If we accept the premise we are educators of music and that music is for all, we must offer a music program that has appeal to all.

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1 Strings! not Strings? by William W. Gourley As music advocates we are constantly promoting the value of music. Its effect on enhancing the brain, better standardized test scores, enhanced social behavior, stimulating creative problem solving skills, greater self esteem; the list goes on. And, hopefully, as educators of music we advocate that music should be for all students. Before I go on, I need to explain the term educators of music. In the teacher training sessions and workshops I conduct for music staffs, I mention I quit being a band director in my fifth year of teaching; I became an educator of music instead; not a music educator, but an educator of music. The difference in terminology is not as subtle as one might suspect. I believe the best educators have a commonality; they are drawn to the profession because they enjoy helping students realize their full intellectual potential and to enhance their awareness of a much larger and exciting world they can experience. What drags them out of bed at five or six in the morning for thirty or forty years, is the joy of knowing they are going to guide a child to a greater awareness and understanding of the universe we live in and help students achieve more than they (the student) thought they could. The subject one teaches is the tool the educator uses to help students realize their intellectual potential and the world that exists outside of their neighborhood. They are educators first and educators of, second; educators of social studies, educators of language arts, educators of science, math, physical education, educators of music. First and foremost the best teachers are educators drawn to the joy they share with students of discovering a better self; more than their love of literature, science, math or music. If we accept the premise we are educators of music and that music is for all, we must offer a music program that has appeal to all. This is an idealistic goal and idealistic goals are the achievement of perfection which is unattainable. But, the pursuit of perfection is better than settling for adequate. Striving to get everyone to experience music making and increasing participation from 20% to 50% is a worthwhile pursuit. Growing Participation The first step in growing the program is broadening our perception of what is music participation. According to a study by the American String Teachers Association, Advancing Strings in America: A Blueprint for ASTA, sixteen to eighteen percent of the school districts in the country offer orchestral string instruction. Seventy percent of these programs are in larger urban school districts with the rest in urban schools.

2 As educators of music we have to ask ourselves why such a disparity exists between the percentage of school districts that offer choral and wind instrument music classes and those that offer orchestral strings. There are a few misconceptions: School enrollment is too small to support an orchestral string program. There are not enough students who are interested in strings to support the program. A string program will pull students away from the band and choir program. A string program will cost too much. Reticence to teach strings. There are successful string programs alongside band programs in schools with high school enrollment of 400 students. The fear that there are not enough students to support a music performance program that includes choral, band and strings cannot be substantiated. The reality is there are students who would like to perform in a string program that would never be interested in the band or choir program. My informal survey of band directors and my own experiences finds approximately 75% of the students enrolled in string programs would not enroll in the band program. A correlation may be drawn from the growth of soccer programs in the athletic offerings for students. Twenty years ago, football coaches feared the growth of the soccer movement would negatively impact their programs by drawing some of the better athletes away. Twenty years later we find soccer and football teams flourishing side-by-side in schools offering competitive athletic options to more students. The correlation can be extended even further. Children begin playing soccer as early as five years old offering a huge head start over school football programs. There are a few areas where there are peewee football leagues but they are not as prolific as youth soccer programs. Suzuki string programs, similar to beginning soccer programs, offer an early musical experience to children. As with soccer s impact on football programs, the impact on band programs in communities where strong Suzuki programs exist is minimal. We can t deny that there are personalities that influence what an individual s music performance preference will be or what sport they will choose. Just as some prefer singing to playing a wind instrument, there are flutists who would not choose to play trombone, and trumpeters who would not play clarinet; there are cellists who would never play any wind or percussion instrument. The concern there will not be sufficient enrollment in strings to allow for a quality program can be attributed to correlating the instrumentation challenges with which bands are confronted to the string ensemble. Unlike the band, which requires many instrument groups to perform the literature effectively, string ensembles have four voices: violin, viola, cello and bass. The orchestral string ensemble is similar to a clarinet choir or choral ensemble not a concert band with woodwind and brass choirs, and a percussion section.

3 As few as twenty string players - ten violins, four violas, four cellos and two basses - can perform the vast majority of the literature for strings. If one compares this to the numbers and variety of instruments it requires to have the proper instrumentation for a concert band or wind ensemble it is understandable why one would come to the misconception there aren t enough students to have a credible string program. We need to appreciate the difference in the personnel requirements for the two ensembles. The cost to implement and maintain a string program should not be confused with that of the band program. Most of the cost of a string program has already been incurred by the school district. The classroom and furnishings (chairs, stands, recording and audio equipment, etc.) exist in the band or choir classroom. The only expense conceivably would be purchasing as few as four cellos and two basses for a smaller school, and a few pieces of literature every year. Basically, this amounts to the equivalent of the purchase of four student alto saxophones and two student baritones at the school bid price. Band programs have a myriad of expenses to support the concert and marching band that the string program does not have. The wear and tear on band equipment is far greater than what school owned string instruments experience. Unlike the string program, the band program has a substantial investment in equipment and uniforms for the marching band and concert percussion. The cost of staffing might be a concern. Here, again, one must be careful to appreciate the difference in staffing needs. This is an oversimplification, unlike band programs where there are at least four distinctly different instrument groups (flute, reeds, brass and percussion) and within these groups there can be significant differences; basically, all string instruments are the same. I know my string colleagues are cringing with that statement and I admit there are differences; but, arguably, teaching a full string class does not have the variety of issues as teaching a full band class. A district may be able to staff a string position with the personnel already on the staff. Many band teachers assignments include classes other than instrumental music. To accommodate full time employment, it isn t unusual to be assigned a math, social studies or computer class, for example. The students in these classes may easily be reassigned to free up the instrumental music instructor to teach a strings class. It is an enigma that trumpet players have no problem teaching instruments with which they have little familiarity. They are quite capable and comfortable teaching flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe and bassoon which have very different sound production techniques than the trumpet. Yet, if that same trumpet player is faced with teaching a stringed instrument he or she can become very uncomfortable due to the mystery of the bow. Teaching strings has far more similarities to winds than differences. Obviously, the sound on wind instruments is determined by the embouchure, and breath control. The

4 correlation on a stringed instrument is the bow hold and placement are the equivalents of the embouchure and the arm and bow pressure equate to breath control. How it is placed and the speed and pressure determines the quality of the sound. Both winds and strings require the same pedagogical development strategies: tone studies, technical facility development and articulation (bowing) studies. If there is not an available band teacher available, there may be a teacher in another subject area that played in an orchestra program through college who would enjoy the opportunity to teach a string class. The traits that make an excellent social studies teacher apply to teaching music just as they do to any other subject. The benefits to a school system with a comprehensive instrumental music program that include wind, choral and string performance opportunities are well documented. These include: enhanced real estate values in the district, attracts more educated and socioeconomically advantaged families, and a litany of other attributes. The benefits to students permeate the entire performing arts program. String players can draw on a wealth of original literature from the worlds most recognized composers. Wind players have the opportunity to play the orchestral works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Copeland, Mozart, Hayden, Handel; the list is endless. Choral and drama students benefit by having string players to perform musicals, choral works, operatic arias. The greatest benefit is a string program offers more students the opportunity to participate in music performance. If we believe, as educators of music, that every child should experience music we need to create an environment where there are a variety of opportunities available to the student. To continue to think the only instrumental music performance option is a wind experience is severely limiting our students options. We would never accept having only biology and nature science as options in the science department. We include chemistry and physics as well. Other academic departments offer a variety of classes to address individual interests. The same should be true for the music department. I was fortunate to be part of a program that offered students a quality musical experience in choral, wind and string performance. The students had opportunities to perform every genre of music from musicals to madrigals, marching, jazz and concert literature, string and full orchestra, fiddle and folk music. And, as an educator and musician I had the opportunity to share in the teaching of these ensembles. There is not a specific school enrollment or community socio-economic demographic benchmark that should prevent students from playing a string instrument. The opportunity to play in a school orchestra should not be denied to students because we do not believe the school enrollment or budget can support it. It is not unreasonable to expect a high school of 250 students to have a band of forty-five members and a string orchestra of twenty. That s 26% of the school in band and orchestra

5 which is far from our goal of every student in a music performance ensemble. However, it is a lot better than the 18% of the student body the forty-five member band represents. Adding those twenty string students to the band numbers is a 44% increase in students participating in instrumental music performance. Add a single choir of thirty students and the participation of students in a music performance class grows to 38% of the high school enrollment. Add a guitar class of fifteen students and you have 110 students or 44% of the high school student body performing music. There needs to be a reassessment of our concept of what are the viable options for musical performance and expression and the limitations we have become accustomed to placing on them. Enrollment, perceived student and community interest, cost and apprehension about teaching strings cannot be the excuses we use to limit student choice from school district to school district. It is a disturbing reality that, according to the ASTA report, students in 80 % of the school districts in the Untied States do not enjoy the opportunity of playing in an orchestra in their school. This does not only impact potential string players, it affects wind players who do not have the opportunity to play in a symphonic orchestra. This startling statistic should be a call to educators of music everywhere no longer to think, Strings? It is time to proclaim, Strings! PULL QUOTES If we accept the premise we are educators of music and that music is for all, we must offer a music program that has appeal to all. Suzuki string programs, similar to beginning soccer programs, offer an early musical experience to children. As with soccer s impact on football programs, the impact on band programs in communities where strong Suzuki programs exist is minimal. It is a disturbing reality that, according to the ASTA report, students in 80 % of the school districts in the Untied States do not enjoy the opportunity of playing in an orchestra in their school.