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Beginning next month, Tennessee Tech University music faculty and students will offer an after-school strings program for children in third through sixth grade. The String Project will offer students 12 weeks of education for $60. Our goal is to give the young learners who have had a start in the LEAPs program a way to continue their studies, said Dan Allcott, Tennessee Tech music professor, referring to the after-school program available in Putnam County schools. In all ways, we re always trying to look at how to advance the teaching of string instruments in this area. The program will give students the opportunity to learn string instruments violin or cello in small groups, led by a Tennessee Tech string student with faculty supervision. Then all the small groups will come together to play in a larger ensemble, led by a music faculty member. Each Monday night class will last an hour and 45 minutes. Students will choose if they want to play in the small group, 45-minute session before or after the hour-long large ensemble practice. We re trying to make good quality string instruction accessible to all, said Sarah McKelvie, Tennessee Tech music instructor. The program benefits Tennessee Tech strings musicians who are studying to be music teachers by giving them more teaching experience. All education majors complete one year of a teacher residency program where they work in a classroom, but the program would give them additional practice. It also lets them teach strings in a region where string programs are rare in public schools. For our students, teachers learn by fire when they lead a classroom, but this is one more chance to get to experience hands-on learning, said McKelvie. After this year, Allcott and McKelvie say they will apply for a grant from the American String Teachers Association to expand the program. The big thing is our students have a place to learn how to teach better, Allcott said. What we are hoping and looking for is critical mass in strings education. Eventually, we will have a youth orchestra and the schools will need to have an itinerant teacher to teach strings. We are trying to create a snowball of goodwill. Registration for the program is open. More information is available at: tntech.edu/education/music/community-programs/string-project. Caption: Sarah McKelvie, music instructor and one of the founders of TTU s Strings Project, teaches her children, Patrick and Fiona, to play violin and cello. The Strings Project is an initiative to give young children a chance to learn or continue to learn string instruments. |
