Visiting Musician Shows Fox Lane Middle School Students the Versatility of the Skills They’re Learning

“Can you play the nuclear explosion part again?”

It’s not a request you hear often—if at all— but it was met with excited agreement from a classroom full of Fox Lane Middle School eighth-grade musicians. Dr. Chuck Bontrager, the first person to get a Doctor of Musical Arts in electric violin performance, was visiting for the day and talking to students about music, Broadway and being a professional musician.

Earlier in his talk, Dr. Bontrager had played students a piece that depicted the 1945 nuclear explosion in New Mexico. The sound was not at all one that you would expect from a violin. It was loud and distorted, abstract and artsy.

“These instruments can be and are being used in every type of music imaginable,” Dr. Bontrager said. “Once you learn to play the instruments in this class, you have the basic skills to learn this. It takes what you’re learning and can adapt it to the music you’re actually listening to.”

Dr. Bontrager, who is currently touring as Concertmaster of Moulin Rouge! The Musical and who also played in the pit for Hamilton, demonstrated a variety of sounds that an electric violin can make.

“Electric violins work similar to electric guitars and keyboards,” he told students. “They can get considerably louder than typical acoustics and can play clean or with effects that fill out and texture the sound.”

He showed students how the instrument can play whooshing and warbling sounds and how you can add grit and distortion. He played classical pieces and also showed them heavy metal sounds.

“One of my favorite things to do is steal guitar parts from metal bands,” he said. Since the technology is relatively new, he had to figure out on his own how to play the guitar part of a Metallica song.

“How long did it take you to learn to play?” a student asked.

“I’m still learning,” Dr. Bontrager answered with a grin. “To give you an idea, in college, I was practicing six hours per day. It takes a while. There’s definitely a learning curve—but the real learning curve is adapting it to what you want to play.”

Dr. Bontrager explained that while the instrument is similar to a traditional, four-stringed violin, the electric version has seven strings that are closer together, which takes a little getting used to. Students were eager to give it a try.

One student attempted a “funky” version of a song they’ve been practicing for their spring concert. Others played around with the instrument, trying to get a handle on how it works.

“That’s so cool!” one student said as he played.

“This is impossible! How do you do this?” another shouted as he tried to figure it out.

Students requested that their teacher, Jasmine Goley, give the instrument a try. She played “Landslide” and a Dua Lipa song by request.

Later in the day, seventh graders also saw a presentation by Dr. Bontrager. During both sessions students had one big request for him: “Play something from Hamilton!”