Yesterday evening Keira and a load more kids from four local schools put on a concert called Stringfest. All the schools in our borough (Sutton) are invited to take part in a year of learning either the violin or cello. There were lots of nerves and excitement beforehand, and you could see plenty of little hands shaking. The concert was great fun, a super mix of music, with the schools and teachers and kids interchanging, encouraging, flourishing and enjoying themselves. As is the role of an enthusiastic audience of parents and grandparents, we cheered the roof off.
One of the teachers who was facilitating the concert spoke about five reasons why it’s great to learn to play an instrument. These things struck a chord with me (ouch!) and I would like to share them with you:
5 Reasons why it’s great to learn to play an instrument
- It makes you smarter
- It’s enjoyable
- It aids concentration and focus
- Creates self discipline
- Helps you appreciate the challenge of performance
These things all manifested themselves through the evening, and there were certainly no little hands shaking nervously once the concert began to unfold.
Keira was allowed to take the violin home and she showed me how to play it. Keira is a much better violinist than me, and with her help I managed to extract a few notes, and yes, a few screeches too.
