7 Pieces Students Love for Intermediate – Middle School Orchestra
It can be challenging choosing the right music for an ensemble. It’s a balancing act finding music that will suit a developing orchestra – music that will both develop their technique and musicianship as well as capture their interest and…
Warm Ups for String Orchestra
Musicians know the value of a warm up routine. I will admit, my students often just want to skip the warm ups and go straight to the music. I can’t blame them! However, I try to help them see the…
Create Online Note Reading Activities Using Power Point Slides
I was recently inspired by a colleague of mine who was creating interactive Power Point slides to use with her students in the remote teaching setting. The focus was on note value identification. The activity worked like this. Students could…
3 Tips for Selecting Concert Music for Your Orchestra
Choosing concert repertoire can be exciting, fun, and also, a challenge due to the number of arrangements and pieces to choose from. Programming music for our students takes careful consideration. After all, performances are where our students skills, musicality, and…
Challenges in solo playing – Working on intonation and rhythm
I was recently working with a student on a solo piece they had begun practicing. The student was playing the piece well, but the technical demands of the piece and the rhythm and time feel were proving challenging. After the…