A Concert To Rival Any Symphony

At the boys' new school they offer the opportunity for kids, starting in kindergarten, to study string - violin, viola, and cello to be specific. Of course we jumped on that as soon as we could, and C started studying the violin after Christmas this year. On Tuesday night they had an end of year concert, and it was amazing!

 C is in the middle in the back, ready to begin playing.

The kindergartners started out the program. I really wondered how they were going to do this, since they'd only been playing together for about 4 months and, lets face it, kindergartners don't have the longest attention spans anyway, especially for practicing and such. So I was really excited to see how they used background music to make it seem like the kids were really playing a song. I took some video, but it is really bad. I apologize in advance. I don't have a camcorder that takes digital video so was stuck with using my phone. I tried to improve the picture, but really the video is just for the sound. This is the kindergarteners. C is in the middle in the back - you probably can't even tell.

After the kindergarteners were done, kids that has begun in the strings program in kindergarten and continued on through 8th grade performed the bulk of the concert. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade strings played a song, then the 5th grade strings joined them for a song, after which the 4th grade strings joined them, and so on until they had all of the 1st - 8th grade strings. Basically, building an orchestra. It was cool and this is a little video (really just audio) is the entire group playing Canon in D. I thought it was so cool as each age group added their strings that I took a little video. It's not very good audio but it was really cool live. The director even put on tails for the last song, as he said he had to dress appropriately to direct a group of that size.

Then the concert finished off with the 5th grade band. At this school kids in 5th grade are required to study an instrument. If they have been in strings through elementary school they can stay in the strings group, but otherwise they have to pick an instrument. The band teacher said that most of his kids had never touched an instrument at the beginning of the year. The songs they played were certainly a tribute to how far they'd come. The final song was a piece that he said he showed them to give them an idea of what to look for when they move into the 6th grade band, and was difficult for this age and ability. However, the kids had gotten so excited about it and asked to practice it at home that he let them. They did so well that it was the piece they played for the concert. This is the last video, and again it's not good, but it was just really impressive to listen to these kids play together when they'd just picked up these instruments 9 months ago.

I left this concert just amazed and incredibly grateful for the ability to send our boys to this school. Their previous (public) school didn't offer any real musical education and certainly no instruments. I believe there is certainly no comparison to the education they're getting at this school, but there is also no way to compete with the fine arts they're learning. Every time I feel frustrated and discouraged by the cost of this venture, I go to an event like this and am reminded of how incredibly important this is for our children. And how much we have been blessed.