If you listened just right, it sounded like notes coming together as part of a song. But more often, it was just notes – some sour – being played by elementary students holding instruments for the first time.
One boy, bow in hand, sawed at a viola as if it were a piece of wood.
And a girl dragged her bow across the E string of a violin until it squeaked.
Another boy blew into a saxophone as if he were the Big Bad Wolf trying to blow down the little piggies’ home. He played the same note, 10 to 15 times.
Dozens of children sampled string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments Saturday in Jones Hall at Fort Lewis College as part of Instrument Discovery Day, sponsored by Katzin Music, Music in the Mountains and the college’s music department.
“We’re just so lucky to have a community that supports this,” said Durango resident Jamie Wienk, mother of Samina, 7, who attends Riverview Elementary and was learning violin.
“We tried guitar, and that didn’t work, and then we tried piano,” she said.
Saturday’s event was more than an “instrument petting zoo,” in which children simply make noise. Instead, each child received a mini lesson from instructors who are versed in the instruments being played.
It was a chance for kids to learn which instruments feel good to them, said Ruth Katzin, owner of Katzin Music.
Some parents take it upon themselves to decide which instrument their child should play, perhaps because they already have a piano in the house, Katzin said. But it should be the child’s decision.
Even then, children may think they know which instrument they want to play, only to learn after purchasing it and taking a few lessons that it’s not for them, she said.
Instrument Discovery Day helps children make more informed decisions, Katzin said.
Joseba Izaguirre, 9, a third-grader at Riverview Elementary, said he wants to play the flute. “It just sounds good,” he said. Standing outside a practice room where another child was learning the French Horn, he said it sounded like a “barking dog.”
Said his mother, Denise Izaguirre: “It’s a great opportunity for these kiddos to try every instrument to see what fits their personality, their needs.”
Music teaches confidence, discipline, skill, and “heart and soul,” Katzin said. Kids successfully enrolled in music programs tend to excel at academics more so than kids who don’t participate in extracurricular activities, she said.
“The brain, when it’s learning all of this, it’s developing more than just the music,” she said. “It’s very much like sports in that you learn these skills, you learn these disciplines. But I don’t know if you get heart and soul out of sports like you get heart and soul out of music.”
As the first wave of students finished up, the unmistakable sounds of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” could be heard coming from a piano room – played in staccato.
shane@durangoherald.com
