WKU News

WKU’s Pre-College Strings program hasn’t missed a beat in spite of the pandemic challenges presented over the past few years.

After wrapping up the school year with a group recital recently, the program is now gearing up to be back in person for next month’s Summer String Institute, as WKU’s Amy Bingham shows us in this week’s View from the Hill.

This is the Suzuki playdown method.

“Which means we take a bunch of pieces and repertoire and we start from the hardest pieces and we play down to the easiest piece.

“By the end we’ll have 60 kids playing the very first piece in Suzuki bookline which is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

“Violin has definitely played a big role in my life.”

Twelve-year-old Leah Chen has been playing violin since the first grade.

“I think I’ve made so many friends from this program, also just learned a lot about musical expression and things like that.”

Caliann only has one year under her belt but her mom hopes she’s in it for the long haul.

“One thing that learning the violin and this program really teaches children is long term goals and dedication.”

The strings program has benefited from the instruction of Dr. Andy Braddock and Dr. Ching-Yi Lin for more than a decade.

“That’s what I try to do with my teaching is give my students a really clear pathway to success.”

The learning will continue at the popular Summer String Institute next month, a weeklong camp that even welcomes beginners as young as 4 years old.

“Any parents that are looking to have their child challenged but also have fun learning something, I would definitely recommend it.”

“It’s really fun.”

 WKU’s Summer String Institute will be held July 18-22.