Evaluating String Orchestra Teachers
Mark Kotchenruther and Dan Scott
So much of good teaching is universal. A good teacher is enthusiastic, caring, has high stan- dards, is committed to excellence, and inter- acts well with students, colleagues, parents and administrators. Much of what distinguishes exemplary music teaching is also shared be- tween good teachers of general music, band, choir and orchestra. Yet, for all the attributes that are shared between such teachers, there are also important differences when it comes to the specifics of instruction. Just as there are impor- tant differences between good math and english teachers, there are also distinct differences be- tween music teachers of differing disciplines. Such differences in quality music teaching also extend to details of instruction even between in- strumental (band and orchestra) music teachers.
When it comes to evaluating music instructors, what do we expect an evaluator to know and be able to understand about a string teacher and their classroom? A qualified evaluator should be able to distinguish those aspects of an effective teacher that are common to all classroom teach- ers, including music teachers, yet be aware of the specifics unique to a string orchestra teacher.
The purpose of this article is to highlight those aspects of string orchestra teaching that are unique and distinguished from the academic classroom and even other music classrooms such as band, choir and general music. Not ad- dressed are those aspects that are assumed to be basic common expectations of quality music instruction (good musicianship, good planning, effective conducting, etc.).
Structure of Class Lessons
The lesson structure generally employed by string teachers differs in some notable ways from that of their band and choir colleagues. A good evaluator needs to be aware of, and should observe with an eye and ear towards, these dif- ferences.
Typical among the first activities of a string class is the tuning of instruments. While a choir director may do physical warm-ups and vo-
The next major phase of a string orchestra class will be rehearsal of repertoire. At the elemen- tary level there may be little to no work on rep- ertoire until later in the school calendar. Middle school and particularly high school teachers, however, will devote much more time to prac- ticing and perfecting music for performance throughout the school calendar.
Three other activities should be mentioned that 36
calizations, and a band instructor will want to warm-up their students in order to get lip mus- cles activated and temperature uniform through- out the student’s instrument, the orchestra can- not do any meaningful music making until the students’ instruments are in tune. The efficiency and quality of the tuning process must be ob- served as an important feature. A careful bal- ance needs to be present between accurate and careful tuning and the speed with which it is completed.
After tuning, the effective string teacher will do some kind of warm-up and/or skill development with their students.
This should be evident at
any level of instruction. While these opening activities are common in many types of ensem- ble rehearsals, the evaluator should be aware of the specifics of a string rehearsal. The orches- tral warm-up typically will focus on either right hand technique (i.e., bowings, rhythm), left hand technique (i.e., finger patterns, intonation, shifting), ear training (i.e., tonal and rhythmic patterns), tone (i.e., bow distribution, vibrato), or a combinations of these.
With beginning elementary students, skill de- velopment may comprise the majority or entire- ty of class, particularly at the beginning of the year. The middle school director will also spend quite a bit of time, although not all of it, on skill development. The teacher may emphasize re- view at the beginning of the year, then extension and development of new skills later in the year. Skill development also does occur at the high school level, although typically less time com- pared to elementary and middle school levels.
Orchestra
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