OrchestraTeacher.net Blog

Reminding students to loosen their bows

Do your students ever forget to loosen their bows? No? Mine neither! Ha ha, yeah right!! I’ve found that creative posters and memes can help students to remember to do this very important task. Below is a small flyer/poster I made for my classroom. Feel free to download and print...

String Storage Solution

It seems like I’ve always struggled keeping my extra strings organized and available quick access, but I’ve finally found something that makes it easy to keep my violin, viola, and cello strings separated and neatly organized. This organizer, actually made for storing photos, has 18 removable compartments.  I’m using 4 each...

Charles Laux, Julie Ellis, and Matt Radspinner

From the 2022 OSU String Teacher Workshop

It’s always a pleasure to return to Buckeye country for the OSU String Teacher Workshop. This year I had the pleasure to participat in presenting several sessions. See below! 1. Making Your High School a Complete Program Presented with Matt Radspinner and Julie Ellis! 2. Audio Recording for Music Educators...

Essential Print Resources

There are so many fantastic books available that will help you learn the essentials of string teaching, new teaching strategies, or understand a variety of teaching philosophies. Do you need some back to school inspiration or just a few new ideas? I’ve put together a list of print resources with...

cityscape

Podcast episodes from the Midwest Clinic

The 75th annual Midwest Clinic took place last week after a 1 year face-to-face hiatus and it did not disappoint. There were so many fantastic sessions and top-notch concerts this year and it was a special treat to get to visit and reunite with so many friends and colleagues! Even...

Fingerboard Geography

It’s quite fascinating how many students play without knowing much about the geography of their fingerboard. Lack of this knowledge causes students to make note errors and can often lead to frustration. The analogy I provide to my students is for them to imagine that they are going on a...

The Orchestra Teacher Podcast is Back!

After a much needed break and a few busy weeks back to school, The Orchestra Teacher Podcast is back! Today, Sunday, August 29 at 12 noon EST we will be streaming LIVE with my good friend and special guest, Mr. David Eccles! We will be discussing back to school, back...

ASTA Virtual National Conference 2021

I’m so honored to present a session at the 2021 ASTA (Virtual) conference this year. This session was entitled “Podcasting 101: Share your program with the world!” It discusses the possibilities for podcasting in music education and goes through the basic steps for recording your own. Several real-world examples are...

MMEA2021 Headliner

Minnesota MEA Midwinter and Fulton Education Conference

It was an honor to be invited to present at the Minnesota Music Educators Association Midwinter conference and the Fulton Education Conference on the same weekend. I presented on three different topics involving audio recording, instructional technology, and building a complete music program. The great thing about presenting on technology...

Bow Warm-Ups 2.0

It has been 11 years since I recorded the first bow warm-ups video in my fifth-grade class in Hilliard, Ohio.  That video was filmed spontaneously on an older low-resolution cell phone in class by a student volunteer.  The backing tracks were played live on a little Bose SoundDock Portable speaker....