Band Meets Strings

Welcome to Season 2! We're back and getting ready to start our school year by welcoming our first guest, Colleen MacDonald, Elementary and Middle School Orchestra Director in the Weston Public Schools! Colleen shares her approach to establishing procedures and expectations for year-long success and efficiency with her students.

Happy Summer!!! We share how our programs finished the year and how we plan to use this summer for projects and preparation. We then take a look back at this year to reflect on successes and areas of continued growth, and finally create some big picture goals for next year and the future. We're excited to be back next school year for season 2!

On this episode, we share some post-festival reflections and then dive into the topic of vibrato. We discuss our pre-vibrato activities to establish a tension-free motion as well as some exercises to develop control of vibrato. Episode Resource Links Michael Hopkins String Technique YouTube Channel Vibrato Preparatory Motions Developing Vibrato for Violins/Violas Developing Vibrato for Cellos Developing Vibrato for Basses Jeremy Woolstenhulme: Sequential Vibrato Instruction in the String Classroom Dr. Fischbach - “Art of Vibrato” DVD

Episode 10! This episode we check in on some repertoire progress for festival. We identify some particular challenges our groups are facing, listen to classroom rehearsal recordings and discuss potential strategies to address those challenges as we get ready to go to festival.

We're back! We check in on what's been happening the past couple months, then dive into the topic of shifting. We clarify what is and isn't a shift, talk about when and how to introduce the skill as well as some cardinal rules to follow for good technique.

On this episode, we get into the fundamental task of tuning string instruments. We discuss ear training development, the mechanics of fine tuners and pegs, then share our tuning procedures in class and how we support students to tune when they are at home.

We're back after the winter break (and Tiffany is back from the Midwest Clinic)! On this episode, we discuss the topic of assessment in our classrooms. We share some overview on our past and current philosophy on assessment,  what material we assess our students on, how we set up and administer these assessments and finally how we communicate feedback to our students.

In this episode, we discuss developing control in the bow arm. We begin with the various elements of control (e.g. PAWS), followed by how we introduce some intermediate and advanced bow strokes, and lastly share how we make decisions with these tools to express the music in repertoire.

On this episode, we talk about how we set up and reinforce habits in the right hand and arm with the bow. We begin by sharing some of our checkpoints in the bow hold, how we prepare and rosin the bow, discuss ways to create clear and steady short bow strokes and then work to create a straight and consistent full long bow stroke with our students

On this episode, we zoom out from the micro level of technique to discuss long term rehearsal planning of repertoire. We share our philosophy on the rehearsal process, then talk about the purpose, focus and strategies we use in the early, middle, and end of a rehearsal cycle as we make our way toward performance.