St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic primary school in Guildford has
just started a fantastic new string scheme, along the lines of the
governments Wider Opportunities, but with one big difference – it's
funded privately. The Royal Grammar School in Guildford, Brittens
Music Shop, Allianz Musical Insurance and ESTA(UK) have all combined
to provided tuition, instruments, insurance and support to create
the opportunity for children at the school.
Every kid in year 4 is now learning a string instrument, during
normal lesson time, under the expert tuition of a team of teachers.
Instruments, music and enthusiasm have been provided for free, and
all that the pupils need to do is to get involved, get learning and
play as much as possible in addition to the thirty minutes per week
playing in school. They have been divided into groups of 15 and each
term will finish with a concert for families and friends.
Any advanced students in or around the Guildford area who would like
to help out would be welcomed with open arms – even tuning 60
instruments is a big job! If you think you could spare some time,
even for half a term or so, then get in touch with the head, Kevin
Gawley, on head@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk. This is a
fantastic opportunity to use your musical ability to help out kids
who might not otherwise have the opportunity to play a string
instrument, and who knows - you might even get a buzz out of
teaching and think about it as a future!
I like my cello lessons because it is fun learning a classical instrument. I think it is good to learn different ways to play a song each week. It is nice to be able to play two different instruments.
Alexander Legassick
I like my cello lessons because it is fun learning a classical
instrument. I think it is good to learn different ways to play a
song each week. It is nice to be able to play two different
instruments.
Alexander Legassick
I was really happy and excited because we were going to be learning
cello or violin .On our first week Anne Milton, Mrs Ratccliff and
some people from the RGS all came .We were taught how to hold our
instrument and the rest position. On the 3rd week we were taught how
to hold the bow and how to play in a flight. They teach it to us in
easy steps and funny steps. It also makes us more clever by being
able to read notes and if you bring in your instrument and you
practise they sometimes give you sweets!
Annabel Carter |
