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Captain Elementary's fourth- and fifth grade strings students didn't let COVID-19 stop their Winter Orchestra Concert. Both masked and socially-distanced, these students performed in the gymnasium as they would have pre-pandemic.
The fourth grade strings class performed a few selections from Suzuki 1 Book and fifth grade performed a few from Ralph Matesky's "Learn to Play in the Orchestra." Both groups highlighted an advanced piece during their performance, selected fourth grade students performed "Perpetual Motion" and selected fifth graders performed "La Chasse."
This year is particularly unique for District strings students because they all started their learning experience over Zoom. For the fourth graders, the majority of them had never touched an instrument before and the beginning stages of how to hold their instrument, bow and put it all together was taught over Zoom.
In an ordinary year, starting in-person, the beginning stages are very hands-on with the help of the teacher and very difficult to grasp. For fifth graders, some of them switched instruments altogether - from violin to cello or viola. They had to learn everything new over Zoom.
"It is quite remarkable that these students were able to achieve so much in one year considering the circumstances," said Monica Holy, Instrumental / Strings teacher for the District. "And honestly, we didn't hold back very much this year. These students were driven and determined to achieve just as much as in any other orchestra year - and they certainly did!"
Another unique aspect to this performance is it is Captain's first introduction of a fourth grade cello class. Typically students do not get the opportunity to switch to cello until they enter fifth grade.
"This is the first year we were able to organize a cello ensemble at Captain," Holy added. "The cellists this year have exceeded all of our expectations and once again, they learned the beginning stages of how to work their instruments over Zoom. They have made all of us very proud."
Take a look at the photos below and follow the links for the individual strings performances.
