Band Meets Strings: Recent Episodes
Band Meets Strings
Welcome to Band Meets Strings: A Podcast Exploring the String Classroom. Bay Area music educators Tiffany Ou-Ponticelli and Patrick Dandrea discuss their approach to pedagogy in the large ensemble string classroom. Tiffany has taught orchestra almost exclusively since 2012, and Patrick has worked mostly in band education since 2009, but now teaches orchestra. Listen as they discuss the successes, failures and everything in between as they look to improve their own practice to best set their students up for success.
It's summer break! As we start the summer, we take an opportunity look back at the year, and share out some of our successes as well as some areas of growth as we look toward the future.
On this episode, we discuss how singing can be used in the skill development of string musicians, and more specifically the use of solfege in application while shifting. Tiffany shares some classroom audio from her 2021 ASTA presentation "Solfege Singing for Sight Reading with Strings." Link to the presentation video here.
We share out amidst our Spring Break as we get ready for our final weeks before festival, then discuss how we approach the skill of sight reading in the string class in general, and more specifically how we go about the festival sight reading process.
On this episode, we spend some time talking about the progress of our classes as they head toward the end of the third quarter and into festival season.
We're back after a long winter hiatus! On this episode, we talk with Kyle Smith of The Growing Band Director Podcast on what you need to know before entering the string classroom, as well as some of the differences between teaching strings vs. band. Subscribe to The Growing Band Director Podcast here.
On this episode, we debrief after our winter concerts, then dive into the topic of seating. We share our philosophy on the goal of seating, how we handle the social and emotional components of seating, and how we practically do seating in our groups throughout the year.
On this episode, we talk with our guest and local Bay Area music educator Isabel McPherson about setting up string bass players to develop healthy and successful habits. Isabel is the Director of Orchestras at Redwood Middle School in the Saratoga USD.
We discuss all things bass, including many topics they addressed at a 2022 CMEA Bay Section Conference session, “Baffled By Beginning Bass.” The slides from the session can be found here.
On this episode, we discuss how we work to create a true ensemble sound. We talk about the aspects of uniformity in sound, what kind of fundamental material to use to build awareness, and strategies to find a model and create a matched sound in the ensemble.
On this episode, Tiffany and Pat talk one-on-one about what has been happening at each ensemble level throughout the first quarter. We talk about our fundamental goals, what repertoire each group is playing, and how things are going so far!
On this episode, we welcome Dr. Angela Ammerman from George Mason University! Dr. Ammerman shares her experience using play-based teaching strategies in the ensemble classroom. She provided some excellent strategies for recruitment in her new book, The Musician's Guide to Recruitment and Retention.
Find more about Dr. Ammerman here:
- Dr. Ammerman's Website
-
MusicEdLove Podcast
- The Musician's Guide to Recruitment and Retention
Welcome to Season 2! We're back and getting ready to start our school year by welcoming our first guest, Colleen MacDonald, Elementary and Middle School Orchestra Director in the Weston Public Schools! Colleen shares her approach to establishing procedures and expectations for year-long success and efficiency with her students.
Happy Summer!!! We share how our programs finished the year and how we plan to use this summer for projects and preparation. We then take a look back at this year to reflect on successes and areas of continued growth, and finally create some big picture goals for next year and the future. We're excited to be back next school year for season 2!
On this episode, we share some post-festival reflections and then dive into the topic of vibrato. We discuss our pre-vibrato activities to establish a tension-free motion as well as some exercises to develop control of vibrato.
Episode Resource Links
Michael Hopkins String Technique YouTube Channel
- Vibrato Preparatory Motions
- Developing Vibrato for Violins/Violas
- Developing Vibrato for Cellos
- Developing Vibrato for Basses
Jeremy Woolstenhulme: Sequential Vibrato Instruction in the String Classroom
Dr. Fischbach - “Art of Vibrato” DVD
Episode 10! This episode we check in on some repertoire progress for festival. We identify some particular challenges our groups are facing, listen to classroom rehearsal recordings and discuss potential strategies to address those challenges as we get ready to go to festival.
We're back! We check in on what's been happening the past couple months, then dive into the topic of shifting. We clarify what is and isn't a shift, talk about when and how to introduce the skill as well as some cardinal rules to follow for good technique.
On this episode, we get into the fundamental task of tuning string instruments. We discuss ear training development, the mechanics of fine tuners and pegs, then share our tuning procedures in class and how we support students to tune when they are at home.
We're back after the winter break (and Tiffany is back from the Midwest Clinic)! On this episode, we discuss the topic of assessment in our classrooms. We share some overview on our past and current philosophy on assessment, what material we assess our students on, how we set up and administer these assessments and finally how we communicate feedback to our students.
In this episode, we discuss developing control in the bow arm. We begin with the various elements of control (e.g. PAWS), followed by how we introduce some intermediate and advanced bow strokes, and lastly share how we make decisions with these tools to express the music in repertoire.
On this episode, we talk about how we set up and reinforce habits in the right hand and arm with the bow. We begin by sharing some of our checkpoints in the bow hold, how we prepare and rosin the bow, discuss ways to create clear and steady short bow strokes and then work to create a straight and consistent full long bow stroke with our students
On this episode, we zoom out from the micro level of technique to discuss long term rehearsal planning of repertoire. We share our philosophy on the rehearsal process, then talk about the purpose, focus and strategies we use in the early, middle, and end of a rehearsal cycle as we make our way toward performance.
We check in after our first performances of the year, and then share the method books we use, how they are organized, and how we use them in the classroom. The second part of our conversation focuses on our approach with fingerboard geography, finger patterns and left hand technique, as well as the strategies we use to reinforce awareness and skill development in this area.
Method Books and Resources we discussed:
- Essential Elements
- Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician
- Habits of a Successful String Musician
- High Tech for Strings
- Daily Warm Ups for String Orchestra
- Daily Warm Ups for Full Orchestra
- Expressive Sightreading for Orchestra
- Sound Innovations for String Orchestra: Sound Development (Advanced) Warm-up Exercises for Tone and Technique for Advanced String Orchestra
- String Player’s Guide to Orchestra
- stringskills.com
After a quick check in, we focus on getting our students set up with posture and position. We discuss how we establish and create awareness of good posture habits on each instrument, share some of the top bad habits we see in our classes, and discuss how to establish healthy habits for left hand position.
Welcome to Band Meets Strings: A Podcast Exploring the String Classroom! In our first episode, we share some of our bios, discuss how our school programs are set up, and share about some teachers who have helped shape our own philosophy about how we work with students.