Monday, August 2, 2010

Open Doors

On his first day of school last year my son came home and told me he had signed up for the beginning strings class at his school- he would be learning to play the violin. I was so excited for him to learn how to play an instrument- any instrument- I just wanted him to have the exposure to music. Maybe playing an instrument wouldn’t be his thing, but I had been dying for him to give it a try. He has never wanted to commit to any instrument in particular so it was meaningful to me that he chose violin on his own accord. I am not particularly musical (I have only taken one piano class and I am no prodigy), but I love music and everything it offers. It is my favorite art form, it is expressive, and it may even help kids learn.
A couple of months after my son started playing violin we stumbled upon a PBS concert with David Garrett, a classically trained, German-American violinist. He is amazing, and my son was really excited to see him pluck the violin strings during songs because he was learning the same technique. Garrett seamlessly mixed classical music with rock, pop, and blues. I am a fool for mixing genre’s, particularly when it means integrating something as beautiful and cultured as classical music. This offers a fantastic opportunity to expose kids to the art and culture of classical music, as they are intrigued by the more familiar sounds.
Today I happened upon Garrett’s newest album, Rock Symphonies, which- hence the title, mixes rock music and classical violin. Again, this CD grabbed my son’s attention immediately as Garret puts his own spin on familiar songs like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”- but Garret also puts a rock spin on classics like Beethoven’s 5th and mixes a Vivaldi concerto with a U2 song. It is a great CD- one that is being played constantly at my house. Next week my son starts another school year, and this year he has chosen to learn how to play the cello, so bumping into the CD was serendipitous. After a relaxed summer it has given him a spark of excitement to get back into his strings class.

12 comments:

  1. I am very jealous. I always wanted to learn the violin, but played piano instead. i wish your son the best.

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  2. Thanks Yaroslav!
    The piano is awesome too! I wish I was better at it...I suffer from terrible performance anxiety- I get sooo nervous.

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  3. If I could go back, I would definitely learn how to play violin. I love it and think it is a must have addition to any band in the world. A great band that has some awesome violin playing mixed with rock is DeVotchka if you are interested in checking them out.

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  4. Cool post. My oldest sons attend a Charter School that does not have a music program, which makes me incredibly sad. I will eventually move them to a public school so they can be exposed to music classes and organized sports; depending on which activity type they end up being interested in. I can't imagine school without music, being a former band geek myself!

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  5. I wish that I had picked up an instrument as a child. It's one of those things that just gets harder and harder to pick up as you get older. I bought a guitar about six years ago, meaning to learn how, but it's still sitting in the corner of the room out of tune and collecting dust.

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  6. Wow, that is so cool!!! I want to get that CD for myself. I didn't know that that even existed, but that is a fantastic way to get kids to like classical instruments. I think a lot of times kids are intimidated, but by hearing that more modern and popular songs can be played with classical instruments, may be inspiring for them. Thank you for sharing that tid bit.

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  7. I think the violin is a beautiful piece of instrument. I love how it sounds. I'm not really familiar with the violin being mixed with rock or pop, but I have been listening to hip hop violin. I love how versatile this fine piece of instrument is. If your son is into hip hop and R&B, he should check out Daniel D at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDWxbo7_PGw

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  8. My son was interested in playing an instrument and signed up in sixth grade for it. His music teacher told him he had no talent so he stopped playing and never tried again. No amount of talking on my part could make him try again. I am very glad you are so supportive of your son and he had a good experience.

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  9. Oh no Susan, that is terrible! That breaks my heart for you and for your son. I hope that teacher realizes the weight of his words next time.
    I am very grateful that my son has a teacher that he really likes, and who is very supportive- his teacher is actually one of the reasons I think he wants to continue.

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  10. Good luck to your son! I've always wished that I stuck with playing music when I was younger. I played the flute for a couple of years in Elementary School and I've always wished that I would have stuck it out and could still play now.

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  11. I seriously wish, to this day, that my parents had "made" me continue music lessons when I was younger! Good for you!

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  12. That's so cool Jamie. I'm so glad that he's picking these branches to ummm...branch out on! Can't wait for another recital :)

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