A Musical Refuge.

For a small town, Wenatchee is actually quite musical, I'm pleased to say. There are lots of choirs, trios, quartets, jazz groups, singers, and locations for them to perform. It is a growing trend, as well. Music isn't very well funded in public schools, but the availability of music centers(res), teachers, and musical groups, seems to make up for it. The Woodshouse Conservatory of Music is a historical building that has been converted into such a place. It was actually donated by the Woods family in 1997 specifically for the conservation of music. It has fifteen teachers and one hundred and seventy five students. On any given day, if you walk into the conservatory, you will hear a piano, a violin, viola, or cello, a guitar, perhaps a flute, or an oboe,.....and the list goes on. I first discovered the Woodshouse when I signed up for violin lessons a couple of years ago. Its antiquated design and creeky floors reminded me of my home country, England, and I felt immediately at home. But the real gem of the conservatory is not the building itself, nor the number of students. It is how the teachers really love music and want to share it. That feeling fills the building. This past summer, the administration arranged for a kiddies' workshop, in which small children could experience, perhaps for the first time, different instruments and the basic concepts of music. The younger a person starts, apparently, the better. And then, at the other end of the spectrum, one of my violin teacher's students who I met, turned out to be in his late seventies. What an inspiration! Since I started going to the Woodshouse, my two oldest sons now take piano and guitar there, and thanks to the great teachers, our house is becoming musical.Grammar notes.Related vocabulary: choir, trio, quartet, to fund.1. The choir has over fifty singers. When they sing Handel's Messiah, it is spectacular!2. The violinist was ill today, so the trio was down to two people.3. He said that his lucky number is four; he should do well in the quartet.4. The government no longer funds music programs (mmes) in schools, so we will have to raise some money ourselves.

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