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How can you successfully teach strings when your background is in band? We both learned the hard way that you can’t just wing it when you are teaching strings and there are actually many little aspects of teaching strings that you really have to get down to be successful with teaching the students. We know that having a background in band and not having much experience with strings can make teaching beginning strings seem daunting so we are breaking down how we successfully teach strings as band directors.
After quite a few years of teaching strings, we have discovered ways to teach our beginning strings students and help them to be successful even without us having to master a string instrument. We are sharing everything we’ve learned so you can feel comfortable and confident in your beginning strings classes, too! In this episode, we are breaking down what we really enjoy about teaching strings, what prerequisite skills you need to teach strings successfully, and how our typical rehearsals for middle school strings look.
We hope that you find our tips helpful as you take on teaching beginning strings! If you have any additional tips or questions about teaching beginning strings, we would love to hear from you! Join us inside our Facebook group and join the conversation with other band teachers.
In this episode we cover:
- What the pros are of teaching beginning strings
- Breaking down the 7 prerequisite skills you should have in order to successfully teach beginning strings
- Why following the pacing in the Method Book is helpful the first time you teach strings
- What a typical rehearsal for middle school strings looks like
Related Resources:
- Grab the Beginning Strings Method Book Bundle
- Join the Facebook Group
- Shop the TpT Store
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More about The First Six Notes with Classroom Composers
The First Six Notes Podcast with Classroom Composers is for band teachers and string teachers looking for great information from experienced teachers.
Every other week, we’ll dive into everything about teaching band and string music students. We’re covering everything from pedagogy to fundraising and interviewing successful music teachers, composers, admin, professional private studio teachers, and more to uncover and share their strategies for musical success.
Classroom Composers is a married team of two music teachers, Kevin Hoff and Jessica Frank. Between the two of us, we have experience teaching K-6 general music, elementary 4/5 band/strings, and middle school band/strings/guitar who want to share our knowledge and experience with other teachers.
Grab a chair and stand and join the conversation!