By PARKER KESTON | Junior Reporter
Music is so important to me. Without it, the world would be very quiet.
When I was in first grade, I chose to play an instrument with Children’s Music Workshop at my school. I loved the way the violin sounded and how it let me express myself and my feelings. Even better, orchestra met during P.E., which meant instead of running laps and doing pushups, I got to play Mozart and Tchaikovsky.
Fast forward a couple of years and now I am in fourth grade. Unfortunately, this year violin is not during P.E., but social studies, which is one of my favorite subjects. Since I didn’t want to miss it, my goal became to move up to the next level to play with the honors orchestra class.
I worked and worked and practiced really hard and midway through the school year, saw my perseverance pay off—I was invited to join honors orchestra!
The experience was challenging but also fun. Mr. Newman, our conductor, takes the hardest working students from each of his 27 schools and combines them to create the All-Schools Honors Orchestra.
Our final concert was at UCLA Schoenberg Hall on May 6. We played many songs such as “William Tell Overture,” “Romeo and Juliette Overture” and “Star Wars” (Mr. Newman conducted the song with a light saber!). I learned a lot during this process, and I was very proud of the 115 kids who played along with me and myself for putting on such a successful concert.
Playing a musical instrument helps kids by improving their memory—it challenges our minds and uses both sides of our brain, which helps memory power. Playing a musical instrument also teaches patience. Learning to play an instrument takes time. Most importantly though, playing a musical instrument is fun because it brings happiness and joy, and you can play music with your friends.
Music is one of my passions. It is important to me and many other children across Los Angeles.
All you other musicians out there, what do you play?
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