On KNBC News: Grammy-winning Violinist Joshua Bell Visits ETM-LA Students

On Wednesday, April 22nd, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell paid a surprise visit to his littlest fans, the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders' music class at Castelar Elementary Public School in Chinatown-Downtown Los Angeles.

The students, all of whom learn music through the school's partnership with Education Through Music-Los Angeles, have been learning about Mr. Bell's life and work, and wrote letters to him inviting him to their school. Their studies culminated in a "Joshua Bell Day", in which Mr. Bell surprised the young musicians with an in-school visit, speaking about his work and sharing his love of classical music. Violin students from two other ETM-LA Partner schools - El Dorado Elementary and St. Sebastian - also participated.

"I believe in the power of music to help all children do better in school," said Bell, "so I get very excited when I hear about a program that involves every student regardless of talent, or prior training, and has music as part of its core curriculum rather than outside it. That's the way it should be done."

Bell had become involved with the ETM program in New York City after meeting ETM Executive Director Katherine Damkohler and learning about the organization's programs and successful partnerships in disadvantaged schools in New York City and Los Angeles. After receiving letters from students in the ETM-LA program, Josh decided to pay them a visit during his stay in Los Angeles while performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. ETM-LA's partnership with Castelar and its strings program is one of its most successful. Principal Cheuk Choi has a long-term vision to sustain the music program - to keep music instruction as part of the core curriculum. Research has shown that grades, academic scores, and self-esteem rises exponentially when music education is introduced, and through ETM-LA's programming, music is treated like a core subject.

"To have an artist like Joshua Bell be involved with ETM-LA, and take the time to visit with these students is such an honor for the school community," says Victoria Lanier, Executive Director of ETM-LA. "He is not only a wonderful musician, but also a terrific human being."

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Joshua Bell, whose current CD, The Four Seasons debuted at # 1 on the Billboard classical chart in September, is widely known for his brilliant performance on the soundtrack to The Red Violin, which earned an Oscar® for best original score. He was recently heard on the Oscar nominated soundtrack to Defiance, and is the featured violin soloist of the highly anticipated May film release, Angels & Demons.