The littlest violinists had waited a long time for their stage debut, when at last they could flourish their bows just as their teachers did: up, down, out in front, sideways, up, down, on their heads.

Perhaps Helen Brunner’s life is just one endless series of inspirations, where everything is magical and amazing. One rather thinks, of course, that the Juilliard-educated mother of four who pioneered Suzuki training in England, simply sees her life that way. And her music students are at the center of it, whether those are Island children, to whom she offered a free (and magical) hour of personal instruction on Sunday, or her own grandchildren and others playing Vivaldi, Bach and other (amazing) pieces as the London Gold Group.

Vineyard musical favorite Kahoots closed their appearance at Saturday’s Best Festival, held at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, by noting that they’d just finished “the mellowest set we’ve played in a long time.”

He carries in his fingertips the rhythms of the world, from the Caribbean calypso that cries out from his old beat-up steel drum, to the Cuban guaguanco (wa-wan-kó) that comes from his congas, to the Brazilian sambas he lays down in layers. The samba he teaches in parts — one, for instance, he taps out to the phrase, “I like pizza, all kinds of pizza” — to groups of elderly Parkinson’s patients, to preschoolers, to prisoners and to people with cerebral palsy.

Island Musicians Play Hospice Benefit

or the first time in its nearly 40-year history on the Island, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society will open its summer concert series by offering free admission to the first two shows. The series is a gift from Sam Feldman to Vineyard music lovers in honor of his late wife Gretchen. The performances of William DeRosa and Friends on Monday night at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown, and on Tuesday at the Chilmark Community Center will be open to the public free of charge.