Kippy Marks didn’t always know he wanted to be a violinist. Struggling to cope with his parent’s divorce as a child and trying to understand “his place in the world,” he decided he’d be a lawyer. And then president. But one day, in the fourth grade, his true calling came to light. He was giving a presentation to his class when the school orchestra walked in. They unpacked their instruments and started to play, and he watched in disbelief as he lost the attention of his classmates. Then he noticed the violinist in the group. “I just watched the body mechanics of the man playing violin, and saw the triangular shape he made with his body and I knew I could do that too,” Marks said. When the band asked after their performance if anyone wanted to try one of the instruments, Marks raised his hand. He grabbed the violin, played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and looked to see if his audience was captivated. They were.
“Play it again!” his classmates yelled. “In that moment I knew that all I wanted to do was play the violin for the rest of my life,” Marks said.
