That question popped into my mind as I was introducing the Instruments of the Orchestra today in a second grade general music class. I always begin with the String family and work my way through the Winds, Brass and Percussion families in subsequent lessons. Today's teaching began with the work-horse of any symphony orchestra - the violin.
As I began to unpack my school-issue violin from its case, a precocious little second grader by the name of Sarah raised her hand and informed me that she played the violin. "Aha....another teachable moment is about to unfold in my classroom," I thought. "Just go with it..."
The lesson usually unfolds this way: I hold up the violin and explain that it has four strings, that it is tuned by turning these pegs, I show them the bridge and the neck rest, I explain that this is a bow and that the bow is actually made out of horse hair, etc. For my grand finale, I play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the instrument. (It is the only song I remember from my string techniques class.) The students are awestruck by my terrible violin technique and I quietly place the violin back in its case and move on to the viola.
Today, however, I invited Sarah to the front of the classroom to perform on the violin, instead of me. She is accustomed to playing on a half-size instrument and had to reach and stretch to make it work for her.
I assumed she would play "Twinkle" too, since that song has been dubbed the "national anthem" of the violin. Everyone learns it; it is required literature for all budding violinists. I was absolutely dumbfounded when she began to play Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Like my students, I was awestruck by a seven-year old's violin playing and completely embarrassed by my own!
Her classmates were mesmerized by the performance too. So much so, that they asked her to come back and play an encore at the end of our lesson.
Sarah serenaded her classmates until their teacher arrived to pick up the class. What an awesome way to end the day!
Until next time...
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