This week has been so much fun for me!!! I have loved having guest musicians come to the classes and perform and talk with my students! I can tell that many students have been inspired by the guests and hopefully that will continue to help propel them in their journey in orchestra.
So why is this week so important to me? Music is my life and my passion. I want my students to be inspired by the professionals I have coming in to perform and see that they once started right where the students are now. They got better due to diligence and hard work.
For me, music has always been a part of my life. I mentioned earlier in my blog that both of my parents play instruments and as a young girl, I looked up to both of them and wanted to play the instruments they played. I remember many orchestra concerts, and orchestra rehearsals that I sat through and watched my mom perform. Now we are both in orchestras, and although my mom lives away from me, I love when we get to call each other and talk about the pieces we are about to perform.
Isn’t she beautiful!!!!? Pic of my mom at my wedding and her performing with her orchestra in Chicago!
My dad plays piano and still continues to play for fun at home- He usually makes up some kind of jazzy piece or from time to time will play a jazzy version of “Over the Rainbow,” which he improvises. Being at concerts, listening to my mom practice and falling asleep to my dad pla
ying piano are some of my best memories from my childhood.
My dad would almost always play in the evening as I was going to bed and it became something that I would look forward to every night. I even used to pray that I would marry a man that played piano like my dad, so that when I had kids they would be able to grow up hearing the piano and be able to fall asleep to sweet melodies. And guess what… God must really love me!!!! I hit the jackpot! My husband plays guitar, piano, bass, and sings. He is a very talented man and he is a very talented song writer! Maybe I can showcase one of his songs sometime;).
( Pic was at my Grandma’s House- we were preparing to play at her church)
Growing up, my brother and I began taking violin lessons and we loved to perform! My love of performing happened really early in life… I was probably around 7 or 8 when I discovered that I loved to perform. That is when Erik and I would send out invites and go door to door around our neighborhood and invite everyone to come to our recital at our house. My mom and dad would prepare some refreshments for the neighbors who happened to show up ( a lot of them actually came)! I mean how could you say no to a 7 and 5 year old? 😉 Our talent show/ recital would consist of me performing almost every song that I had learned in my violin lessons, then me wanting to play duets with my mom, and then Erik would then play a couple of songs, but he would steal the show with his “pot and pan” drum set solos! Our poor, sweet neighbors!
I still love performing! And this week has been so much fun getting to perform for my classes!
The Three E’s: Erik, Emily and me (Erin).
Wednesday Happenings in the Orchestra Room!
Today I have violinist, Cynthia Rose that will be visiting with my 8th Grade students and performing. I get the honor of playing the Bach Double with her or Concert for two violins. This is one of my favorite pieces!!! Cynthia has her bachelors degree in Violin Performance from Evangel University and recently moved back to the Springfield area after living for a time in Seattle, Washington. She teaches violin lessons and is mom to a super cute little boy! Her and her husband are both musical and are the music pastors at Central Assembly of God. Here is a video of our performance! ( we may have messed up a tiny bit… but it was our first time ever playing it together.) Enjoy 🙂
Then my 7th Grade students had another violinist, Kelly Owens come and perform for them. We also performed the” Bach Double”. The students were definitely impressed!
Shout out to both of these fantastic ladies on helping me out this week and performing for my classes.
Then Wendi B. from Carver Middle School came to perform with me a 4 hand piano piece for my 6th grade violin students. The students were amazed that she could play piano!- They never knew! We asked the students to guess what we were playing and within the 1st couple measures they had it- Tangled! It was “See the Light” from the Disney movie, “Tangled!”
After Wendi left, the students mentioned that they were surprised I could play piano… I then got to tell them that I started piano in 4th grade and have played ever since and I accompany my students for solo/ ensemble competition which is coming up soon! They of course wanted to hear some more songs…. I was getting requests… in my brain I thought…. ” O No, what have you gotten yourself into?” I played twinkle and then someone asked for ode to joy and i played a little. Then I tried to remember one of my harder pieces and realized I was super rusty…. Time to get back to “tickling the Ivories.”
I was “Roeing” today!!! LulaRoe leggins… they feel like Butter! Love them!
So what do the students have to say about music… continued!
“Music is important to me because, I once knew someone who loved music and I wanted to be just like her so I started to play piano like her. Then I found out she played the violin so I started to play in the hopes I would be just like her. I wanted to be like her and make her happy. She later died and I gave up on my hopes of being good at playing. It wasn’t till 2 years later that I decided i’m going to play again. I started to play my violin again hoping that it will make her happy even if she has past. If school didn’t have music I would be sad and depressed. I would block everyone out. I would think I failed to make the one I play for happy. “- Trinity
“Music is important to me because I love it. Music has been a big impact in my life. Without it, I don’t know who I would be. I think that music should always stay in our schools because its of academic importance. Music teaches many new skills such as reading music, and being able to play with your fingers and your bow at the same time. If music was taken out of our school, school would be less exciting. Going to orchestra everyday makes me happy because I love playing my instrument. For that to happen to many other students in many other schools is sad.”- Hayley
“Music is important because it serves multiple purposes. One, music helps us get away from all the clutter in life. … If we are more energetic, we can listen to hard rock, electronic, hip-hop, some country, or dance music. Third, we like music because we are innately appreciate great work. We should keep music in our schools Musical training helps develop language and reasoning, Students who have early musical training will develop the areas of the brain related to language and reasoning. The left side of the brain is better developed with music, and songs can help imprint information on young minds.”- Brielle
“Music is important to me because it make me human. It creates strong feelings and emotions. I can express my feelings and let loose. It is everywhere in our world and it’s important to teach kids it. There’s benefits, such as it sharpens your concentration and promotes happiness. It also exercises the right side of your brain,which sometimes isn’t used as much.”- Ever
“Music is important to me because it got me through lots of things and i’ve tried so hard to get better. Music is important to school because it can teach kids new skills and what things that can be useful later in life and they can get the mind to teach other kids and the kids teach other kids, so more people can do something that they love.”- Alejandro
“Music is important to me because I have lived with music all my life. As far as I can remember, I have always heard my sister play the violin and I have always thought it must take something special to make something beautiful like music.However, Orchestra taught me that anyone can play if you try. I loved being able to play a song myself, especially something familiar, and it always sounds great when playing with others. Orchestra needs to remain in school because it can help improve your ability to learn,can help your confidence, and allows you to be able to learn something you might otherwise not. Not only that, but it’s also really fun, and it’s great to take a break from so much studying.”- Lizzy
“I believe that music is crucial to everyone in everyday life. Music is one of those things that can’t be taken away because behind all music there’s a story or background. I say this because everyone is different and like different things and music is so diverse and special in every way that if we were to try to take it away it’s kind of like taking people’s personality or passion away. Plus music is fun because you can use just about anything to make it and entertain people around you. Music has been on earth and influenced many historic events that changed the way people see things in life and honestly, i feel like I’ve felt that experience before and i really liked seeing people honestly entertained or awestruck by how we play. This aspect of music and how it’s influential in people’s lives on a daily basis really makes you think about what it would be like if this world was without it.”- De’Mario
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