Newsletter

For the challenges that the new calendar year will inevitably bring to our doorsteps, I offer you a bit of Mozart therapy. The words were inspired a few years ago by a delightful student in the Denison (Iowa) School for Strings. She and I were the first to arrive, so we tuned, and got ready together. And then she said to me (after I had driven over 2 hours to get there!), "My mother makes me take these lessons, but sometimes I don't mind so much."

After submitting a proposal to the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) to receive funding to begin a "String Project" in the School of Music, ten colleges/universities nationwide were chosen to receive funding, and UNL was one of them. After the universities had been chosen ASTA applied for federal funding in the amount of $300,000.; $10,000. a year for each school for three years. Thankfully, the grant money came through. Each school was notified of the award on August 1 and had to act quickly to get their programs off the ground.

The NU String Project is a teacher training program for our university string majors. The goal is to recruit 60 students for a beginning class each year. We currently have 57 students enrolled and attending classes twice a week, Monday/Wednesday 4:30 or 5:30 (two classes), at the UNL School of Music. We are starting students one year before they start strings in their school. Since some schools begin strings in fourth grade and others in fifth, we have both third and fourth graders in the program. Next year these students will be required to participate in their school orchestra, provided one exists. The whole idea of the program is to train our teachers and at the same time support and further enhance the already strong LPS string program. When the first year students are ready to start in their school orchestra, they will have the potential to be leaders of their school ensemble.

Currently, eight UNL string students are teaching in the Project; of these eight, seven are working on the Bachelor of Music Education degree. Huadong Lu is the "Master Teacher." That means Mr. Lu is teaching the first class, 4:30-5:20, while the String Project teachers assist and observe. Then two of the more experienced student-teachers take turns teaching the 5:30 class while Mr. Lu observes and the others assist. The String Project teachers meet weekly for pedagogy/planning sessions, and are receiving practical training with Huadong Lu.

The long range goal of the UNL String Project is to recruit a new group of beginners each year. Next year we would have a beginning class in addition to a second year class. Second year students would attend both heterogeneous and homogeneous classes, and in two years for the third-year students, private lessons would be added. Ideally, the program would take students all the way through high school. Since there is a shortage of private string teachers in the area, this would allow more students to study privately, give our teachers an invaluable experience, and further strengthen the school orchestras. Again, if for any reason a student were to drop their school orchestra they would immediately be dropped from the String Project. There are a number of thriving university string projects throughout the country and they have the same support for their public school string programs.

Since we are receiving outside funding, as well as funding from the University, the cost for students to participate will be a mere $30. per semester. This includes a large classroom setting once a week, which began October 1, and homogeneous classes the other day, as well as a good deal of individual attention from the eight String Project Teachers. Since the cost is so low it will allow children of middle income, and perhaps some low income, families to participate. The program would not be limited to this type of student, nor only to LPS students. When recruiting for next year begins in March and April, I will be sending information to parochial schools, many which have no orchestra program at all.

Letters were mailed to every LPS elementary school principle and string teacher the first week in September, and were followed up with phone calls to establish a recruiting schedule. Most requests were granted--the string project teachers and the director, Karen Becker, visited 16 elementary schools.

I hope you are as excited about this new program as my colleagues, the String Project teachers, and its director. It is already proving to be an invaluable experience for the String Project teachers and the students involved. Please don't hesitate to contact the NU String Project Director, Karen Becker, with any questions. She can be reached at 472-4253 or via e-mail at kbecker2@unl.edu

I honestly don't even know how many students Maribeth Lynn has taught viola to. I do know that for one year in the mid-1970's, Mrs. Lynn taught orchestra at Kearney Jr. High School and Senior High Schools between the tenures of Linda Eason and Bettelee Lewis. In THAT ONE YEAR, she endeared herself to us with her enthusiasm for her students and her musical expertise and creativity. I still remember asking my Mom, "Why can't Mrs. Lynn stay as our orchestra teacher?!?" The answer had to do with teacher certification or something and then, as we would come to know, Bettelee Lewis was also a wonderful orchestra teacher and we were fortunate to have her. But I will still always remember Mrs. Lynn and her teaching energy, and her kindness and friendly conversations on Thursday night trips to Hastings Symphony rehearsals. I am sure that many viola students have equally fond and admiring memories.

Long and successful Suzuki program in Hastings - average 75 students who perform all over the central Nebraska area; also assistant concert master of Hastings Symphony, for 20 years ("she walks the walk")

PAST WINNERS: 1990 - Bettelee Lewis; 1991- Larry Maupin; 1992 - no awards given; 1993 - Carol Work (private) and Christa Speed (school); 1994 - Morris Collier (private) and Patty Ritchie (school); 1995 - Carol Work (private) and Alice Johnson (school); 1996 - Valerie Knowles (private) and Del Whitman (school); 1997 - David Low (private) and Molly Moriarty (school); 1999 - no awards given; 2000 - Gerald Fees (private) and Dave Klein (school)

One of the true pioneers of string education in Nebraska, and one of the most dedicated teachers I have known, died recently. Dr. Louis C. Trzcinski, long-time viola professor at UNL, died in Lincoln on November 30, 2000 at the age of 85. My association with Dr. Trzcinski began in 1954 when, as a seventh grader in the Lincoln Northeast Junior High Orchestra, I joined several of my peers in a string class taught by him as a small-group supplement to our full orchestra class. He had infinite patience, and I remember he was the first person to teach me vibrato, which he always used when he played for us. Our association continued throughout high school, and when I began playing in the Lincoln Symphony as a high school senior, he and Morris Collier shepherded me through those first few terror-filled rehearsals. When I went to UNL to work on a masters degree, I had several classes with Dr. Trzcinski, and I rediscovered his competent, caring teaching style and his tremendous rapport with students and colleagues alike.

Dr. Trzcinski was responsible for keeping strings alive in many "out-state" schools during the 1950's and 60's. He would travel around the state, through the University Extension Program, and assist the band and/or orchestra director in string or maintaining whatever type of string program was in existence. He went as far as Alliance, traveling by plane when he could, or by train. When he worked in the McCook schools, for instance, he would leave Lincoln on Sunday night on the midnight train. Upon his arrival in McCook at 8:00 AM, he would catch three hours sleep at the McCook Hotel, then have one of the parents drive him from school to school, working with string students as he went. This went on from 8:00 AM until late afternoon. Then he would work with the adult community symphony and chorus until time to board the train for the trip back to Lincoln. This was typical of the sacrifices Dr. Tracinski made to insure the continuation of strings throughout Nebraska.

On a personal note, one of the weekly stops on Dr. Tracinski's route was Grand Island. I am sure it was his influence and dedication that kept Grand Island's program going throughout the late 50's and early 60's, and when I came to teach there in 1965 (vocal as well as strings), he continued to visit on a weekly basis until the program began to grow in numbers and I was assigned to strings on a full time basis.

Louis Trzcinski's accomplishments were many. He organized the McCook Symphony, the Sandhills Symphony and the North Platte Valley Symphony, and published three books: "Visual Aids in Western Music", "Planning the School String Program", and "Paul Stoeving, a New Mission for the Violin". He served as a string consultant in Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, and South Dakota, and as conductor at a large number of festivals throughout the midwest. He taught field classes in the Lincoln Public Schools from 1953 to 1967, and was a professor at UNL from 1953 until his retirement in 1980. While at UNL, he was a performing member of the University Symphony, the Faculty String Quartet, and the Lincoln Symphony. His book on "Planning the School String Program: featured pictures taken by Dr. Harold E. Edgerton of M.I.T. (formerly of Aurora, Nebraska, where a museum of his work now exists), which used strobe light photography for the first time in such a publication. Dr. Trzcinski's professional memberships included MENC, Phi Mu Alph Sinfonia, and Pi Kappa Lambda. He was President of the Nebraska Chapter of ASTA from 1958 - 1962. In November of 1995 Dr. Trzcinski was inducted into the NMEA "Hall of Fame". It would be hard to think of a person who has had more of an impact on strings in Nebraska than Louis Trzcinski.

Congratulations to Mischa Johnson, our new Private Studio Teacher Member at Large! Isn't that special! I encourage all of us who teach privately to get in touch with Mischa with any questions, concerns, or projects-that-we-think-she-should-be-instigating.

We have received a couple of scores for string orchestra from one of our loyal advertisers, Wingert-Jones Music, Inc. Anyone interested in reviewing them? the first is "Moderato & Musette", by Louis de Caix d'Hervelois/arr. by Ben Clinesmith, and the other is "The Pony Polka", by Walter J. Halen. If you are interested in reviewing these for Stringing Along, get in touch with your-humble-editor (g-s@alltel.net, 402-275-3221, The Old Schoolhouse, Avoca, NE, 68307-0671), and I'll snail mail you the materials, which you get to keep. Thanks!

We have received a publication from Sharp Mountain Music in Los Angeles that they would like us to review. Anyone interested? It's called The Blues Book, and we have the viola part, and the score/teachers guide. If you are interested in reviewing this for Stringing Along, get in touch with your-humble-editor (g-s@alltel.net, 402-275-3221, The Old Schoolhouse, Avoca, NE, 68307-0671), and I'll snail mail you the materials, which you get to keep. Thanks!

ASTA WITH NSOA offers members a number of benefits and services. To learn more about these items, contact the National Office at 803-476-1316 or visit the association's web site at www.astaweb.com.

Christine Hofman, a student of Dr. Gerald Feese, has been accepted into the viola section of the Mid American Productions National Festival Orchestra. She will be performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and the winning overture of the Lukas Foss Composer's Competition, under the direction of distinguished conductor and composer Lukas Foss at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, January 14, 2001. The 5 day, 4 night residency will begin with seating auditions on Thursday, January 11 and end with departures on Monday, January 15. Christine, a senior at Kearney High School, has performed with the All-State Orchestra, the Hastings Honor Orchestra, the Hastings Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha Honor Orchestra, and the Tri-City Youth Orchestra.

The Young Artist competition is open to all Nebraska High School students this year. The competition will take place on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, from 2 PM to 5 PM at Fuhr Hall on the Hastings College campus in glorious Hastings, Nebraska. The deadline for registration is Friday, January 11, 2001.

Students will be competing for cash prizes, four-year music scholarships to Hastings College and an opportunity to solo with the Hastings Symphony Orchestra.

For anyone who has not seen a brochure, or has seen the ad in the October edition of the Nebraska Music Educator, more information can be had by writing or phoning:

Band & Orchestra Product News has joined together with many of the top names in the music industry to show support for music education with the second annual "Making More Music-Makers" Scholarship. The student who writes the best essay for the 2000 - 2001 school year will earn a $1,000 cash scholarship from B&O anda $1,000 scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston to participate in one of the school's summer music programs. The selected student's music program will receive more than $30,000 worth of musical instruments, string music, and software, as well as a visit from a noted clinician.

Students in grades 7 - 12 are invited to submit an essay of 200 - 1,000 words on the topic of "How Music Education Has Changed My Life." All entries must be postmarked by January 31, 2001. Each essay must include the name of the music director, plus the students' name and grade, and the school's name, address, and phone number. Mail entries to B&O Music-makers Scholarship, 25 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, NY, 11050 or e-mail Dschloesser@testa.com.

The 2001 Merle J. Isaac Composition Contest, sponsored by ASTA with NSOA will solicit original unpublished compositions suitable for FULL ORCHESTRA. The prize for the 2001 Merle J. Isaac Composition Contest will be national publicity and $1,000.00. Upon publication, all royalties will remain the sole property of the winning composer. Entries must be postmarked no later that April 1, 2001. For guidelines and entry form contact:

There is a new web site that can assist students in locating a college music program that will fit their needs. Called MusicSchoolSearch, it can be accessed online at www.MusicSchoolSearch.com. Students can use this search engine by desired music major, location, tuition range, and more. If a specific school is typed in by name, contact information is accessed right away. To place a free MusicSchoolSearch box on your music department web site, simply copy and and paste the code into the html on your page. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, e-mail them to Comments@MusicSchoolSearch.com.

When I was asked to make a presentation at the 2000 NMEA conference I thought long and hard about a topic. Having never taught in public schools, I certainly can't wax eloquent about block scheduling or classroom handling or ordering music and which music to order or any other matters which don't enter into my own world here at UNL. I am plenty happy to say to Nebraska string educators publicly what I hope I have said to you each privately: I respect and admire your work. The state of string education in this state is quite good. Keep it up!

During my time here I have been privileged to hear marvelous music making from orchestras at every level, elementary, middle school and high school. I have had the difficult but enjoyable task of being an adjudicator for several different festivals and contests each year. And so, as I react to what I have heard and draw upon my experience as an SPL - that's super- picky listener (read: judge!) - I have a topic which I believe may be helpful. Not that anything here is necessarily new or revolutionary, but I want to encourage you to take the time to challenge your students to grow in their expressive skills with...the bow. Dynamics and sound quality are the foremost aspects of this discussion.

My mentor teacher, Peter Marsh, now at Univ. of Southern California, used to say that in string playing, the bow hand is the artist and the left hand is the craftsman. No matter how proficient our left hand might be, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that bow! Going out on a very rickety limb, maybe as educators we spend too much time worrying about three otherwise very important matters:

1. Playing the right notes! This is very important, of course, but not as the "end all" in music making. In fact, it will help the studen make learning associations if they work on dynamics and colors at the same time as the notes;

But first, how do you produce full, forte sound without gripping the bow tighter, gritting your teeth harder, or grinding the bow? (The 3 G's: Gripping, gritting, and grinding?) Obviously, we want to eliminate as much tension in our playing as possible. All of the 3 G's ADD tension to the sound and the body, which will translate into a less pleasant sound. I had a cathartic moment a couple of years back when a student whom I will call Jenny was simply not playing loudly enough in a certain passage of a certain piece which I can't recall now. I kept saying to her in her lessons, "Jenny, you need to play forte there! Work on drawing a bigger sound!" She would nod politely and we would go on. After about fourth or fifth lesson in a row like this, the light bulb finally flashed that maybe, just maybe, after our year and a half together, I had never explained to her HOW to properly produce a full, forte sound. When I asked her if I had eve told her HOW to produce a full sound, she said a quiet, "No." At this point I was faced with the question, "Shall I give up teaching right now, or try to learn from this?" Fortunately for me chose the latter.

Nearly all of bowing and sound production is wrapped up in the two factors of weight and velocity. (Incidentally, I always try to avoid using the term "pressure" in favor of the term "weight" to do whatever I can to help alleviate as much tension as possible, and especially in the mind!) To achieve the desired sounds we tinker with various combinations of these two factors. Too much speed out of balance with weight (and vice versa) and we hear various gradations of awful emissions. So what I told Jenny that day is that we must use the natural weight of the arm and the natural weight of the bow to produce the kind of sound we want. As you probably know, the weight of the arm is far too great and would squash the poor instrument if totally unleashed, so we are actually transferring only a portion of that weight.

How does that weight transfer? (I will limit my comments to violin and viola technique in particular, though I can't imagine much difference with cello or bass.) Point your right hand out in front of you with your thumb toward the ceiling and pinkie on the floor side. Then turn the palm of the hand gently down to face the floor. Go back and forth between those two places, and you are doing the motion required to produce forte, a rotary action of the forearm. Notice that neither your shoulder, upper arm nor elbow are involved in the motion. (The fancy word for this is "pronation.")

With a bow in your hand, this motion is minimalized to less than an inch of actual movement, but this transfer of weight remains the most effective way to transfer weight from the arm to the bow. You will notice the weight transfer through the index finger, which otherwise would be merely an innocent bystander in the process. Notice how this motion bends the stick but requires basically no strength or effort. You can have your students try this motion with a pencil as a bow and your left index finger working as the string.

Now, how to produce a delicate sound, to be effective in pianissimo passages? Release that rotary action slightly outward and allow the weight of the bow to be the minimum weight in use, while keeping - this is very important - while keeping the necessary minimum speed to produce straight tone. Too produce a sound softer than just the weight of the bow would produce, it is recommended the players use fewer hairs of the bow and move the contact point (the spot where the bow contacts the string relative to the bridge) further from the bridge.

There are other factors in producing lovely orchestral sound in pianissimo passages which will no be considered in this presentation, including vibrato and developing good listening skills.

Now, dynamics in any setting are only valuable in relation to one another. Forte means little if not contrasted with a lovely piano sound. In fact, too much forte is downright annoying!!! The reverse is also true, just not quite as annoying...maybe more boring!

Orchestras work with the most dynamic contrast; in other words... individual players in an orchestra can play both VERY soft and VERY loud, and the cumulative effect is HUGE. I remember the first few times I had the privilege of sitting in with the Omaha Symphony, I was very aware of how well that ensemble plays dynamics, especially the softs. I figured out pretty quickly that I had to get out of the way or stick out like a deaf violist. And who needs one more of those?

Take a measure or phrase with your ensemble and work/play with various grades of dynamics. Achieve a difference between pp, p, mp, mf, f and ff. Also experiment with the colors available by mixing and matching senza vibrato, having the students move the contact point around, playing the passage in various parts of the bow, and then the next important technique, varying speeds of the bow stroke (see below).

You can see there is a lot to play with! The important thing to remember is to work on developing the sound you desire apart from the context of the rest of the music, then the students can aim for THAT sound when the music is put into context.

The most organic changes in dynamics are primarily accomplished by paying attention to bow expenditure. I like the Suzuki approach of putting pieces of tape at various points (1/4, 1/2, etc.) on the bow to remind the player of which part of the bow to use AND to aid in the pacing of the stroke, or bow speed.

In addition, I advocate a "Save and Spend" approach to long bow legato playing, in which the beginning of a longer bow stroke starts with a slower bow, leaving plenty of bow for increasing velocity at the end of the note/stroke. The slight crescendo created by this effort will also cause an effect with the legato - the bow strokes become immediately more connected - if no major technical problems are associated with the bow changes. (I realize that is a big IF!) In another article when I have a spare minute (yeah, right!) and if there is sufficient interest I would be happy to tackle the performance of chords in solo and orchestral setting in regards to common practice and usage of the bow.

I hope this helps. Remember, the bow is the artist desperately in need of guidance and TLC!

The mid-west fiddling community lost a unique, playful voice this winter,that of fiddler Laurier Birginal. He was always easy to spot, because hewore the western style shirts created by his wife, Leora. She made themwith a bow tie made out of a broken fiddle bow.

Many of the repeatable anecdotes about Birginal included exploits involving his break-away fiddle. He usually brought two fiddles with him, so we were all at risk most of the time. Our turn came during a fiddle contest in Le Mars, Iowa. My husband, David, was the emcee, and Laurier and I and a couple of other folks were judging. On the first day, Birginal chose David for his first victim. When the time was right, Laurier interrupted the proceedings, picking a fight with David over some chord progression or other, pretended to be angry, and then hit my pacifist husband over the head with the break-away fiddle. Our children loved it, and helped gather up the pieces. Laurier put them back together, preparing for his next victim.

By the next evening, my husband emceed wearing a hard hat. I knew I was in trouble when the traditional Judges Jam Session began, and the other judges made sure that I was the one standing beside Laurier. During "Faded Love", Birginal stopped in the middle of the second half, picked a fight with me for some imagined musical infraction, and initiated me into a unique and intimate fraternity.

Then there was the time that Birginal and I were judging a contest together from a remote trailer, so that we could not see who the contestant was, and vice versa. But of course, there was never any mistaking the fiddling of Glenwood, Iowa fiddler, Cactus Pete. Pete played his classic version of Chinese Breakdown". Laurier got out his fiddle, (and instructed me to get out mine), and we jammed along, playing the same tune, but in a different key. Cactus Pete could hear us through the stage monitors, but the audience could not. Despite his Ivesian excursion, Pete played great. But after the tune, he called out to the cosmos, "Laurier? Is that you?"

For those of us who were blessed with the company of Laurier Birginal, we know that he is a tough act to follow.

Do your students know about the student membership opportunity available from ASTA with NSOA? For only $20 per year, any full-time student can receive the American String Teacher, and student members will also receive Stringing Along. Please give any interested student an application blank. For more information, contact:

Officers & Membership

Private String Teachers

Forms/Applications

WINTER 2001 ISSUE

President's Message