Beautiful Music

I experienced something yesterday that I have never experienced before.  Ever.  I stood in a gym, with 650 students sitting on the floor, and four professional orchestra musicians playing Haydn and Beethoven in a string quartet for all to listen.  Seriously, it nearly brought tears to my eyes.  I'm pretty sure the students didn't realize the impact of this experience.  I'm not even sure some of the adults realized the significance of this experience.  Maybe it's because I am a very musical person.  I recall begging my parents incessantly to get a piano (I didn't realize what a huge purchase that would be for a one-income, five-person family.  I was four.).  They got me the quintessential Schroeder piano - it was cream-colored plastic, with two or three octaves of keys on it and a little songbook with color-coded music notes.  I learned to read music with my Schroeder piano...and quickly outgrew it.  Finally, my parents acquiesced, and I got my piano when I was seven. 
I still play. 
I fell in love with Mozart and Beethoven; got REALLY frustrated with Bach (seriously, HOW can one person be expected to play so much so quickly?!), and felt Schumann's and Chopin's pain through their music.  I identified with Tschaikovsky, and learned the music to Humperdink's "Hansel and Gretel" - the same concert that our strings students are attending this Thursday.  So when I stood there in our gym yesterday, watching the children watch the musicians, well, it was one of the best experiences I have ever had as an educator.

The ability to expose children to the arts at a young age is priceless.  To give them real-life artists, in person performing, is amazingly priceless.  I listened to two of the musicians yesterday tell the students that they started playing violin when they were four years old.  Four.  (So how wonderful is it for our district and our school that we are able to provide instruments and instruction to second graders?!)  That alone shows students that they can do anything they put their minds to, and to follow their dreams and their passions.  These are lessons that are not found in a book, or on a worksheet.  They are lessons of the heart, of drive and motivation, of example.  It is one generation giving to another generation not only the gift of music (which to me is an invaluable gift) but of imagination and the future.  The arts provide that for us - the arts not only provide opportunities for critical thinking, analysis and evaluation on life, but provide beauty and calm.  To have 650 students in a gym sharing this type of experience...well, even for a wordy girl like me, I can't find the words to describe the experience. 
At least for me, it was impactful, and made me profoundly hopeful for the future. 
I thank the Minnesota Orchestra for providing those four musicians yesterday.  I look forward to another time with them.