On October 1, Black Violin will be coming to the Lied Center of Kansas for the second time. Putting a modern twist on classical music, Kevin Slyvester (Kev Marcus) and Wilner Baptiste (Wil B) took what they learned from their elementary, middle and high school orchestras and combined it with pop music. After reconnecting with each other after college, the two have now become a popular duo.

Usually, hip hop is not what you imagine when you think of string instruments. However, the sophomore class of 2016 remembers many specific thoughts running through their heads during the performance they saw six years ago.

“I remember recognizing some of the music they played and thinking it was really cool,” sophomore violinist Eileen Huang said.

The group inspired sophomore Gaven Stuhlsats to play the violin.

“The way they play their music, [being] super active and [their] overall positive attitude would probably convince most fifth graders [to play a string instrument],” Stuhlsats said.

Students recognized songs by the Black Eyed Peas and many more artists. Black Violin’s new interpretation of classical music seemed to target the 5th graders specifically, encouraging many to join orchestra.

“It just made it that much more common for people to play pop music on the violin,” sophomore violinist Sandhya Ravikumar said. “I think it’s really enjoyable to play pop music because you know it a little bit better, it’s more familiar, and that just makes it more fun to play rather than playing music from an old dead white guy.”

Their positive attitudes and on-stage energy influenced students to get involved and stay committed to an instrument.

“I think it’s a very good experience for younger kids who think classical music is boring,” Ravikumar said. “I love playing the violin. If [Black Violin] makes it seem a little bit more fun to them, and it probably will, I definitely think they should be able to see that.”