Eclectic Styles
Arranging of Scottish Fiddle Tunes for Performance by Your School Orchestra
The inclusion of fiddle tunes into the orchestral curriculum can be used for motivation, reward, enrichment, and all of the above. However, while spending time teaching your students a single fiddle tune has educational merit, it doesn’t go far when planning a concert program. This session will discuss the techniques of assembling authentic performance “sets” of Scottish fiddle tunes of appropriate duration and creating arrangements that reflect authentic Scottish accompanying practice and that work within the range of skills in your school orchestra. Bring your instrument to try some of the arrangements that will be discussed.
Presenters: MelindaCrawford Perttu, Westminster College
Be like Stuff and Steph! Exploring Improvisation in the Style of Swing Jazz Violin Pioneers Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappelli
Learning Lab- 2 hour session
Come explore the world of swing jazz improvisation from the point of view of jazz violin pioneers Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappelli. All ages and ability levels welcome. For those new improv, we will cover basic concepts that will get you improvising in 10 minutes. For more those with more experience, we will compare the more classical vocabulary of Grappelli with the more "street smart" style of Stuff Smith. There will be a little something for everyone. This will be a "learn by doing" session so bring your instrument. We'll end with a good old fashioned jam session.
Presenters: DuanePadilla, Punahou School
The Creative Cellist: Letting the Exploration of New StylesMotivate and Lead You to the Next Level
Utilizing Jazz, Blues, Fiddle tunes and even solo Bach, we can design challenging exercises, and look forward to mixing it up with scales,etudes and pieces. Learn fast runs, swing your arpeggios, learn double stops while you chord and chop your way through the harmonic landscape of a Fiddle tune. Learn your theory by way of walking Bass lines. The cello is the New Bass as far as versatility goes and everyone wants one in their band these days. So bring your Cello and try a new approach and don't forget to have some fun.
Presenters: JaneHeald, Community Arts Academy
Creativity, American Music and Variation
Mark O'Connor, a leading expert on American violin music with an extensive performing and composing career, will show how improvisation and variation study in American song structures nurture creativity in a string player. Using American musical materials featured in his best selling string playing method, The O’Connor Method, he will show how American music’s multiple styles and song forms create what he calls the “twenty-first-century string player”, who is an expert technician, a keen listener, and a willing creator. Learn not only how to teach and introduce creativity, but also how to become a more creative string player yourself.
Presenters: MarkO'Connor, Mark O'Connor, University of Miami
Drumming Circles and Paradiddles
Bring your instrument, two chopsticks, or two spoons in order to participate in a series of warm-ups and techniques utilizing rhythmic patterns from world styles. This session will be presented with an emphasis on how to stimulate ensemble interaction and cross-string coordination while flexing the rhythm muscle.
Presenters: Julie LyonnLieberman, Strings Without Boundaries
Embracing Musical Menus: Teaching Improvisation in a Group Setting
Looking for ways to include improvisation in your music classes but have no idea where to begin? This session will teach you how to do just that! From teaching students to solo over 12-bar blues to group improvising harmonies to playing colors and feelings to experimenting with conduction, you will leave this session with lots of ideas of how to inspire creativity in your students! Bring an instrument to experience these ideas for yourself!
Presenters: AmyMarr, Tecumseh Public Schools
Everybody On Your Feet: String Techniques to Get Your Orchestra Moving
Have you ever seen a rock band sit for a performance? Why should orchestras be confined to their chairs especially when performing pops and rock music? The purpose of this session is to get your orchestra out of their chairs and onto their feet for your pops concerts. Topics will include the basics of standing while playing, memorizing parts, and styles of choreography to fit every piece. Bring your instruments and get ready to move!
Presenters: MichaelGiel, Cambridge HS
Exploring the Creative and Intellectual Development Side of Music through "Improvisation": So, Let's Do a Little Bluegrass Pickin' and Grinnin'!
Meeting the National Standard expectations: The standard specifically states; Students in the secondary grades should be able to “improvise rhythmic and melodic variations on given pentatonic melodies and melodies in major and minor keys” and “improvise original melodies over given chord progressions.” Adapting an approach to improvisation in your existing secondary school orchestra program can be fun for both teacher and student! The first step is to simply stop fearing the word improvisation!
Presenters: SkipTaylor, University of Georgia
Fiddling 101: Where to Begin
Have you ever wanted to start a fiddle group but don't know how? This session will give you all the basic knowledge to start a fiddle group with beginners and intermediate students, even if you know nothing about fiddling. Included in this session will be simple notation for beginners,fiddle bowing, and fiddle tunes that are guaranteed to work for any age group. Bring your instrument and be ready to participate!
Presenters: LindaLevy, Gilbert Public Schools
The Holistic String Player: Approaches to Sight reading and Articulating Rhythms and Idiomatic Techniques found in Jazz, Pop, Theater and Commercial Music
So, you've become a great classical musician and get hired to play for a theatre production, concert with a pop artist, or commercial studio jingle. You are immediately confronted with rhythms and articulations not included in the traditional classical repertoire. How do you sight read the music with confidence and be assured that you will be placed on the "first call" list? Be prepared for the wide array of opportunities now available to the professional string player.
Presenters: DianeDelin, Columbia College Chicago
Intermediate Improvisation: How to Elevate your Knowledge & Ease of Improvisation to the Next Level
So you know the blues scale and can handle improvising on Summertime. Wondering how to take your improvisation up a notch? Then this session is for you! Improvisation consists of creating a melody internally and translating that melody to your instrument; we will cover both aspects with strategies to best enhance your creative potential and technical execution.
Presenters: GregoryByers, Saint Paul Conservatory of Music
Introduction to the Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle and Scandinavian Styles
Norwegian Hardanger fiddler, Karin Loberg Code will present a demonstration of this eight-stringed folk violin and its tunes. During the session participants will be introduced to the rich ornamentation, asymmetrical meters and scales used in Norwegian fiddling. Bring along your instruments because we will also learn a traditional dance tune that can also be taught to your middle or high school string school orchestra. Velkommen!
Presenters: KarinCode, Kalamazoo College
Live Electronics in Performance
A tutorial and demonstration of using live electronic processes and effects in performance.
Presenters: BenjaminCline, Fort Hays State University
Look How Far We Have Come: an Overview of Creativity in the String Classroom
While other areas of education still bemoan a lack of creativity, the string world has forged ahead with innovative classroom strategies. Exemplary programs and approaches will be showcased through video samples giving numerous suggestions for new activities that can be easily incorporated in the traditional orchestra classroom.
Presenters: RenataBratt, Private Studio; ElizabethFortune, Seattle Public Schools; AmyMarr, Tecumseh Public Schools; MartinNorgaard, Georgia State University
RD 3OCK!
You just joined a rock band and are looking at the blank canvas of a scribbled out chord chart. How do you make the right choices as a string player? Using specific examples of well-known songs, this class explores the concept "three dimensional playing." We examine the thought process behind building an arrangement rhythmically, harmonically, and texturally. How to "comp," solo, or answer a vocal line, and how to use electronic effects to add new dimensions to your playing.
Presenters: JoeDeninzon, Private Studio Teacher
"Rockestra": A Curriculum for Teaching Eclectic Styles, Arts Integration,and for Fostering Recruitment and Community Outreach
In this session,a curriculum for a "Rockestra" class will be presented. A week by week plan complete with links to resources will be included. Rockestra presents an opportunity for students to learn how major historical events influenced Rock and Roll. It is an opportunity for students who play drum set and electric guitar to perform with a school ensemble, and classical string players to play on electric instruments and learn eclectic styles. Rockestra groups can perform gigs in the community to provide exposure for your program.
Presenters: ElizabethChappell, Austin Independent School District
SavageFiddler Method: Teaching Jamming and Improvisation in the Secondary Orchestra Classroom
Do you desire to address the National Standards of arranging, composing, improvising chord reading and playing with others while differentiating in the orchestral classroom? Bluegrass can be a powerful tool for teaching these skills. Participate in a live bluegrass jam and walk away with the tools to both participate and teach this American art form. Taught by Annie Savage, M.M.Ed, international performer and bluegrass clinician with over 10 years of experience teaching jamming in the public schools! Bring your instrument!
Presenters: AnnieSavage, Founder, SavageFiddler Method
Strum Bowing--The Art of the Groove
Yes, any string player can groove like a hipster. Strum Bowing is a clear, fool-proof, PowerPoint-assisted method for getting string players to groove. It’s the shuffle, the chop and beyond and is the foundation for improvisation. Discover the secret to all grooves; Learn how to figure out the best bowings; Develop an enhanced awareness of rhythm in classical music. Bring your instrument. This is a hands-on workshop.
Presenters: TracySilverman, Belmont University
Yes You Can! A Step-by-Step Approach to New Styles, New Techniques and Improvisation
Are you interested in integrating alternative styles and improvisation into your playing and into your classroom - but don’t know where to start? This session will provide an uncomplicated, non-intimidating approach that will empower performers as well as teachers who want to inspire their students to improvise and explore a variety of musical styles. Bring Your Instrument!
Presenters: RobbJanov, Rock and Rhythm Foundation