K-6 Need More Violins, Please

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

In the before school Suzuki Group Lessons, I have a kinder for whom the 1/8th size violin is too large. Many 1st-5th grade students have joined us (everyone is welcome) and I have up to 3 students sharing the smaller violins and some of the full size as well. We also have 6 violins needing repair.

My students are eager to learn and delightful to teach.

They are extremely energetic, smart, and sweet. They are wonderful about sharing instruments and all of the students help each other. Because of the multi-grade setting, they teach each other and work together. They are under the wing of my forty-eight sixth grade Math/Science students. We are still very short on violins especially smaller ones and it would be so nice for all the students to be able to play at the same time with me. They love school, excel in all their subjects, and come breathless and eager an hour and a half early every day to start the morning with the sweet sounds of the violin. They greet the entire school which lines up below our windows from where we can see and be heard by the entire student body. We start with "Twinkle" or Happy Birthday and then wrap around the hallway in groups practicing progressively harder Suzuki Violin pieces and "The Star Spangled Banner."

My Project

I want to pass the art of the violin on to another generation. The experience of being a Suzuki violin student is priceless. Every single day I have students having to share instruments. With this project, many smaller students would be able to practice a much more refined technique on a right sized instrument. We currently have 6 violins that have broken strings or broken tail pieces and/or string adjusters that need to be replaced. We need fat rosin cakes for the smaller hands to use and also need more shoulder pads desperately. We also wish so much for better quality instruments for the advancing children who will be playing the Star Spangled Banner into the microphones. Twinkle is sweet and adorable, but many students have made it to Bach and I want them to be able to explore the bell tones as I did so curiously as a child. Music is transformative at our school. It uplifts people. They tell me it gives them goosebumps. It infuses the school culture with depth and refinement of feeling.

My students are living in a poor community and are trying to figure out where they fit into the world.

They are working hard to find their potential. Our violin class is a natural learning community that has formed. It fills an important need in this community and it is a cherished daily event for many children, their families, and, of course, me. In the morning class, students practice good citizenship, sharing, and communicate using dialogue. They work hard and try their very best with their whole heart. Help us.