Recently, the curtains at the Shanghai Theatre Academy opened for a very talented group: Hongqiao Campus Year 2 and Year 3 students performing in their Spring Violin Concert. Violin lessons are a compulsory part of the YCIS Primary education programme, beginning in Year 1, because of well-documented evidence illustrating that musical training enhances a child's spatial-temporal reasoning, leading to improved memory span and intellectual development. In addition, the ability to differentiate between notes on the violin helps students with tone recognition as they learn the multi-tonal language of Mandarin Chinese.

Throughout the evening’s performance, different groups took the stage to perform their pieces, each unique and with a purpose to take the audience on a musical journey.

This year’s concert began with the well-known YCIS Violin Song, which featured over two hundred Primary students on the large stage. The pleasant notes coming from the students’ violins made the audience feel as though they were walking on a pleasant spring day.

Year 2 students led the audience to a world of creatures: jumping frogs, agile fish, bold tigers, and powerful elephants. It seemed they all followed our students to the theatre!

Then a Year 2 student, Bobby, performed a solo of Allegro Forth Movement From Sonata in D, HWV 371, Op. 1 No. 13. Bobby recently won first place in his age division for the Yew Chung Allegro Music Competition. The audience was amazed by his confident, impressive performance!

The Year 3 students followed next with Torreador’ Song, The Happy Farmer, and Skater’s Waltz. Their style and melody provided the audience with a very special experience.

One of the unique performances was a jazz piece, which was performed brilliantly by six students from Year 3- 5, resulting in prolonged applause. Then, all of the Chinese teachers from Year 2 and Year 3 played a song together called Hungarian Dance, demonstrating their own skills with the bow. Later in the evening, parents were heard praising the teachers for their musical ability.

The concert then concluded on a high note with the YCIS Chinese Folk Song Medley, a melody arranged by Mr Gary Sanderson, Head of Music and Visual Arts Division for YCIS, that incorporates several Chinese folk songs.

The concert was another wonderful opportunity for our parents to enjoy an impressive YCIS concert, and they were able to see first hand the progress their children have made in learning the violin, as well as the results of our teachers’ diligent work.

Contributed By: Sissi Wang, Violin Teacher, YCIS Shanghai