Once again, Elemental Music was lucky to work with some incredible high school volunteers who met weekly over Zoom with our beginning Prelude students, offering one-on-one mentoring sessions to support what they learned in rehearsal each week.
This mentor program is so impactful - not only because it reinforces the learning that happens in Prelude each week, but also because our mentors were in the same shoes as our Prelude students not so long ago. Providing elementary schoolers the chance to work with high school musicians is not only inspiring - it’s fun!
High school violinist Zee Yesilevsky was one of those mentors and found time between year-end activities and finals to speak with us about the experience of being a Prelude mentor. Check it out below!
Elemental Music: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Zee Yesilevsky: My name is Zee and I’m a sophomore at SAMOHI. I’m approaching my 8th year of playing violin and currently aim to be a music educator in the future.
EM: What orchestra are you in at Samohi?
ZY: I’m in Symphony Orchestra at SAMOHI.
EM: Do you think that being in Elemental Music as a young musician (just like your mentees!) helped inspire you to keep playing?
ZY: Most definitely! Being in Elemental Music is absolutely one of the major reasons I love music so much right now.
EM: Why did you volunteer as an Elemental Music mentor this year?
ZY: I love working with younger kids, especially musicians. I love watching people learn and explore new things while enjoying the process. Being a part of that experience and the nostalgic feeling of watching your mentee grow is irreplaceably special.
EM: What is your favorite thing about mentoring a Prelude student?
ZY: My favorite thing about mentoring a Prelude student has to be watching them learn and progress, and then reflecting with them on how far they’ve come by the end of the year.
EM: Do you think that mentoring helped you improve your own musicianship?
ZY: Mentoring has helped me improve my own musicianship by a lot, and I think the same would apply to anyone else. Working with other musicians, beginner or not, is always an experience with positive takeaways. Mentoring someone else is almost impossible to do without learning something yourself, too.
EM: If you could give one piece of advice to our young musicians, musical or otherwise, what would it be?
ZY: Have fun! Explore and try out new things. Find something you like to do that also has space to learn new things. Learning can be fun too! :)