Students learn instruments can be fun
By Ruth Marlow
They stroked the strings of a child-sized violin . . . and strummed those of a guitar. They gently blew on a recorder . . . and tapped at a keyboard.For approximately 30 minutes, they smiled and giggled with child-like joy as they took turns sharing in the experience.
And when they were done, they sang a song and stomped their feet in unison, accompanied by their kazoos.
For 41 kindergarten and first-grade students at D.G. Cooley Elementary School on March 12 and 13 , it was a chance to learn about different types of musical instruments.
And for a community music school, it was part of an outreach effort to celebrate the national Music in Our Schools Month, designated by the National Association for Music Education.
The event, sponsored by the Community Music School of the Piedmont, was dubbed the “Instrument Petting Zoo.” And for the day, the youngsters became honorary zookeepers in charge of caring for the instruments.
“We know so much about the benefits and importance of high-quality music education, but at its most basic level, music is fun,” the community music school’s director, Martha Cotter, said.
“Holding and bowing the violin was particularly enchanting for all the students,” Cooley’s music teacher Eberle Damron said.
In Cooley’s music classes, Damron said, students approach music-making as a “hands-on, hearts-on” process. There, she noted, they have tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments, such as drums and bongos, for making music “from scratch.”
“Children love to play with the baby instruments,” said Laura Cullinane, an instructor at the community music school. “These are real instruments, not toys, and a wonderful thing happens in children when that ‘don’t touch!’ barrier is removed.”
As they accepted coloring books depicting the four instruments they had played that day, a number of the students seemed to agree, pronouncing the experience as “good” and “fun” before obediently lining up to go off to their next class.
Contact the reporter at rmarlow@timespapers.com