Playing in three orchestras simultaneously is unprecedented, but playing in the same orchestra for 52 years and being in two other orchestras is unheard of.
For 86-year-old Ella Villa, it’s more than playing music; it’s for socialization and to keep herself mentally and physically active. Since 1972, Villa has played in Ferris’ orchestra as a violinist, but she is also a part of the Alma College orchestra and the Midland Community Orchestra.
Growing up in a family of music, Villa remembers how she got into music at a young age.
“My interest in music came because of how our mother was very interested in music,” Villa said. “We’re Latinos and we were raised in Corktown, and our mother belonged to a Mexican mariachi band. She had always had a love of music, so when we came along she decided that she wanted us to go to the Detroit Conservatory of Music to learn piano and dancing. But I did not learn violin until I was 16 in high school.”
After graduating from high school, she studied musical education at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1960. She held orchestral jobs for over 60 years in her musical career, such as being the director of the orchestra at the Chippewa Hills school district, a job she held from 1972 until her retirement in 1998, as well as teaching private lessons across Michigan. Villa recalls how she got the job at Chippewa Hills.
“I was teaching in Detroit as an emergency substitute in a regular position, I was a teacher without a contract,” Villa said. “And at the end of the school year, they give everyone a pink slip, and then they rehire them in July. I did not know that, so my friend Mildred Bachelor, who was the director at Chippewa Hills, was retiring, so I came up to talk to her. She asked me to pass the word onto Detroit that we’re looking for a new director and I thought I’m not passing the word. So I interviewed for the job, and I got the job.”
Music is Villa’s way of keeping her mind sound and hand-eye coordination intact. For her mind, she gets to read the music and put the notes together. It benefits her hand-eye coordination by reading the notes and putting her fingers in the correct place. You have to make sure you are playing in tune and then coordinate your right hand with your left hand to use your bow in time.
She shows up every Tuesday at 7 p.m. with her sister Irene, who has accompanied her for 40 years to rehearsals and concerts. Irene herself studied business here at Ferris, graduating in 1957, as well as being in the original Crimson and Gold Chorus.
For Ferris State band director Daniel Atwood, Villa is a huge help to him and the rest of the orchestra.
“She is invaluable,” Atwood said. “Her depth of knowledge just in terms of string playing, I mean she is fantastic, and herself being a former orchestra director, she understands the educational aspects of what we do. I mean we have students here that are participating that are non-musical majors, so she understands the whole dynamic of working with the students that are around her, it’s really like having two directors.”
Even though Irene and Villa both grew up in Corktown, Ferris and Big Rapids has always been home to the sisters.
“Back in the 50s there were no real dorms,” Irene said. “And at the time Ferris was big, but not big at the same time, and all there then was the married people apartments up on Ives Hill where I stayed, and every winter people would sled down the hills.”
Music to Villa is her life; it always has been and always will be. You sometimes see older people do yoga to keep their mind and body sound. Villa uses music; she plays violin because she loves it, and she’ll be the first to admit that she is not as good as before and doesn’t know how much longer she’ll be able to do it.
She has done it because it is her life’s work, educating children on the wonders and joys of music. For the foreseeable future, if you attend a Ferris orchestral concert and look in the violin section, you will see Villa playing her heart out for everyone to hear.