Amy Yewon An (Violin) – Los Angeles Branch
Cerritos High (Class of 2009)
No matter how much older I get, I remain the youngest in my family. That might be why I am so attached to children. Innocent faces of children delight me and teaching these children inspires me to learn from their simple-mindedness. In an organization called Love-in-Music, I volunteer to teach violin to elementary school kids whose families are unable to afford them private lessons. Taking a thirty-minute drive from Cerritos to Santa Ana every Saturday morning, I am overwhelmed with excitement to meet these kids each week.
Because of my genuine care and love towards the children, I became one of the team leaders at Love-in-Music. On the first day of the new violin class, everyone was sitting around in a half-circle and was playing through “Jingle Bells” when I spotted a girl who was continually creating a scratchy tone on her violin. Squeak, squawk. Squeak, squawk. I stopped the noise and split up the class into three groups of two for some fundamental practices. As I had expected, there were kids who could not hold their bows properly and others who could not keep a consistent tempo. There were even kids who had been playing the “Jingle Bells” by memory because they did not know how to read the music. To help these children get rid of their old habits, I concentrated on helping one pair of kids at a time. Note by note, I clearly marked the bowings and counted out each beat for the kids. Lastly, I corrected all the notes and rhythms that they had misplayed.
As I was advising each pair of these kids, I was amazed at how quickly they were picking up the corrections and changes. I applauded whenever I noticed efforts in the children and gave them points next to their names on the whiteboard to recognize their hard work. Using the point system motivated kids to work beyond their usual commitment to playing the violin and transformed the learning into a fun activity. After twenty minutes of concentrated practice, I gathered everyone back together for an individual playing test. This time, each kid played with the correct intonations, bowings, and rhythms, just as I had instructed. The remarkable improvement of each kid made me proud. I was proud of the children for making such a big progress in a short amount of time, and proud of myself for successfully helping these children.
Volunteering at Love-in-Music enables me to work with limitless children from limiting circumstances. My kids show up every week, humbly willing to learn and shyly mumbling “thank you” to me at the end of the class. Seeing these adorable children, I am inspired to always have a childlike heart—being grateful for even the smallest things and humbly approaching challenges. Therefore, I wish to continue my education so that I could further share my knowledge and abilities in helping young children find and reach their full potential.