This year is the first year of RMA’s violin orchestra, led by RMA’s very own, Ms. Cameron. Ms Cameron, who has been playing the violin since she was three years old and played all throughout college, was inspired to start the orchestra because she had always loved playing in an orchestra and found that it made playing an instrument more fun. She has been teaching lessons to students for three to four years now, and wanted them to have the same opportunity of playing in an orchestra. The rehearsals for lower school are in the morning and at flex for middle school, so this gives students who have a busy schedule outside of school the chance to learn and master an instrument. Ms. Cameron is using Violin Karate to help motivate the students to work hard and make improvements. Every couple of weeks the students can test their skills to earn a certain color “belt”, which is then added to the scroll of their violin. It is a fun way for the students to push themselves to improve their skills and adds healthy competition to the practices each week. 

Ms. Cameron’s favorite part about instructing the orchestra is seeing how quickly the students improved. She says violin is the hardest instrument to learn and “you have to stand a certain way, your left hand has to move around to different strings independently while your right hand stays still and your left arm stays still while your right arm moves up and down and balances on strings. On top of all that you have to read music and keep a steady beat. Needless to say it’s a lot, but these students already sound so great and are already sight reading music.” 

The grades that are participating in the orchestra are third grade, fourth grade, and middle school. The third graders meet on Tuesdays before school starts, the fourth graders meet on Wednesdays before school, and middle school meets every other Monday during flex and break. The middle school rehearsals have not started yet, but Elizabeth Chestnut is so excited about being able to play as a group and Sophie Chafin is looking forward to playing the violin with a bunch of other people. The third graders have already started! Chandler Brown and Ava Davis say they enjoy everything about it and it is super fun! Saumya Salunke says she loves pretty much everything about it, especially being able to practice with Ms. Cameron outside of her lessons and Ananya Mettu says he loves playing the violin with his friends! The fourth graders have also already started rehearsals, and Simmons Gross says her favorite part is hearing themselves playing the pretty music. Molly Flemming says she loves being a part of the orchestra because she loves playing with her friends, and Allie Coughter enjoys it because she loves to play her violin! The violin orchestra is going to be a fantastic experience for these students and Ms. Cameron is owed a huge thank you for making it possible!