As a string teacher, I often reflect on the joy my fellow string players experience at bluegrass jams, folk festivals, and rock concerts. These are all genres based on instruments that include strings that are widely popular. I often wonder why my orchestra programs are struggling when the most popular musical genres are primarily played on stringed instruments. This is especially tricky when my colleagues teaching show choir and marching band programs sustain huge numbers of kids, dollars, and public recognition in their programs.
Perhaps this is because very few people are as invested in the continuation of notation based and classical approach to making music in our public school orchestra programs. It is possible that sticking to this outdated system has affected our recruitment, retention, and progression of the art of playing stringed instruments? I wonder why we are so slow to change our way of thinking? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that orchestra teachers are often coming directly from a wellspring of post-secondary experiences that are seemingly isolated to classical notions and stuck in their ways.
Many studies have indicated that orchestra teachers see the tangible benefits of improvisation and by playing by ear. Orchestra teachers actually desire to provide this skill in their classrooms. The reason that we often cite for not teaching this: We weren’t taught how to do it. Continue reading “Free (the) Strings”
