Cello Students at Carter G. Woodson

Author: Elizabeth Cook, Carter G. Woodson School

This past Monday I performed a few variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with 5 of my cello students at Carter G. Woodson School. The site supervisor there gives me freedom to teach these students privately and create my own curriculum for them. These students were the first students I actually started on cello. Most of my experience teaching has been with at least advanced beginner. I was so proud to see four of the Carter G. students who'd touched a cello for the first time a few months ago, actually sit in front of an audience and perform. Most of these students do not take their cellos home to practice, so all of the work that went into this performance was done in our lessons. They played so well and I was so proud of what they've achieved so far. Before the concert, one of my less experienced students commented, "before you came, I didn't even know what this was," pointing at her cello. She then told me that she'd asked her mother about being able to check out a cello to practice at home, which was a big step from the first day of lessons, when she'd told me that she just wouldn't have any time to practice if she took her cello home.