Strings Class Resources

I arranged this piece for my beginner students because I wanted a piece to address lowered 2nd fingerings and one that could be taught in unison to solidify intonation. Moon over Ruined Castle is a Japanese melody I arranged in the key of A minor. The dark sound really seems to catch the imagination of young students. The piano part of simple arpeggiated chords adds a touch of mystery but could be left out if necessary. Teach the melody part and the harmony part in unison. Group violas with

Let your second or third year students discover notation through this authentic group project including rhythmic notation, simplified melodic dictation, and standard notation of a section of the Star Spangled Banner. They will make connections as they sing and then play the well-known melody on their instrument and discover the necessity of accidentals and altered finger patterns through experimentation. The completed melody in G major is included. More advanced students all play the melody

This music is for young string orchestra or small strings ensemble and is intended to accompany a dramatic reading of "What was I Scared of?" by Dr. Seuss read by a student or special guest. It works great for a Halloween performance or as part of a recruitment performance for elementary students. Music is approximately grade 1.5 and requires use of G string notes and f naturals as well as special effects like tremolo, glissando pizzicato, and a "thumping" heartbeat. Violins are unison so thi

This is an arrangement of the fiddle tune "Old Joe Clark" for grade 1 String Orchestra. It requires all instruments to play in D major (mixolydian) with C naturals. All instruments play some G string notes and Viola and Cello parts have occasional C string notes with fingerings marked in. The violin II part doubles the viola and the bass part has no shifting. Every instrument gets the melody at some point. Additional skills to address with this repertoire include accents, bow lifts, fermata

Using only open strings E, A, and D, string orchestra students play along with the recording or music video of this popular song. Appropriate for first-year beginners through intermediate students, elementary through high school age, this can be used as a performance piece or as a warm-up at the start of class. It is a fantastic activity to keep students excited and engaged in learning while the teacher tunes instruments or does formative assessment. The exercise can be incorporated into lessons

Using only open strings E, A, G, and C, string orchestra students play along with the recording or music video of this popular song. Appropriate for first-year beginners through intermediate students, elementary through high school age, this can be used as a performance piece or as a warm-up at the start of class. It is a fantastic activity to keep students excited and engaged in learning while the teacher tunes instruments or does formative assessment. The exercise can be incorporated into less

Posters for the 2014 National Music Standards (nafme.org)

I made this activity for my students to begin getting their feet wet in composition. Beginners feel successful when they can be creative within constraints. This activity facilitates student application of rhythmic knowledge, time signatures, and standard notation while being simple enough to be accessible to students after only a few months of study. Included: 1. First draft- students compose rhythms within common time. Then they choose what pitches to assign to each note. 2. Final draft-

Review quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth note pairs with your students by having them match english phrases with correct two-measure rhythms. Students then write matching rhythms to nursery rhyme phrases and compose their own rhythm to a phrase of their choosing. Link to ELA: identifying syllables in words. NAfME standard: Create/Compose. This can work as a sub plan.

Using only the strings D and A, string orchestra students play along with the recording or music video of this popular song. Appropriate for first-year beginners through intermediate students, elementary through high school age, this can be used as a performance piece or as a warm-up at the start of class. It is a fantastic activity to keep students excited and engaged in learning while the teacher tunes instruments or does formative assessment. The exercise can be incorporated into lessons to

This poem is my own work. It's a cute way to introduce beginner string orchestra students to instrument care. One possibility for use is to divide your class into four groups and instruct each group to memorize a stanza and present it back to the class. Then the whole class can restate each stanza in their own words- what the poem indicates to do and not to do.