Why Strings?

All students are capable of playing a stringed instrument regardless of "talent" or musical background, a concept that in the past was often considered critical for success in strings.

Unlike many other musical instruments, each stringed instrument comes in a variety of sizes, so that children as young as three years old can play successfully.

Orchestral music, which is considered on of Western culture's greatest legacies, requires a string section.

As the population of the United States becomes more culturally diverse, contemporary music genres increasingly rely on the playing of stringed instruments. For example, contemporary popular Tejano music uses the violin and guitar extensively.

There are numerous professional and community opportunities to play stringed instruments beyond high school and for many it becomes a lifelong avocation.

Often college applicants that play a stringed instrument enjoy scholarships nd other special considerations, regardless of their intended major.

Your Community and Schools Benefit

A community ultimately benefits from a larger number of string students and performers. Businesses often look to the cultural climate of a community when making decisions about where to locate. Family relocation decisions are often based on the cultural opportunities a community and its school district offer.

A good string and orchestra education, located within a comprehensive music program, is a hallmark of a fine school district. Without a string program, students in a school band (woodwind, brass, and percussion) cannot perform orchestral and choral masterworks as they are intended to be performed.

A school orchestra provides string instruction to ALL interested students, not just those who can afford study outside of school.

The Instruments

The violin is the smallest and highest pitched instrument in the string orchestra — the soprano voice of the string family. It is known for its brilliant and beautiful tone quality. The violin is held horizontally and supported on the player's shoulder.

A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. The word "violin" comes to us through the Romance languages from the Middle Latin word vitula, meaning "stringed instrument"; this word is also believed to be the source of the Germanic "fiddle".

Since the Baroque era the violin has been one of the most important of all instruments in classical music, for several reasons. The tone of the violin stands out above other instruments, making it appropriate for playing a melody line. In the hands of a good player, the violin is extremely agile, and can execute rapid and difficult sequences of notes.

Violins make up a large part of an orchestra, and are usually divided into two sections, known as the first and second violins. Composers often assign the melody to the first violins, while second violins play harmony, accompaniment patterns or the melody an octave lower than the first violins. A string quartet similarly has parts for first and second violins, as well as a viola part, and a bass instrument, such as the cello or, rarely, the double bass.

String instruments have the ability to play in any pitch which, in the hands of great players, leads to wonderful range of harmonic colouring, making it possible for the instruments to be very expressive. This ability is at its finest in the string quartet literature where seamless changes from key to key and chord to chord create a kind of perfect harmonic world where even thirds ring with full resonance.

The viola resembles the violin, but is slightly larger in size. This instrument produces a lower sound, similar to the alto voice of a choir. Its mellow tone quality adds a unique dimesion to the orchestra. The viola is held in the same manner as a violin. Good violists are always in great demand in various performing groups.

There are only a few well known viola virtuosi, perhaps because the bulk of virtuoso viola music was written in the twentieth century. In this category, the name of William Primrose readily comes to mind, as he brought the virtuoso aspect of viola playing to exceptional standards.

In addition to Primrose, the most important viola pioneers from the twentieth century are Lionel Tertis, Paul Hindemith, Lillian Fuchs, Walter Trampler and Emmanuel Vardi - up to now, the only violist to have ever recorded the 24 Caprices by Paganini on viola. Contemporary well-known violists include Lawrence Power, Michael Kugel, Kim Kashkashian, Nobuko Imai, Rivka Golani, Tabea Zimmermann, Paul Neubauer and Yuri Bashmet. From the younger generation, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Cathy Basrak, Jennifer Stumm, Viacheslav Dinerchtein, and Antoine Tamestit deserve a prominent mention.

The violoncello, commonly called the cello (pronunced ch`ello), has beautiful tone which gives the orchestra a rich, full sound. It produces a wide range of pitches and is equally popular as a solo and an orchestral instrument. The cello can be compared to the tenor voice of a choir. It is supported by an endpin which rests on the floor and is always played seated.

The cello is most closely associated with European classical music, and has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice. The instrument is a part of the standard orchestra and is the bass voice of the string quartet, as well as being part of many other chamber groups. A large number of concertos and sonatas have been written for the cello. The instrument is less common in popular music, but is sometimes featured in pop and rock recordings. The cello has also recently appeared in major hip-hop and R & B performances, such as singers Rihanna and Ne-Yo's performance at the American Music Awards. The instrument has also been modified for Indian classical music by Nancy Lesh and Saskia Rao-de Haas.

Among the most famous Baroque works for the cello are J. S. Bach's six unaccompanied Suites. From the Classical era, the two concertos by Joseph Haydn in C major and D major stand out, as do the five sonatas for cello and pianoforte of Beethoven which span the important three periods of his compositional evolution. Romantic era repertoire includes the Schumann Concerto in A minor, the Concerto by Antonín Dvorak, and the two sonatas by Brahms. Compositions from the early 20th century include Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, unaccompanied cello sonatas by Zoltan Kodaly (Op.8), Paul Hindemith (Op.25) and W.H. Squire . The cello's versatility made it popular with composers in the mid- to late twentieth century such as Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Britten, Ligeti and Dutilleux, encouraged by soloists who specialized in contemporary music (such as Siegfried Palm and Mstislav Rostropovich) commissioning from and collaborating with composers.

The double bass has a deep, dark sound which gives the orchestra a solid foundation. A very versatile instrument, it can be used in a variety of groups from symphony orchestra to jazz combo. The bass is the largest instrument of the string family and thus the bass voice of the orchestra. It can be played in either a sitting or standing position.

In 1952, the upright bass was a standard instrument in rock and roll music, Marshall Lytle of Bill Haley & His Comets being but one example. In the 1940s, a new style of dance music called rhythm and blues developed, incorporating elements of the earlier styles of blues and swing. Louis Jordan, the first innovator of this style, featured a double bass in his group, the Tympany Five. The double bass remained an integral part of pop lineups throughout the 1950s, as the new genre of rock and roll was built largely upon the model of rhythm and blues, with strong elements also derived from jazz, country, and bluegrass. However, double bass players using their instruments in these contexts faced inherent problems. They were forced to compete with louder horn instruments (and later amplified electric guitars), making bass parts difficult to hear. The double bass is difficult to amplify in loud concert venue settings, because it can be prone to feedback "howls". The double bass is large and awkward to transport, which also created transportation problems for touring bands.

The upright bass began making a modest comeback in popular music in the mid-1980s, in part due to a renewed interest in earlier forms of rock and country music. In the 1990s, improvements in pickups and amplifier designs for electro-acoustic horizontal and upright basses made it easier for bassists to get a good, clear amplified tone from an acoustic instrument. Some popular bands decided to anchor their sound with an upright bass instead of an electric bass. A trend for "unplugged" performances further helped to enhance the public's interest in the upright bass and acoustic bass guitars.

Twelve Benefits of Music Education

1. Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning. It is thought that brain development continues for many years after birth. Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain's circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can also help imprint information on young minds.
2. There is also a causal link between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things). This kind of intelligence, by which one can visualize various elements that should go together, is critical to the sort of thinking necessary for everything from solving advanced mathematics problems to being able to pack a book-bag with everything that will be needed for the day.
3. Students of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by imagining various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions. Questions about the arts do not have only one right answer.
4. Recent studies show that students who study the arts are more successful on standardized tests such as the SAT. They also achieve higher grades in high school.
5. A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to development of greed and a "me first" attitude, provides a bridge across cultural chasms that leads to respect of other races at an early age.
6. Students of music learn craftsmanship as they study how details are put together painstakingly and what constitutes good, as opposed to mediocre, work. These standards, when applied to a student's own work, demand a new level of excellence and require students to stretch their inner resources.
7. In music, a mistake is a mistake; the instrument is in tune or not, the notes are well played or not, the entrance is made or not. It is only by much hard work that a successful performance is possible. Through music study, students learn the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence and the concrete rewards of hard work.
8. Music study enhances teamwork skills and discipline. In order for an orchestra to sound good, all players must work together harmoniously towards a single goal, the performance, and must commit to learning music, attending rehearsals, and practicing.
9. Music provides children with a means of self-expression. Now that there is relative security in the basics of existence, the challenge is to make life meaningful and to reach for a higher stage of development. Everyone needs to be in touch at some time in his life with his core, with what he is and what he feels. Self-esteem is a by-product of this self-expression.
10. Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace. It focuses on "doing," as opposed to observing, and teaches students how to perform, literally, anywhere in the world. Employers are looking for multi-dimensional workers with the sort of flexible and supple intellects that music education helps to create as described above. In the music classroom, students can also learn to better communicate and cooperate with one another.
11. Music performance teaches young people to conquer fear and to take risks. A little anxiety is a good thing, and something that will occur often in life. Dealing with it early and often makes it less of a problem later. Risk-taking is essential if a child is to fully develop his or her potential.
12. An arts education exposes children to the incomparable.