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Children attend violin camp at Veritas academy

MICHAEL KELLY The Marietta Times Sophia Parlin, 10, attends to her teacher as she works on passages from “Old Joe Clark” at the Veritas Classical Academy summer violin camp Thursday. The week-long camp concludes Friday with a recital at 11:30 a.m. in the music room at the academy.

The opening strains of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” echoed down the dark corridors of Veritas Classical Academy, littered with boxes, supplies and other evidence that school is about to start. It was the next to last day of a week-long violin academy.

Vivaldi likely would have been pleased, not just because one of his best-known works has become almost universally recognized nearly 300 years after it written, but also because Vivaldi was a teacher in addition to being a composer.

In a classroom just off the main hallway, teacher Megan Dougherty led four elementary-age students through upbeats and downbeats on Thursday. The sound of violins, she said, is nothing unusual at the school.

“Part of a classical education is to take music seriously,” she said. “It’s also an enhancement for brain development in children, and after studying it we decided that the violin was the instrument we wanted.”

Starting last year, violin became part of the study requirements for third through sixth graders at the academy, she said. For those who want extra study, she said, summer camps are available, and also open to students from other schools.

Sam Milazzo, 12, is a first-year student of violin. Despite its reputation as being a daunting instrument to learn, he said his studies are going well.

“It’s hard when you first start, but then you get used to it,” he said.

Dougherty’s four students headed down the hallway to join another group of four being taught by violinist April Bridgwood.

The larger ensemble began with “Old Joe Clark.” Isolating three notes, she said, “OK, let’s make it even better by bowing up-up-down.”

“Those first two notes are played on the A string?” Sam said. “I have been doing this all wrong.”

A barrage of research over the years has found the universal benefits of playing musical instruments for children, Dougherty said: better cognitive development that improves reasoning, short-term memory, planning and organizing, which ultimately results in better academic results along with nurturing creativity.

The camp culminates this morning with a public recital at 11:30 a.m. in the academy music room.

The academy is located in the Harmar Hill neighborhood, on Victory Place at Alta Street.

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