Young Hoosiers learn the violin

FRENCH LICK, Ind. -- The sound of violins can now be heard at a southern Indiana elementary school as three third-graders have started learning to play the instrument as part of a new school program. The school district sought grants from two companies and bought three violins at $400 each to start the program at Springs Valley Elementary School, district superintendent Roger Fisher said.\nCamille Rathfon, a violinist from French Lick who was hired as the instructor, meets with the three children for an hour every Monday morning. The program is free, and the students are able to take the violins home to practice.\nFisher said he wanted to start such a program because he was worried music classes were often losing out because of the emphasis being placed on standardized tests in academic subjects.\n"I'm not at all opposed to ISTEP," he said. "But we don't want to become totally absorbed by it. We want kids to be able to pursue the fine arts."\nThe 9-year-olds were picked because they excelled in music class at the school about 50 miles south of Bloomington.\n"In a small, rural community, there's little opportunity for kids to do something like this," Rathfon said. "To even consider trying to start this program was such a progressive idea that I was all for it."\nFisher said if this year's students decided to continue to play the violin, then over the summer the district would seek the money to buy more instruments to add a new group.\nPrincipal Tony Whitaker said he hoped this year was the first of many for the program.\n"It's still early -- not a lot of people are aware of it yet," he said. "But it's really a unique thing to walk down the hall and hear violins"