European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 26, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday. September 26, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 s8.s photo by l Corr wet Law or Kristin of Pasquale foreground10, plays her violin in Early morning class it  Al com near scr my. Pupils go Tor Challenge of string instruments or. Joan Burton demonstrates proper Bow hand posh Ion. Imatt Lew i or. B mry  staff writer Kail  the strings program was plucked from the imagination of loan Burton the school s music Peci Alisi who holds a doctorate in music education. She created the program which is offered in addition to traditional music classes four ears ago for gifted Chil Dren now however the program is open to any Pupil willing to spend at least a year learning to play a siring instrument and 15 minutes a Day prac timing. Burton meets with pupils and their parents before  Start. They must commit themselves for a i till year she said. So far almost every Pupil has kept the Promise and Many have moved on to second and third years of instruction. The program is open to pupils in fourth fifth or sixth grades. They Pur Chase their own violins which Cost $200 to $400 but Burton lends instruments to Hose who can t afford to buy. I saw these kids needing something to Challenge them something Lough hard something they would have to do at Home. Strings was it Burton said. Strings Are the perfect Challenge be cause the coordination needed is unbelievable. It is highly intellectual she said. Yet pupils Don t shy away from the hard work. Siring instruments Hae a great Deal of  Burton said they line the sound the warmth of it the love to Ait and  they appreciate the difficulty and Are fascinated by  the Tiung stars apparent were ready and waiting for he Challenge. They lumped at the Chance to enrol from the moment Burton first ulfred the course. We had an unbelievable response the said " 1 he filled the room " Toda. More than 100 youngsters Are taking siring classes or playing in the All Simi i orchestra. The number would be greater. Burton said in so Many children did l move each year Burton and school administrators started the orc Csira last year after re Al i in that Middle and High school students had no outlet for the skills they had Learned in elementary school. The orchestra practices twice each week before school starts in the morn ing Many youngsters like 1 3-year-old amyl Arru of. Have stayed with strings Een though the no longer can take Burton s class. Amy. An eight Grade Middle school Pupil first experienced strings in her third Grade class in the Stales. She also participated in a fourth Grade orches tra and has been playing violin in Kaiserslautern for three years. Ler since then third Grade i be had the urge to play the  she said. Most people give up because it is such a difficult instrument. I just want to stay with it i Hope one Day to be in a philharmonic orchestra but i Don t know in that will  Kaiserslautern i lenient a by is the Only school offering the strings pro Gram now. But that May change. Bur Ion will hold a workshop for music teachers next month to share her string program ideas so thai other teachers can Start similar programs in their schools. She also would expand the program to pupils in firm through third grades at Kaiserslautern Lenien tary if she had the time. Many parents she said would like their children to enrol sooner. It s Mil just music this is a method of learning things she said. Parents want All the advantages for their Chil Dren they can