One of the music summer camps at the Averitt Center for the Arts, Violin Camp, began on June 6 and will end on June 10.

 The program allows children ages 7-12 to find passion in playing the violin while they learn the basics of the instrument at the same time.

The students learn not only how to play the violin, but they also learn more about music itself.

They learn how to draw notes, they’re taught a little musical history and they learn about other instruments in the orchestra as well.

One of the camp directors, Jonathan Aceto, focuses on specific pieces like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and different variations of the song.

“It’s always fun to work with the kids,” Aceto said. “All of these kids are so eager and interested in learning not only the instrument but also music. Just watching their faces and seeing the eagerness and the interest in playing the instrument and just music in general is just wonderful.”

The first 45 minutes is composed of exercises with the violin including actual song pieces, how to use the bow, and some fun games with the violin.

The next 45 minutes consists of theory teachings to learn about the notes, how to write music and recognize the pitches and rhythms.

The last part of the class, the students get to watch videos about the history of music for example and they even get to see musicians performing.

“I’ve been focusing on just a couple of pieces to teach them, that I know they can really succeed at.” Aceto said.

Some students in the class have experience and some of them are complete beginners who have never picked up a violin before.

At the end of the camp, the students will perform what they learned.