September 5, 2008 at 2:46 AM
106. That's how many string players I have at the arts magnet elementary that makes up half of my job. That's about 25% of the student body. This school is successful at providing a quality education to a diverse student body in the inner city. Besides my strings classes, students have weekly art, music, dance, and creative writing. This morning, one of my beginning Suzuki students proved she had been doing her listening by playing a good chunk of Twinkle (we just started using fingers the previous class ). Her mother, a single parent who works all night at the jail, makes the effort to get her daughter to a 7:45 a.m. class three times a week. My students can't spend thousands on instruments or private lessons. I use whatever equipment I have available and we just go for it. And somehow it works."It is not an uncommon task, in the course of my lessons, to go over with the student, other academic disiplines such as proper writing skills and grammar, which I feel are (essential) to successful communication skills."
Pardon my error.
Jerald Franklin Archer
This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Violinist.com is made possible by...
Dimitri Musafia, Master Maker of Violin and Viola Cases
2023 Authenticate LA: Los Angeles Violin Shop
ARIA International Summer Academy
Johnson String Instrument/Carriage House Violins
Discover the best of Violinist.com in these collections of editor Laurie Niles' exclusive interviews.
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 1, with introduction by Hilary Hahn
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 2, with introduction by Rachel Barton Pine