Inspiring the Next Generation

Author: Amanda Goodwin, Artistcorps

We were instructing our last group of preschoolers and it was time to pack up the mini violins and walk back to their classroom from the auditorium. One of the boys was talking about how he wanted to play for a lot of people when he grows up. I asked him "you want to play in front of thousands of people?", and his response: "I want to play in front of a hundred thousand people!" It excited me to hear the dreams of someone so young. I decided to let him put the violin back in the case and zip it up. He asked if he could carry it back for me, and how could I refuse? 

When I previously worked at a stringed instrument rental shop, we would always make sure that we handed the instrument to the kid who was going to learn how to play it. Those kids who carried their instruments out of the shop themselves would be more likely to continue with music. I'm not sure why we didn't think of having the last group we taught carry the mini violin cases before!

We walked our last group of preschoolers down the hallway and our hearts practically melted as we watched them carry the cases. They looked so happy, confident, and comfortable with carrying the instruments. They weren't just preschoolers anymore, they were young musicians.