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In today’s guest blog, Fiona Sharp shares the success of a talented pupil she is working with in Scotland. Fiona is an Associate Musician with Drake Music Scotland, who arranged this project. She is also the founder of F Sharp Music, recently celebrating their 10 year anniversary.
Fiona and Arnas
Natural Talent
From a very young age Arnas has shown a great talent for music, especially listening to a song and then working out how to play it on an instrument. This first became evident when he was in primary 1-2 and one day his teacher noticed Arnas playing ‘Wheels On The Bus’ on a musical toy, which had buttons on it. Arnas worked out the melody using the sound buttons on the toy.
Development
I have been working with Arnas to further develop his musical skills and interest by using Figurenotes notation. Arnas has a keen interest in playing the piano, and over the past couple of years with support from Elaine, his teaching support assistant at school, Arnas has progressed to playing the piano with both hands, and learning to play chords in the left hand as an accompaniment for the melody in the right.
Last summer Arnas and Elaine played piano together for a school event. The school are now looking at ways to further develop Arnas’s interest in music and supporting him with his developments in Figurenotes. He has his own keyboard at school and at home along with music folders full of ‘Figurenotes Songs for Arnas’.
Some clips from Arnas’s sessions with Fiona
Although Arnas tends to play music by ear, Figurenotes has allowed him to play and access a wide range of songs and will continue to do so hopefully for many years to come.
Huge thanks to the staff at Rosslyn School for their continued support and encouragement with Arnas’s piano playing.
If you’d like to share a recent project, Figurenotes journey, or your top tips, get in touch via email at Figurenotes@DrakeMusicScotland.org. We love hearing from you!
