School orchestra bans 6th-grader's purple violin

by ~ The Rebel ~ Posted 2012/09/14 17:33:55

Related Topics: Teacher, School, Career, color, Distracted, Class, Middle, Times, Middle School, Bans, Second, Rent, Old

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All 11-year-old Camille Cruz wanted to do was play in her sixth-grade orchestra class at a Farmington, N.M., middle school using a violin her grandmother bought her.

This instrument is definitely different: Not only does it have sentimental value, it's purple - and that was where school officials drew the line. They insisted Camille had to play a violin the same color as everyone else's, or she couldn't play at all.

Camille told the Daily Times her classmates were not distracted by her violin. "They said, 'Oh, that's so cool. I wish we all had purple violins,'" she said.

But the girl's musical career hit a sour note on the second day of school this month when her teacher informed her the purple violin was out, and that she would have to rent one of the district's violins for $30.

☆stillthe12c☆ 2012/09/14 18:38:14

+1
Not interested in teaching just dictating.

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seahawk665 2012/09/14 18:04:02

+1
From where I'm coming from, I think she's probably better off learning from the school's instrument than the purple violin. Not because it's different and sticks out, but it may not be of good quality. I don't know what company made the violin, nor do I know much about violins anyway, but it probably just wasn't made well. I know from experience playing the clarinet that colored clarinets are typically of poor quality. First the colored clarinets are plastic. Really well-made, top of the line clarinets are made of wood. Second, the tone they produce is just terrible. I have yet to find a colored clarinet that this wasn't true of. The article mentioned that the instructor had to keep tuning the instrument, I'm guessing, more than necessary. Maybe it WAS poorly made. Learning to play on poorly made instruments will cause a lot of frustration to a beginner. Then again, a quick Google search for "purple violins" came up with violins made by Cremona, which is well-known for their violins. So I don't know. All I know is that it is a shame that this whole experience turned this girl off from learning to play the violin. She may have loved it, but she will never know now....

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