Kids orchestra takes first bow

DURHAM -- In September they received their small violins.

On Saturday, they stood as tall as pre-kindergartners to third-graders can and played their first public performance to a nearly full auditorium.

"Our kids already know how to read music after two months of working," KidZNotes executive director Katie Wyatt said proudly.

Sponsored by Durham Public Schools, the Durham Symphony and the East Durham Children's Initiative, the program is based on "El Sistema," a model that began in Venezuela. That program has established a national system of youth orchestras that promotes positive change for thousands of the country's underprivileged children.

The performance Saturday started with students singing and playing a song about a fox "with dirty socks" who likes to walk "on dirty rocks." The next piece, an A-string concerto, was followed by "Lean on Me," "Jingle Bells," and "Feliz Navidad."

The music inspired tears and cheers in the audience at the Holton Career and Resource Center on North Driver Street.

"KidZNotes has brought out the courage, the self-esteem, the confidence in children who may have never found it," said Lillian Presley, a music specialist at Y.E. Smith Elementary School who started tearing up before the students even took the stage.

KidZNotes provides free music training and instruments to up to 60 Durham children from Eastway, E.K. Powe and Smith elementary schools.

Wyatt has been approached by representatives of symphonies in Charlotte and Asheville seeking to expand the program.

The program has taught students discipline without their even realizing it, Presley said. Despite long practices after school four days a week and every Saturday, the children are always eager to learn more, she said.

The biggest challenge? Transportation, Presley said. Some families don't have a vehicle to pick up their children after school or take them to Saturday practice.

Parents say the program has drawn shy students out of their shells.

April Adams, 25, said her daughter Zaire Abdul-Azeez, was never really into music. Now the 6-year-old can name every part of the violin and often plays "air violin" because the students have not yet taken the instruments home.

When Wyatt announced after Saturday's concert that students could take their instruments home for Christmas break, the news drew excited gasps and giggles.

Donald Moore, 8, said his mother would need to stop by the store on the way home to get a new sponge that helps comfort his elbow when he plays.

"I am going to practice," said the third-grader.