2012-01-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

Most of the teachers I know have spent two weeks recoveringfrom a frenzy of concerts and are now facing the start of the festivalseason. Interspersed among theperformance activities and high-stakes tests are state Music EducatorsAssociation conferences, and for string teachers the granddaddy of them all,the national convention of the American String Teachers Association.

I have always been struck by how isolated we can feel in ourwork. Most music teachers work in anenvironment where, literally, no one else speaks their language. Teachers and administrators who arewell-educated and highly trained as teachers freely admit they know nothingabout music. So much for those who aresupposed to be the mentors and the improvers of teaching processes. Schools focus their inservice offerings onthe generalities of teaching (some of which can be quite helpful) and on basicsubject areas such as math, reading and science. This situation can leave a striving stringteacher feeling frustrated and alone.

The obvious answer would seem to be closer contact withother music teachers. You think?? Butthe problem is how to achieve that. Ibelieve that all of us need to make an extra effort toward professionalaccomplishment. I truly believe thatevery string teacher knows something that can be useful to other stringteachers. The problem is that most of usseem to operate in a vacuum. We go towork each day, interact (for better or worse) with our students, don’t interactmuch with other teachers due to the peripatetic nature of our work, leave lateevery day after all the extra rehearsals or whatever, and go home to have alife outside of teaching music (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”) This has always been the way our jobs work.

In my younger days, when there were fewer schools and fewerthings to do in our free time, we used to go to each others’ concerts, whichwere usually followed by some friendly libations. These events were alwayslearning experiences and we always left with a new idea or two. It seems likethis kind of comraderie doesn’t happen much any more. This makes participation in your music teacherorganizations and attendance at your professional conferences all the moreimportant. Imagine how helpful and uplifting it can be to spend two or threedays in the company of a thousand or more other people who speak the samelanguage you do. Imagine being able tochoose from a multitude of presentations and gain new skills, knowledge, ideasand materials from people who are recognized leaders in our profession. Imaginebeing inspired by performances from the finest musical organizations, led bypeople who may be a lot like you. Imagine having the opportunity to getinvolved in the advancement of our profession. Imagine gaining the skills and experience to guide others down the pathto success.

Every time I say these things, someone comes back with howit’s so expensive, it’s so far away, it comes at a bad time, it eats my onlythree-day skiing weekend, yadayada. Thetruth is, none of us can afford NOT to attend these conferences. We NEED thatinformation. We NEED that inspiration sowe can face the challenges of our teaching situations. We NEED to support each other, professionallyand personally. We NEED that professional association which is our collectivevoice to the powers that be. So we needto pay those association dues, read those journals, attend and learn at theconferences those dues help provide, and contribute time, money, talent andeffort to help make our work better in some small way. You may find that youwant to be a leader. That’s great. But good followers are needed, too.

So sacrifice a few lattes and make your plans to go to thoseconferences. Go to a friend’s concert. Be part of an adult orchestra of some kind and encourage your studentsto come hear you. Take part in a summer workshop. It’s our professional responsibility to bemore than someone who goes to work every day and grinds it out. We all have aresponsibility to give to our profession as well as to take from it. If you live and teach in Washington, I hope I’llsee you in Yakima in February. And ifyou really want an experience, I’ll see you in Atlanta in March. Then there’s Birch Bay in August, when a whole bunch ofpositive-feeling folks get cranked up to do their best for another year. This is really a wonderful thing we do, teachingkids to play strings as we open up their world. Take part!

2011-12-01T20:27:00.001-08:00

So here we go! I'm starting my first-ever blog experience, and it will probably take me a while to settle into a groove. My hope is to able to bring up topics of interest to string teachers and orchestra conductors. Of course, I also hope to throw out some thought-provoking ideas along the way. And you'll occasionally find a commercial message. I've accumulated a few thoughts and ideas after over forty years of teaching, which I'm pleased to have an opportunity to share. So check into this space every once in a while to see what's on my mind at the moment. One of the privileges that comes with the attainment of a certain age is the right to work without deadlines, so don't expect something new every day or every week. This will be like fishing--some days you don't catch anything.

I've come to believe that the most important thing to assure the success of a school string program is numbers. As string teachers, I hope we are all concerned about quality. We should be. But there's nothing like numbers to cement your program into a secure place in the curriculum. When I began teaching, a healthy beginners' class was about fifteen students, and a good sized high school string section might be thirty-five players. And the "end" was always near. The decision makers didn't put a lot of importance on such small numbers, and the string teacher was often seeing fewer students per day than other teachers in other subject areas. Today the picture is much different. I see beginning classes numbering upwards of thirty students in an elementary school, and many (most?) high schools have at least two orchestras with total enrollments approaching a hundred or more. The ability to show off this many students makes a much different impression on the decision makers.

This week I participated in a festival performance which featured over three hundred string students in grades five through twelve (in four orchestras) all on a gym floor at once, playing to a capacity audience of enthusiastic parents and friends. It was very early in the school year, and there were a few rough edges in the performances, but the enthusiasm and pride which permeated the evening was palpable. The level of parental support was evident to all the administrators there, as was the feeling of positive accomplishment on the faces of the students. What a great public relations event for the string program, highlighted by a great script delivered by a principal acting as the emcee for the evening. Every school district should present shows like this. The two teachers involved were obviously very proud of their students, and everyone left the concert smiling.

The point of all this is that the same effect could probably not come from a presentation which only involved a few students. Effective introductory techniques are obviously being used, and fifth graders are being introduced to the music program, rather than into "band" or "orchestra", although they do choose one instrument and stay with it. If students and parents are asked to commit to a year of instruction, it is critical for that instruction to be effective--that students enjoy success and keep the desire to continue. Classes need to be fast-moving, engaging, positive, and gratifying for the students who must be made to understand the goals and strive to do their best at all times.

Teachers need to recognize that students have varying abilities, but it important that they feel proud of each of their successes, no matter how small. If parents come to a concert and see students well-dressed and attentive, sitting/standing tall, playing with all the bows going the same direction at the same time while the audience is able to recognize the tune and enjoy the sound, those parents will be completely in awe of the teacher. But are we selling snake oil? I hope not. I think it would be hard to achieve the things just mentioned without stressing quality in class.

The teaching of anything (music included) has certain "givens"--kids must feel success, the operations must be learned and performed correctly, the class must be managed well, and the goal must always be in sight. Certainly there are other considerations too, but I feel these are the most important, especially in the early stages. But we need to have the numbers in order to give the program real credibility. Without numbers it's difficult to make the quality as evident. And in today's world where so much of the emphasis in education is on things which work to the detriment of the arts, humanities, and human expression, we really need to demonstrate that quality of accomplishment while involving a significant number of students.

String Thoughts