*UPDATE - this book is now finished and available for download! https://orchestrateacher.blogspot.com/2019/07/high-school-orchestra-warm-ups.html
I've been teaching beginning strings for a long time and I feel very comfortable there. Last year I added the high school orchestra program to my teaching day. I knew it would be a bit different from teaching beginners at the junior high. I prepared myself by carefully choosing music that was challenging, yet attainable. It was a fun adventure, but I found myself not completely prepared for the challenges of high school. It's a lot to prep for 3 different levels of junior high school, then 2 levels of high school. I was stretched thin and did not feel ready for each rehearsal.
We had a good year. Both my high school groups made it to State and received Superior ratings. We went on tour and had a great time...and won the 'Best Overall Orchestra' at a Music in the Parks event. It felt like a success...but as I watch my students perform, I know something is lacking. Most of my students do not take private lessons. While there are definitely strong players and good leaders in the group I see many players who need help. I notice stiff bow arms, lack of vibrato, timid tone. I am their teacher. I have to fix it.
Last year I used a popular method with my high school group and it worked ok. I never felt as if there was a curriculum I was following...just little warm-ups...thrown together so we could get to our concert pieces. I wanted to teach them, but didn't feel like I'd found the right materials to help me give them what they needed. Now that summer is here I've decided to create a warm-up curriculum for my high school students. Here is what I would like to them to master during high school:
1. Bow control - using all parts of the bow, bow distribution
2. Bow strokes - Detache, Martele, Spiccato, Staccato - better mastery
3. Tone quality - achieving solid ringing tone in 1st-4th position
4. Intonation (we never stop working on this one)
5. Rhythm Mastery
6. Vibrato
7. Expression/emotion in playing
My problem with a curriculum is that music must BUILD. I can't teach bow control and then just be done with it. We have to use every skill...and add it to the next skill...and add those to the next... At first I was thinking of teaching one skill per month. This just won't work if I am going to develop better musicians. They need all of it..all the time. The school year is too busy to create something comprehensive on the spot with exactly what they need. I have to do it now.
So, the grand experiment has begun. I started researching and writing and developing my materials. It all begins with advanced bow exercises... here's a sample:
Hopefully this summer will be long enough to hash things out and create something that will help my students develop into stronger musicians with mastery of their bows and instruments.