HARRISON, Ark.—Kelsey MaGuire brings to the weekly Friday on the Square event in downtown Harrison a sound not normally associated with towns in the Ozark Mountains—classical music played on a violin.

MaGuire, 17 and a recent high school graduate, plans to play at Friday on the Square this week.

“I’m going to take a year off before going to college,” she said. “After that, I plan to attend the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where I will play in the orchestra.”

MaGuire, who was home-schooled, has been playing the violin since she was 7 years old.

“My sister plays the piano and my mom asked me if I wanted to play,” MaGuire explained. “I thought the violin had such a pretty sound and so I chose that rather than piano.”

MaGuire’s first teacher was Celeste Magnasen.

“I studied for two or three years under Celeste when we lived in Wyoming, and she taught me the basics,”

After the family moved to Harrison, MaGuire found her next instructor in Nancy Ainsley, who she studied under for about five years.

“George Mason was the teacher who took me the furthest as a musician,” she remarked. “He really polished me up.”

He was also preparing MaGuire for teaching. When Mason moved to Mississippi, MaGuire took over his students.

“I’ve been teaching for three weeks now,” she said.

MaGuire has four students and her lessons are held for a half-hour once a week. Three of the students are beginners and one is at an intermediate level.

“The violin is a challenging instrument,” MaGuire said. “It takes a while for the beginner to catch on, for everything to click. The hardest part is not letting the note go sharp or flat. It helps to hear the piece you’re trying to learn so that you can reproduce the notes.”

MaGuire enjoys playing classical music on her violin.

“For me playing the violin is a way to escape,” she said. “I can completely zone out and just sit and play and play. And I love listening to orchestra music; I just blast it.”