A letter to future orchestra members

During the school year, I tutored the violin at my old middle school through a program that we called BOW.  I really enjoyed the time that I spent there, so my middle school orchestra teacher asked me to write out some of my thoughts about the program.

Dear future orchestra members, 

I want to tell you guys a little bit about the B-- Orchestra Workshop, how I started going to it, and how it became one of the things that made my Fridays even better. 

At the beginning of senior year, having completely blown off NHS my junior year, I was in dire need of points.  When I heard that I could tutor violin for points, my first reaction was actually, “But what if I mess these kids up even more while trying to teach them?” 

I decided to try it anyway. 

I don’t know if you all realize, but a lot of the younger students really look up to us.  My kids were always saying things like, “How did you get so good?” and “How can you play that without even practicing?”  Even if you don’t think you have anything to offer, please believe me when I say that you do, and not just because you know more than they do. 

Because even though Mrs. G-- is an amazing teacher, she is only one person, and I think it helps to have that individual support and attention that BOW gives.  Every time I went, I felt like I was actually making a difference, even if it was just a little bit. 

My only complaint is that we often did not have enough tutors to offer that kind of one-on-one time that I felt was needed.  I always had to tutor two or three students, which was inconvenient and difficult for them and for me.  I kept waiting for the day when we would have enough tutors so that I could focus on just one student at a time, but it never happened. 

So while I’m definitely not asking you to drop every other commitment for this, if you know that you’ll be free after school every once in a while, please consider adding your email to the tutors list or giving your number to someone in charge so that they can contact you if they’re short on tutors. 

After all, even though we all know that orchestra is about the music, there’s more to it than that:  Being in orchestra makes us part of a team and a community, and we’ve got a bit of a responsibility to give back to it. 

Sincerely,
Shela.