Music is limitless: Classical musicians of all ages learn to improvise this weekend at Strings Without Boundaries

Violinist Julie Lyonn Lieberman has a mission: to help classical string musicians of all ages, both amateur and professional, expand their horizons and skillsets to musical styles outside of the traditional Western classical music canon. This weekend, Lieberman will bring that passion back to another season of “Strings Without Boundaries,” a summer music learning program, for which she is the artistic director.

This year’s Strings Without Boundaries will be at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton from Thursday, June 26, through Sunday, June 29, starting at 9 a.m. daily. Adults and youth 11-18 with at least two years of music experience are able to take part. Though the program began in Pittsburgh in 2003 and has since been held in Wisconsin, Washington State, Georgia, and Nebraska, this is its second year in the Pioneer Valley.

The goal of the program is to teach classical string musicians to “explore all the stylistic possibilities their instrument has to offer.” A violinist, for example, might learn to play fiddle tunes; a cellist might learn how to play in a jazz style. Classes on this year’s schedule include “Rock Riffs & Techniques,” “Cadence-Based Improvisation,” “Paradiddles: Cool Right-Hand Patterns,” “12-Key Practice,” and “Rhythm & Groove,” among numerous others.

Lieberman said that the most important result of teaching improvisational skills to musicians is “providing them with an opportunity to become an actual craftsperson on their instrument. They’re now designing what they’re going to play – melodically, rhythmically, special effects, ornamentation.”

“There is a value in all approaches to music, but if all you learn is to stare at dots on a piece of paper in order to make music on your instrument, you’re being denied an opportunity to get to know your own voice on the instrument,” she said.

The phrase “without boundaries” comes from a desire to expand American classical musicians’ perceptions of what they can – or should – play, beyond classical music written by centuries-ago European composers.

“There’s a very rich musical imagination for strings worldwide, and there’s at least 35 styles, so there’s no reason to limit ourselves to one style of music from one little area of this planet,” she said.

The benefit of the program isn’t just individual musical growth, either – Lieberman said it’s also the way that participants will take what they’ve learned back home to other musicians. She mentioned a woman who came to the program from Nebraska and discovered Irish fiddle music, which she fell in love with. The woman started a performance group that now performs throughout her state.

“Each person, they leave Strings Without Boundaries with some door that has swung open for them,” she said. “It stokes their passion, and then they bring that passion to everyone.”

Exposure to a new type of music was what started Lieberman’s musical career, in fact. As a child, Lieberman learned how to play a number of instruments, including guitar, piano, and French horn. When she was 9, she came home from school one day and told her family she wanted to play the violin. She thinks it may have been on a day her school had an assembly featuring a violinist. In any case, the moment that inspired that decision was one in which “something happens where all of a sudden your soul just says, ‘That’s what it is. That’s what I want to do.’ ”

“My mom said, ‘As long as you don’t squeak,’ so I never did, and that was that!” she said.

She’s since gone on to a career as a performer, composer, author, and educator, among other things. As the artistic director of Strings Without Boundaries, “I have seen young people go from fear to enormous excitement and possibility,” she said, “and it’s not just about what happens on the instrument. It’s also about how you carry that into the rest of your life.”

A new member of this year’s String Without Boundaries faculty is musician, songwriter, and educator Skye Soto Steele, who specializes in Latin music. Steele said in an email, “My view of being a ‘string player’ is that we’re a part of a family of instruments that has cousins all over the world – think China, South Asia, West Africa, Middle East, Latin America – not just the main four ‘siblings’ from Italy (violin, viola, cello, bass). So, I’m passionate about sharing that perspective and helping people explore what else might become a part of their musicianship.”

When asked why he liked Latin music, Soto Steele said that the genre “can be so many different things – like, are you into Celia Cruz, or Bad Bunny, or Mercedes Sosa, or Alberto Ginastera – it’s a whole universe!”

For the specific type of music he’ll be bringing to Strings Without Boundaries, however, “My big hook is the layers of rhythm that all interlock and create this sound tapestry. It has all the complexity of a symphony and it really demands something of the musician to learn how to dance within it,” he said. “It’s very thrilling.”

Broadening musicians’ skillsets and perceptions of the musical world is a pretty sizable endeavor for a program that lasts only a few days, especially considering it takes “a year of work” to make one program happen, Lieberman said.

Still, she says, the results are worth the effort.

“Every time I run Strings Without Boundaries,” she said, “I see the joy on people’s faces. I see people form community. They form lifelong relationships. There’s a hunger when they come into my teaching room. That’s what keeps me going.”

Carolyn Brown can be reached at [email protected].