Students have fun learning to fiddle

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This article was published 16/02/2005 (7801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GRADE 5 Margaret Park student Abduselam Yussuf may not have a violin at home, but that doesn’t stop him from practising.

“Usually I practise at home on my hand,” he says. “It’s fun.”

Yussuf is just one of about 150 violin enthusiasts at Margaret Park School. Along with the Frontier Fiddlers, which includes 50 students from all across northern Manitoba, students in Grades 3, 4 and 5 are putting on a free violin concert on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. for the public.

“We’ve been working really hard and there’s been a lot of progress,” says teacher and program initiator Elana Hiller. “I wanted to see a program offered to children who might not otherwise get the chance to play violin.”

Hiller says she started the violin program two years ago as a six-week test project. She says it was so successful, students now play the violin every Thursday for half an hour in addition to their regular music class.

Hiller says students also have the opportunity to join the violin club, which meets after school on Mondays for practice.

According to Hiller, Margaret Park has a large number of aboriginal students. She says there are already existing programs at the school that connect with aboriginal culture, like hoop dancing, jigging and Pow Wow club, and that learning to fiddle on the violin is another way students can relate to their background.

“Hopefully some day we’ll have some fiddlers who can play while someone is jigging,” she says.

Hiller says teaching violin to younger students gives them an opportunity to develop their musical skills and progress at an earlier age. She says the violin is a way for students to connect with one another as they learn and gives them something to be proud of.

Although Hiller says violin is one of the most difficult instruments to learn, students like Elan Levine aren’t convinced. As he plays the fiddling tune Boil Em Cabbage Down flawlessly, Levine says the violin comes naturally to him — except for the fingers.

“It’s actually pretty simple,” he says.