Hot Docs: Joe's Violin

Hot Docs: Joe’s Violin

“The students at the Bronx Global Learning Institute for Girls learn to play the violin from a very young age, and instruction in violin is mandatory at the school. In your opinion, should music be a compulsory part of education? What is your experience with music education over the course of your schooling?”

Joe’s Violin is a documentary that has won the Webby award, 8 Fest Audience Awards, and 4 Grand Jury prizes. It is directed and produced by Kahane Cooperman and produced by Raphaela Neihausen. This documentary is about a 91 year old holocaust survivor, Joseph Feingold, who donated his 70 year old violin he bought in Germany to a school in New York called the Bronx Global Learning Institute for Girls, forever changing

It is mandatory for them. Personally, I would think otherwise. Music is just another skill one can have for entertainment, but it isn’t required to make a living, to find a job with a good pay. “The violin program here is treated as any other subject area,” says Kokoe Tanaka-Suwan, BGLIG’s Musical Director, “every single student in the school learns how to play the violin from kindergarten, day 1.” I wonder why this school takes their instrumental courses so seriously; there must be some reason, perhaps it’s because the school had some sort of background with music and the

But is it compulsory to live a great and cheerful life? Maybe for some people, but personally I think of music as just a hobby. Unless you’re going to be a musician, I think that you wouldn’t need music. I am not saying that music is a bad thing and that it is useless and just a waste of time, you might not need it but it is still a very good skill to have. For example, when you are sad, or are having a very bad day, you could just bring up your guitar, for example, and cheer yourself up with some music. “Everyone has those days where it’s like dark for them, but most people find their light , and my light is playing the violin,” says Brianna. You can also play music to relax yourself, after a hard day.

Music is very interesting and entertaining to do. But still, other subjects in school in my opinion, are more important in life. From my personal experience, from all the things I’ve learned at school, I think that the most important things I needed outside of school is english and math, english because everytime we communicate in the language, we are using it, and math, for everyday situations. Music, I just play it as a hobby, other than that, I don’t really use what I’ve learned in music class outside of