Inclusion of Alt Styles in 1st and 2nd year group string settings

Alyson Berger
Navigating Alternative Strings

Overview of the inclusion of alternative styles into 1st year and 2nd year of study in addition to the usual course of study from their method book.
Objective: Integrating alternative styles into the group strings classroom
Materials; String Explorer volume 1, Fiddling Method Volume 1 by Carol Ann Wheeler, Basic Fiddler Philharmonic, Jazz Philharmonic, Mariachi Philharmonic
CD of Alternative Tunes they will study this year plus the tunes they can expect study in later years.

1st year players (4th/5th grade)
Students use the String Explorer method book 1
By the end of the first year they are expected to be able to read and play the D major scale and have be able to count eighth, quarter and half notes and rests.

By Unit 5 the students have bow control and are able to imitate easy rhythm and note patterns. This will be a good time to introduce the shuffle rhythm and the idea of melody and accompaniment and the AABB and ABA form.
Fiddle Tunes
Students will learn Bile Them Cabbages Down and Go Tell Aunt Rhody by ear first and then using written music. All students will learn the melody and accompaniment parts.
Sources: Basic Fiddler Philharmonic; Bile them Cabbages Down by ear first (in chunks) and then from the written version in their lesson book, “Go Tell aunt Rhody” from Children’s Fiddling Method Volume 1 by Carol Ann Wheeler

2nd year players (5th/6th grade)
String Explorer book 1-Unit 9
Students start with unit 9 their 2nd year of study and are introduced to ¾ meter and low 2nd finger.
Mariachi
Students will study Celito Lindo (melody only). This tune includes ¾ time and c natural (low 2nd finger vln/vla and 2nd finger for cellos and basses).

Blues
Students will study the 12 bar blues pattern (also studied in general music classes at this point) and work on improvising their own melodies using the d minor penta scale.
Students will learn the d minor pentatonic scale, walking blues bass line and 2 accompaniments (shuffle and chop). These skills will be used as an exercise and warm up for them students. They will also be working from their method books and should get to the end of the book by the end of the 2nd year of study.