Last week I had a pleasure of visiting Childcare Learning Centers in Stamford to play for and with their students. It's an instrument petting zoo through Stamford Young Artists Philharmonic and we reached over 300 students (ages 3-5) at three locations.
The kids came in small groups and we opened each session with a demonstration. The CLC has posted our video clip here. We played our instruments individually, showing the differences between violin, viola and cello. And then played an excerpt from Ode to Joy as a trio. The students learned about high and low pitches, loud and soft volume.
One funny memory: after I played a bit of Yankee Doodle, one boy screamed "Mamma mia!" and everyone laughed.
The kids came in small groups and we opened each session with a demonstration. The CLC has posted our video clip here. We played our instruments individually, showing the differences between violin, viola and cello. And then played an excerpt from Ode to Joy as a trio. The students learned about high and low pitches, loud and soft volume.
One funny memory: after I played a bit of Yankee Doodle, one boy screamed "Mamma mia!" and everyone laughed.
Now it's the kids' turn to try the instruments! We were so lucky to have those tiny tiny violins and cellos from Connecticut School of Music. The violins are 1/16 to 1/4 size!
I let each child hold the violin by the rim and hold the bow, and I fingered pieces like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, London Bridge etc while I hold the bow over child's hand and move it.
At each location we had lots of fun meeting the curious young talents. Regardless their young age, some of them seemed ready to take private lessons. And I hope that they enjoyed the experience.
At the end we had a photo taken with tiny instruments. That's a 1/16 that I'm holding!
At the end we had a photo taken with tiny instruments. That's a 1/16 that I'm holding!
