Balcony Concerts

That spring, when everyone was staying home, our apartment building got very quiet. You'd hear a door close somewhere, maybe a TV, and that was it.

Then one evening a woman on the fourth floor started playing violin on her balcony. Just a simple tune, nothing fancy. When she finished, someone clapped. Then someone else. Then a man on the second floor shouted, "Encore!"

She played every evening at seven after that. Within a week, a kid on the third floor joined in on a keyboard. A retired music teacher across the courtyard brought out his trumpet. People started setting their dinner tables on their balconies just to listen.

I had lived in that building for four years and knew maybe three neighbors. By summer, I knew almost everyone. We still have a building potluck every June, and the violinist still plays.

Music found a way to bring us together when we couldn't even stand close.