This past weekend me and My Man volunteered for the Xcel Energy Day of Service. What is this you may ask? It is a day that Xcel Energy Employees, their families, and customers give back to the community. I became aware of this from an email I received from Xcel Energy. I was interested, so I looked through all the volunteer opportunities they had available and signed us up. I chose to volunteer for El Sistema where we would be making cardboard violins. I really had no idea what to expect.
As you can see from the photos above, our group made cardboard violins for young students at some local schools here in Denver. There were about 25 volunteers at our location. Some people traced the shapes, some people cut the shapes and others used masking tape to assemble the violins. Once they were taped together in the violin shape, we wrote messages on them for the students. As part of the program the students attend, they along with their parents, will paper mache the violins, then they will paint them as shown in the bottom center photo.
Cardboard violins you may ask? Yes, cardboard. These kids are in kindergarten, and this helps prepare them for a real violin at a later time. They learn to hold the violin properly, and are given special bows that also teach them hand movements so they can master the basics of the instrument. El Sistema is a unique program. It introduces music at some low income schools where music classes and instruments are not available. The violins we helped make will put instruments in the hands of these students. The students work hard and learn so much. They will even perform for the community. I hope you will visit their website to read more about what they do. El Sistema has programs nationwide. It is pretty awesome. Music does so much for kids, it is nice to see organizations like El Sistema in our community!
We watched a video about the program they offer, it touched my heart to see the smiles on the kids faces. I hope they will always make beautiful music!
As you can see from the photos above, our group made cardboard violins for young students at some local schools here in Denver. There were about 25 volunteers at our location. Some people traced the shapes, some people cut the shapes and others used masking tape to assemble the violins. Once they were taped together in the violin shape, we wrote messages on them for the students. As part of the program the students attend, they along with their parents, will paper mache the violins, then they will paint them as shown in the bottom center photo.
Cardboard violins you may ask? Yes, cardboard. These kids are in kindergarten, and this helps prepare them for a real violin at a later time. They learn to hold the violin properly, and are given special bows that also teach them hand movements so they can master the basics of the instrument. El Sistema is a unique program. It introduces music at some low income schools where music classes and instruments are not available. The violins we helped make will put instruments in the hands of these students. The students work hard and learn so much. They will even perform for the community. I hope you will visit their website to read more about what they do. El Sistema has programs nationwide. It is pretty awesome. Music does so much for kids, it is nice to see organizations like El Sistema in our community!
We watched a video about the program they offer, it touched my heart to see the smiles on the kids faces. I hope they will always make beautiful music!
It's like air violin... But with a cardboard prop. I'm thinking about making a couple more for myself.
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