Editor’s Note: This post is the 2nd in a series written by NEC/MIE alumna and music educator Helen Liu reporting on the emerging violin M+MI program at the Atrium School in Watertown, MA. Read all of the posts in this series here.

This morning was a good one at the Atrium School where the Explorers (persona of the 2nd and 3rd graders) were each fitted with an appropriate sized violin and shoulder sponge, and his or her own foot chart. It was my first contact with them so it was nice to connect the faces to the list of names.

As you can imagine, things got pretty hectic soon enough. We started off well with the first two kids, then slowly kids started popping out due to curiosity. They were all good and well-behaved kids but we made to sure to be firm about not touching the instruments and materials. It was also nice to work with Beatrice and figure out which sizes worked for each kid. I think we’re going to be successful in the “posture” area, which is sooo important! To quote her, they “already look like Paganinis.”

While Beatrice worked on the fitting of violins, I helped each kid make their own foot chart. Foot charts are important, especially in a group setting, because it centers their attention and maintains personal space. We used manila folders and drew their different feet positions: rest position in blue, “unzip” position in red, and playing position in green.

After all the kids are done, we made sure to fit the adults and classroom teachers too. I even got a chance to hold a violin using a sponge (size 6) and surprisingly, it was very comfortable. I would have to try to play with it before I rave about it. I’m honestly starting to get tired of my Wolf Secondo rest. Anyways, this a good learning experience for me and the excitement is contagious. I’m looking forward to this Friday when the school experiences the first day of violin class :]

Check out Helen’s website: helengliu.info/blog

| This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Atrium School, Community Collaborations, M+MI Curricular Programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.