Printable handout here.

Dr. Blair Williams, Assistant Professor of String Music Education, Texas Tech University, blair.williams@ttu.edu

Dr. Lindsay Fulcher, Assistant Professor of String Music Education, University of Northern Colorado, Lindsay.Fulcher@unco.edu

Rachel Dirks, Director of Orchestral Studies at Kansas State University, rdirks@ksu.edu

Liz Dinwiddie, Performing Arts Dept. Chair, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, SC, dinwiddiee@ashleyhall.org

Welcome

  • Why are we encouraging teachers to integrate science and math curricular elements into the orchestra classroom? Aren’t we busy enough with concert preparation?

  • Creating deep connections and shared curricular content between orchestra and math-science classes can elude string teachers in the midst of concert preparations while those skills could actually support and develop the technique for performance.

  • What are the connections that students should know to be able to best play their instruments?

Research

  • Expanding as technologies/curricula develop

  • Careful not to use orchestra as a justification for STEM, but orchestra can reinforce or apply STEM. (We are not important only because of how we support STEM.)

Values of Making STEAM Connections in the String Class

  • Advocacy: STEAM vs. STEM 

  • Connections to and applications within/between other curricula

  • Analysis of “why”: support the demands of string pedagogy with a deeper understanding

  • Helps students understand other subject areas as well

  • “The laws of physics demand that you change your bow hold.” (almost Dr. Rachel Dirks)

Applications

Nearly all activities below can move between S/T/E/M categories. The way we categorized them is not set in stone!

String Pedagogy Unit: Sound Production

Science Activities:

Technology Activities:

Engineering Activities:

Math Activities:

  • Using shapes to think about how your bow should contact the string (circular motion, triangle harsh landing, u-shape)

  • Using shapes to think about arm/bow placement

  • Weight & speed of bow on string

  • Angle that bow meets the string (how much hair, in relation to bridge, in relation between strings)

  • Pythagoras’ foundation for our scales

String Pedagogy Unit: Bow Motion

Science Activities:

  • Arm motion (abduction & adduction/flexion & extension)

  • Anatomy of joints in bow hold and motion

Technology Activities:

Engineering Activities:

  • Bow (+ arm) is a lever, weight on each side of the fulcrum (contact point with string)

  • Balance – The Power of the Pinky

  • Pronation & supination of the bow hold

Math Activities:

  • Bow distribution fractions

  • Use of small bows as practice tools

  • Angle of elbows

  • Parallel & perpendicular

String Pedagogy Unit: Instrument Mechanics

Science Activities:

Technology Activities:

  • Endpin, shoulder rest, and chin rest options

  • Build simple instruments (from tissue boxes à balsa wood à 3-D printing)

  • Prosthetic body parts designed to hold the instrument/bow

Engineering Activities:

  • Inclined plane on low-string side of fingerboard

  • Screws: pegs, chinrest posts, endpin screw

  • Synthetic materials used for instrument builds (carbon fiber)

  • Better materials for 3-D printing

Math Activities:

  • Different instrument sizes and how those are measured

  • Ratio of instrument size to bow length

  • Bow weights for different instruments

  • Calculations for pitch and soundwaves

String Pedagogy Unit: Music Reading & Music Theory

Science Activities:

Technology Activities:

  • Metronomes

  • Sight-reading apps

  • Specific sequence of notes, or the specific form of a piece, can be equated to coding

Engineering Activities:

Math Activities:

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math

  • Group sharing

Closing/Thank You

Print Resources

Applebaum, S. (1986). The art and science of string performance. New York: Alfred.

Fray, D.L. (1979). An annotated bibliography for string teachers: 100 selected sources from string pedagogy, physiology, and related disciplines (1929-1978). (Doctoral dissertation). University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY.

Galamian, I. (1962). Principles of violin playing & teaching. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, INC.

Garson, A. (1973). Suzuki and physical movement. Is movement the basis of all learning?. Music Educators Journal. December, p.34-37.

Geringer, J.M. (2018). Eight Artist-Level Violinists Performing Unaccompanied Bach: Are There Consistent Tuning Patterns? String Research Journal, 8, 51-61. 

Geringer, J.M., MacLeod, R.B., & Allen, M.L. (2010). Perceived pitch of violin and cello vibrato tones among music majors. Journal of Research in Music Education, 57(4), 351-363.

Geringer, J., MacLeod, R., & Sasanfar, J. (2015). In Tune or Out of Tune: Are Different Instruments and Voice Heard Differently? Journal of Research in Music Education, 63(1), 89-101.

Guettler. K. (2011). How Does Rosin Affect Sound? String Research Journal, 2, 37-47. 

Havas, K. (2004). A new approach to violin playing.(Menuhin, Y., Foreword & Hellebrandt, F.A.,            Quotation). London: Bosworth & Co. (Original publication 1961)

Hodgson, P. (1958). Motion study and violin bowing. Urbana, Ill: American String Teachers Association. (Original work published 1934  London: J.H. Lavender and Co.).

Laird, S. (2018). Bringing STEM Concepts into the String and Orchestra Classroom. Presentation given at American String Teachers Association National Conference.

Loy, G. (2011). Musimathics: The Mathematical Foundations of Music. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

MacLeod, R. (2010). A Pilot Study of Relationships between Pitch Register and Dynamic Level and Vibrato Rate and Width in Professional Violinists. String Research Journal, 1, 75-83.

Mantel, G. (1995). Cello technique: Principles and forms of movement. (B. Haimberger, Trans.)   Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. (Original work published 1972).

Menuhin, Y. (2004). Foreword. The new approach to violin playing. London: Bosworth & Co. 

Palac, J.A. (1987). An analysis of contemporary pedagogical literature on violin bowing technique according to principles of human movement. (Doctoral dissertation). Austin, TX: University of Texas. Proquest (8717504)

Polnauer, F.F. & Marks, M. (1964). Senso-motor study and its application to violin playing. Urbana, IL: American String Teachers Association. 

Pope, D.A. (2012). An Analysis of High School and University Cellists’ Vibrato Rates, Widths, and Pitches. String Research Journal, 3, 41-49. 

Quick, J.M. (1977). Violin Pedagogy of Imre Waldbauer. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa (Doctoral Dissertation)

Rolland, P. (1970/2008). The Teaching of Action in String Playing [DVD]. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Rolland String Research Associates.

Rolland., P. (2010). The Teaching of Action in String Playing: Developmental and remedial techniques (2nd ed.). Van Nuys, CA: Alfred.

Rogers, G.L. (2004). Interdisciplinary lessons in musical acoustics: The science-math-music connection. Music Educators Journal, 91(1), 25-30

Rosenberg, F. (1961). The violin the technic of relaxation and power: A study of the internal laws of coordination. Bloomington, Indiana: The American String Teachers Association.

Sogin, D.W. (2012). Musicians’ Preferences for Different Variants of Bow Skew in a Violin Performance. String Research Journal, 3, 41-49. 

Steinhausen, F.A. (1902) Die physiologie des Bogenführung. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. 

Stowell, Robin (Ed.) (1992). The Cambridge Companion to the Violin. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Szende, O. & Nemessuri, M. (1971). The physiology of violin playing, by Ottó Szende and Mihály Nemessuri; with a foreword by Yehundi Menuhin; preface by Paul Rolland;. London: Collet’s

Trendelenburg, W. (1925). Die natürlichen grundlagen der kunst des streichinstrumentspiels. Berlin: J. Springer.

Yagisan, N., Karabork, H., Goktepe, A., & Karalezli, N. (2009). Evaluation of three-dimensional motion analysis of the upper right limb movements in the bowing arm of violinists through a digital photogrammetric method. Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 24(4), 181-184.