INSIDE

Kid’s music school to get underway

By Meg Olson

“Our whole idea is to minimize frustration and put the accent on fun,” said Arts Foundation board member Craig Jacks of the Wednesday night music school at Trinity church, which will be starting up again this fall.

“It’s ended up being a beginner’s school this year,” Jacks said, based on the level of the 35 children who have signed up to participate.

After 40 minutes of a general lesson or music theory, Jacks said, “we break off into the drum room, the keyboard, vocals and guitar rooms.” In smaller groups professionals in each discipline teach the students with loaned instruments.

“We provide all the instruments to work with and sign them out or gift them,” Jacks said. The curriculum also features feature performers who come to teach about their instrument, such as an organ demonstration last year by church organist Sylvia Schonberg.

“We’re learning rhythms, melody, how to approach and tune an instrument,” Jacks said. “We teach it like a language – sentences in music are very similar to the sentences we speak.”

To keep the program fun, “we have little celebrations,” Jacks said. “There’s a recreational angle to it. A lot of parents would attend and got involved. We see it as a way to bring families together.”

For more information on joining the school, which is due to start at the end of October, call Jacks at 945-1792.

BACK TO TOP