Name: The Charness Family Quintet
Age: Michael, 51; Deborah, 48; Sarah, 17; Daniel, 14; Jennifer, 12
Gig: The Charness Family has been performing as a musical quintet since 1991.
Favorite Thing about Newton: Performing at the Library

"DING.
A bell rings, and, in a procession that is somewhat reminiscent of 'The Sound of Music'..., three teenaged children come down the stairs and gather in the living room of their family's Newton home. The two girls take up violins, while the boy sits behind a cello. The older man, who rang the bell, now sits at a piano while an older woman stands behind another music stand, flute in hand."

"Welcome to the nightly rehearsal of The Charness Family Quintet. Since 1991, this musical family has been performing together all around Newton, New England and beyond...."

"I was 10 when I first started the flute," says Deborah Charness, a professional flutist and music instructor who has soloed with the BostonPops and studied with such musical dignitaries as French flute master Jean-Pierre Rampal."

"By the time I was 14, I knew it was what I wanted to do."

"Deborah credits her early interest in music to her own parents. 'They took us to youth concerts at the Boston Symphony Orchestra,' she recalls."

"As her parents introduced a young Deborah to music, the Charnesses introduced their own children..."

"As my husband and I are both musicians," Deborah says, "our children were exposed to music from infancy, so it seemed natural to get them involved."

"Recalling early days of miniature violins and a baby cello that young Daniel took with him wherever he went ... the children have always been very self-motivated when it comes to practicing and performing."

"Deborah reasons that her children's interest in music stems from a case of parental mimicry."

Speaking of Michael, Deborah says that it was music that brought the two of them together. "We were a blind date."

"I was living in New York freelancing, and Michael was in San Francisco. He had just finished residency and was about to start in a lab."

"I wanted someone I could play with for the rest of my life...as soon as I met Michael I could tell right away that he could play...so I was hooked!"

"After only a few hours of playing together on that first date, Deborah and Michael agreed that it would make sense for them to make their duet a permanent gig."

"We went to a park, and...he said 'I think we should be married,' and I said, 'I do too!'...we were married six months later..."

"The two began performing together..., and as the next generation came along, they made another joint decision to take their music to the next level."

"As soon as little Sarah could hold one ... her parents offered her a violin."

"There is so little repertoire for flute...that is why we suggested strings to the children."

"...The key work is 'suggest'... We didn't have to force them. They knew what the instruments did and made their own decisions."

"The children liked music and we just thought it would be fun to play together."

"In the same way ... each child came to his or her own instrumental selections, Mom also says that each chooses to participate in the family band. Music wins 'It's a habit.' she explains."

"When other things come up ... they fit practicing into their schedule.... There is an esteem to it."

"We spend a lot of time choosing our repertoire... We usually have two pieces in each performance that we do as a family and we usually like to start with a Baroque piece that works well with our combination of instruments."

"The family has also recorded two compact discs. Across the Millennium: Live Feature Performances from 1999 and 2000 and Charness Family Quintet and the Newton Symphony Orchestra."

"In addition to their performances at the Newton Free Library, the ... family performs over 30 concerts a year all over the area."

"A performer with the New England Conservatory's Youth Symphony Orchestra and a soloist with the Newton Symphony, Sarah recently appeared on Public Radio International's 'From the Top'."

"Daniel is principal cellist at the Senior Orchestra at Camp Encore Coda ... and a member of the Youth Chorale at Milton Academy."

"Though only 12, Jenny has served as concert mistress and principal second violinist of the Repertory Orchestra at Encore Coda and is currently a student at NEC where she performs in the Youth Repertory Orchestra."

"As associate chief of neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Charness has his hands full as well. Yet even he finds time to play."

"Sometimes he will come home late at night exhausted ... but he always takes time to play at least a little bit before bed."

"Even when he is at work, he is working with musicians...Dr. Charness is the founder of The Performing Arts Clinic at Brigham and Women's, a ... department that works with musicians on avoiding and correcting injuries and unhealthy techniques. He also runs a clinic at New England Conservatory."

"Music is a great thing for anyone and everyone," Deborah says. "I am so glad that we have it to share."