring out the best in me, which it did. But I only realised how important it actually was to me when my grandfather got ill."
She paused to swallow, while her student was caught up in her words.
"It was grave. There was no cure. The doctors gave him less than six months to live. One day, I offered to play a piece for him. I was ten, so I could play pretty well, even though I didn't like it.
"I noticed how music brought back the spark of life in his eyes. So, every day from then on, I played the violin for him, many times longer than one hour. It was good practice for me, and seeing that I was making music helped somebody else - someone dear to me - I began to adore the violin. I could finally see its purpose in my life. My abuelo passed away four years later, and even if his death hurt us all, I had no doubt that music had had an important role in keeping him alive longer than we'd hoped for. The doctors believed that his survival was only fate's hand, but I knew better."
The room fell into silence. Rosa was lost in a trance, while Isabella wiped her eyes. She received a hug from the young Rivera, which melted her soul. When they pulled away, López said, her hands holding the girl's shoulders, "All I want you to know, Rosa, is that music has an unexplainable power. Believe me, you'll thank yourself the day you're able to play the violin fluently. When you discover how much you can do with this amazing skill - how much you can help others with it - you will feel so, so incredible! Obstacles are an inevitable part of life. Stars can't shine without darkness, right?"
Rosa nodded, graving the words into her memory.
"And you have a gift."
She frowned. "You're only saying that to encourage me."
"I mean it, chiquita. Trust me, I've worked with a lot of children. Some of my students were adults. I can easily notice when someone has a knack for the violin."
Rosa's heart tripled in size. Someone else (who wasn't her family) believed in her! And if a stranger had faith in her, then she would as well!
Isabella smiled warmly. "Now, I'll play something so that you can take a short break. But don't daydream! Pay attention."
Rosa sat comfortably in a chair, grinning in delight. "I'd love to hear you play!"
"How was practice?" Miguel asked as they were rehearsing a simple salsa choreography.
"It was awesome! Sheet music is kind of hard to read, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it." - Her cousin beamed. - "Isabella played for me today. She's marvellous! I wish you could hear her too."
To fill the silence, he said, "Can you believe we're rehearsing in our hacienda?"
"Nope. Very rare are the days when only we, Manny, Benny and Mamá Coco are at home."
"I know. I wish we could raise the volume, but we wouldn't hear them return that way."
Rosa shivered at the scenario. Her foot stepped on something softer than the ground.
"Ow!"
"Sorry, Miguelito."
"You did that on purpose," he teased.
"I did not, so stop meowing!"