Eclectic Styles Final Project - exposing young students to eclectic styles - Jenny Allen

Jenny Allen
June 30, 2011
Eclectic Styles Final Project

Goal: Over the course of the 2011-12 school year I would like to expose my students to a variety of eclectic styles through listening, performing/demonstrating, and researching. I plan to do this as a weekly project called “Fiddle Fridays”, “Eclectic Fridays”, or some other creative name yet to be determined! At our spring concert each grade level will perform a piece demonstrating their knowledge of eclectic styles.

Introduce my students to a variety of styles through listening to and watching video samples such as the following: (this is by no means a complete list!) Have them planned out ahead of time listed on a sheet by genre. This could lead to a discussion of how they sounded different/similar to each other. This could also turn into an assignment to satisfy our writing requirement for the 1st quarter.
Mark O’Connor
Mark Wood
Christian Howes
Darol Anger
Regina Carter
Turtle Island String Quartet
Jeremy Kittel
Saline Fiddlers
Nuttin’ But Strings
Apocalyptica
Stephane Grappelli
String Cheese
Carter Dewberry
Jean-Luc Ponty
Black Violin

Have the students explore their instruments, like we did in class the first day. Allowing them to try many different techniques and make sounds that they might not necessarily think sound “good”.
Glissando, double stops, tremolo, distortion, tapping, etc.

Call & Response (something I do every day as a warm-up, but would eventually become more of a spring-board for improvisation.)
Play exactly what teacher plays—only 1 measure at a time
Play a response to what teacher plays (using only D, E, F#)
Have a student be the leader for the previous exercises
Use different LH & RH techniques with these exercises—swinging, sliding, percussive use of the bow, etc.

Basic Improvisation
Start with open strings, one measure at a time
Pick 3 notes—students can play one measure any rhythm using those 3 notes
Pick a scale—students can play anything for 1-2 measures using the notes of that scale starting and ending on tonic.

Music Materials
My school owns the Basic Fiddler’s Philharmonic, Fiddler’s Philharmonic & Fiddler’s Philharmonic Encore books. I will use these books to choose music for the first semester.
I would like to write a grant to our local education foundation for a classroom set of the Jazz Basics for Strings by Robert Woods. After exploring some of the jazz music earlier this year and a discussion about style, I would use this book later in the year.

Eclectic Strings Musician’s Wall
I have probably 5-6 posters that I’ve collected from going to conferences with Mark Wood, Christian Howes, Martha Mooke, Yamaha Silent Instruments, and a couple others. I will display these at the beginning of the year.
After our December orchestra concert I will have a writing assignment for my students. They will need to choose an artist from the list I provide and make a poster about that artist. Those will then be displayed on the wall as well. This can also help satisfy the writing requirement for our 2nd quarter!

Guests in the classroom
There are a couple people in my area that I think would be willing to come in and work with my students and/or demonstrate what they do.
A parent of 2 of my students, Susan Belliel, is a violinist in the Grand Rapids Symphony and plays with a band. I think she would be willing to come in and demonstrate what eclectic styles of music she plays. Susan would be an excellent example of someone who was classically trained, plays with great technique, and plays other styles of music.
A teacher from the GR area, Becky Bush, who taught at camp with me last week offered to come work with my students some time this year. Becky is Bob Phillips’ daughter and has a great amount of knowledge in the Fiddling style that she can share with me and my students.
I would also like to bring in a group called “String Cheese” (www.stringcheesemusic.com) to work with my students. String Cheese is a duo that is located in the Ann Arbor area. Ali (cello) and Diana (violin/viola) both taught at the Michigan ASTA camps with me and have done clinics at schools throughout Michigan. I’ve heard wonderful things about their workshops and would love to share that aspect with my students—if not this year, then possibly the year after.

Music performance ideas for our Spring Concert
Blue Rhythmico—by K. Mosier
Bees are Boppin’—by T. Sharp
Orange Jam—by J. Bishop
American Fiddle Medley—arr. B. Phillips
American Rounds—arr. B. Phillips.
Ashokan Farewell—arr. Custer
Cripple Creek—arr. M. Hopkins
Best of Queen—arr. Moore