Simon Hewitt Jones - The Violin Blog

Dec

24

Never Lose The Art Of Asking ‘Why?’

Filed Under Travelblog | 

We joined Nabeel Abboud Ashkar and his students in Nazareth for our final concert. These young Arab-Israeli / Palestinian students are fantastic musicians and, without flattering them too much (for they read this blog!), I’ve no doubt that the future of music here is in safe hands if there are student musicians of this quality.

nabeel abboud ashkar and his students
Mira, Yamen, Ferras and Mahmood with teacher Nabeel Abboud Ashkar

For now, I’m not going to write too much about what’s going on in Nazareth, other than to say the educational strategies being created by people such as Nabeel (a true enabler - one of those brilliant people who can encourage a child never to lose the art of asking ‘Why?’) are second to none. If such effective and thoughtful teaching can be built up throughout the communities of the West Bank too, then the musical future of this part of the world is bright. And by comparison, if little schemes such as these can be generated across all artforms, and all education sectors, like little cogs in a very large machine, then eventually the machine will equal the sum of its parts. The transferable skills children will be learning will benefit every aspect of their lives, and thence, through many thousands of individuals, their whole generation’s future.

There’s a bright future here for those who want it and who are allowed the freedom to pursue it. Even if war returns, and especially if it doesn’t, the roots of an exciting future have been sown for many. Whether they will receive it depends on the people in power having enough courage to effect the right kind of change.

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