String Fest Timeline for Planning

 

String Fest is a huge undertaking.  It involves ALL the district's orchestra students and teachers, from elementary through high school.  Each grade level prepares a piece of their own to perform at the String Fest evening concert, and then everyone prepares the same multi-level grand finale piece.  There is a field trip to the high school's field house during the day where each group gets their own rehearsal time and then the combined groups get a combined rehearsal in the afternoon followed by the evening concert for families.  It is a great opportunity to build community and for elementary orchestra students to see and hear the older students and to envision themselves as one day performing as part of the high school orchestras.  String Fest used to be in May, but when signing up for middle school electives got moved up to mid-January, we began scheduling String Fest at the end of January to help serve as a retention tool.

Planning for this one-day event begins the previous spring with scheduling the date and continues throughout the fall and early winter with a lot of collaboration between all the orchestra teachers.  The district that I attended as a student did not have an event like this, so I had a lot to learn when I began teaching in a district that has a tradition of an annual String Fest.  To keep track of everything that needed to be done, I created a timeline for planning.  There is so much that needs to happen behind the scenes in order for the day to run smoothly and can be overwhelming.

Please check with your admin/school/district for procedures and policies (like scheduling dates, reserving rooms, permission slip forms, how to handle student meds on a field trip, etc.), but here is the guide I created to help myself not to forget any of the details from year to year along.  It also includes links to some supporting documents and blog posts:

• String Fest timeline for planning (Google Doc)

I'm sure I'll be adding more at some point, but here's a start towards planning a district-wide String Fest.  What else would you like to know?  Or, what additional resources would be helpful to see?  Happy planning!

Banuwa Arrangement

 

Our combined elementary orchestras just performed my arrangement of "Banuwa" for our district-wide String Fest again, so I thought it was about time I shared the arrangement here.  Second-year players performed "Banuwa" in December for the winter concert, and then they played it again for String Fest a month later--this time together with the first-year players.  It's a very straight-forward arrangement (with a little syncopated section towards the end that can be taught more by rote), with the beginning parts all in unison and only using the D string notes plus open D and A.  Intermediate parts use D Major scale notes (including F# on the E string for violins).  Intermediate cellos get featured at m. 41 along with a little solo moment at m. 44 and m. 48, and intermediate basses have a couple of spots when they are the only instrument playing on beats 3 and 4.

I updated the parts this year to include a version with limited alpha notes, like just at the beginning of a phrase or at a bigger skip, and then printed parts out double-sided, regular notation on one side and the alpha version on the other, so students could choose which side they wanted to read from.

I like the sound of the different layers adding and building, with a big unison phrase at the end.

Sheet music (PDF):

• Score and parts (includes both regular notation and alpha parts)

Audio (WAV files) to preview or for students to play along with to practice:

• Whole piece, quarter = 80
• Whole piece, quarter = 120
• Whole piece, quarter = 200

• Beginning-m. 17, quarter = 80
• Beginning-m. 17, quarter = 160

• Beginning-m. 9, quarter = 60
• Beginning-m. 9, quarter = 100

Enjoy!  I'd love to hear if you end up trying out this arrangement with your students!

Updated Repertoire Sheets/Packets

 

Happy New Year!  While preparing to make copies for second semester, I noticed the notation for some of the handouts wasn't as clear as I thought it could be.  I went into Finale, took new screenshots, and, sure enough, the print was much easier to read.  No student had ever complained to me that the music was hard to read, but once I get started with making one thing better, I'm on a roll and it's hard to stop.  So...here is a list of blog posts with updated handouts.  If you've used any of these in the past, you may want to check out the updated versions and try these instead.

Look for the note:

* = updated January 2026 for clearer resolution

Enjoy!

• Elementary Orchestra Solo/Ensemble, Part 1: Description and Additional Repertoire (both 1st and 2nd year additional repertoire sheets)
• Composition #4--G-string Notes (also added a reference of what the G string notes look like on the staff + finger number + letter name)
• G Major Composition (also updated to include G Major clues and musical tools)
• Scale Warm-up Sheet (D Major, G Major, C Major) (added more bowings including spiccato for all three keys as well as a higher octave and lower octave version for different instruments/keys)
• C/E String Notes (all three versions of this handout--regular notation, some alpha notes, all alpha notes)
• Summer Packets (both 1st and 2nd year summer packets)

Zooming Out: Resources for the Entire School Year

Sometimes it is helpful to zoom out and look at the entire school year for planning purposes.  Here is a collection of resources/blog posts with the whole school year in mind:

• Lesson plans/agenda for white board

• Weekly newsletter slides

• Repertoire options by unit/concert

• Bulletin board ideas by month

Check out the Contents page for a list of all my blog posts, organized by category.

For context, I teach first- and second-year orchestra students at two elementary schools.

Bulletin Board Ideas by Month

 

I keep a document where I keep track which years/months I post my different hallway bulletin boards, and I thought it might be helpful to see them sorted by month.  My beginning-of-the-year bulletin board tends to stay up until winter break if it's a year when I don't put up the bow hold bulletin board; then second semester I'll change it each month or so.  Some I use every year (Birthday/Music for Life/Music In Our Schools Month/End-of-Year Recruiting), some I alternate every-other year (the two January bulletin boards), some I try to rotate between several before repeating one (beginning-of-the-year bulletin boards), and some I've maybe only used once or twice.

What other bulletin board ideas might I add to the mix?

SEPTEMBER/BEGINNING OF THE YEAR/SEMESTER 1

• Beginning-of-the-Year Bulletin Boards 
• "Welcome" Bulletin Board
• Beginning of the Year "Changes" Bulletin Board
• Metronome Bulletin Board
• Conducting Bulletin Board
• Parts of a Note Bulletin Board
• Together We Will SCALE New Heights! Bulletin Board
• What Will YOU Create This Year? Bulletin Board
• Take Part In A Musical Year! Bulletin Board
• 2020 Mask Bulletin Board

OCTOBER

• Beautiful Bow Hold Bulletin Board

NOVEMBER

• Thankful for Composers Bulletin Board

DECEMBER/WINTER CONCERT

• Winter Concert Bulletin Board 
• Concert Reflection Bulletin Board

JANUARY

• Have a Punny New Year! Bulletin Board 
• Inspirational Quotes for the New Year Bulletin Board

FEBRUARY

• Celebrate Music with these Great Americans! Bulletin Board

MARCH

• Music In Our Schools Month: Quotes
• Women Wow the Music World Bulletin Board

APRIL

• Springtime Music Bulletin Board

MAY/JUNE/END OF YEAR

• End-of-Year Reflection and Advice for Incoming Students 
• End-of-Year Recruiting Bulletin Board

ANY TIME (or could be timed to special events--Career Day?)

• Birthday Bulletin Board
• Music for Life Bulletin Board
• Careers in Music Bulletin Board
• Composer Trivia Bulletin Board 
• Dr. Seuss Door Decorations

YEAR-ROUND (in classroom)

• Elements of Music
• Look at these STAR Musicians!
• Practice Tips Bulletin Board
• Rhythms Bulletin Board 
• Musical Timeline Wall
• Music Literacy Word Wall

Elementary Orchestra Repertoire Options by Unit/Concert

 

I have been wanting another way to look at the repertoire I have taught in past years, organized by unit or by concert.  I had always been keeping track of past repertoire, but it was just a long list in a Google Doc format, and I would have to scan through the whole thing (or do Ctr + F to find a specific piece) each time I was looking for something.  This new document groups pieces by unit--during which part of the year this piece could be taught or for which concert it could be performed.

There are so many pieces out there for beginning orchestra, but for it to work in my teaching situation, it would have to fit in a specific slot depending on what has been taught by that time in the year and it would have to help provide a balance between different time periods, styles, parts of the world, composers, etc. that students are studying throughout the course of the year.  Please see this blog post for a sample winter concert and spring concert program for first- and second-year orchestra students along with a list and explanation of the different "slots" I try to fill with my repertoire selections.  

In my district, we have a winter band/orchestra/choir concert in December, our district-wide String Fest field trip and concert at the end of January, and a spring band/orchestra/choir concert in May.  In February, once String Fest is over and we are into our Solo/Ensemble unit, beginners will start their first very simple full orchestra piece (often just two parts), while second-year students will learn a full orchestra piece that may or may not be performed on the spring concert--students will get to vote from a few options they've been studying later in the year.

Anyway, I went ahead and created a Google Sheet, organized more-or-less chronologically through the school year, with both first-year (5th grade) and second-year (6th grade) orchestra represented.  Titles in each category are listed in alphabetical order, with links to the publisher's website (or to a different blog post for my arrangements).  The last column allows me to track when I've last taught each piece too.  

• Elementary Orchestra Repertoire Options by Unit/Concert

As always, feel free to make a copy and update as you like!  Which other pieces would you recommend I check out?

Melodies by Ear

On the last week of small groups, I like to have students figure out how to play some melodies by ear.  This isn't their first exposure to learning something by ear--we do echoing throughout the year, and students would have learned the two-measure melody from "Medieval Kings" by Soon Hee Newbold a few weeks earlier--but I want to give students another idea of what is possible with their instruments before we part for the summer.

First, I'll remind students that while we've spent a lot of time this year learning to read music and learning new music by reading it on the page, that that's not the only way musicians can learn new music.  I'll say, "If I told you the first notes of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" are open D, D, open A, A, could you figure out the next part?  I'll let students work on it on their own or help guide a student who might be struggling and then have someone share before we all try it.  (Or, if we have played Twinkle earlier in the year, we might try "Hot Cross Buns" instead)  It can be helpful to have the D Major scale with solfege up so I can point to notes as a visual cue if needed too.  Once most of the students have at least the first phrase of Twinkle in their fingers, I invite them to try out any of the options on their Melodies by Ear sheet.  "Baby Shark" is a popular one!  While I don't talk about the transposition bit at the bottom, it is there in case anyone needs an additional challenge :)

Melodies by Ear (half-sheet, includes 10 titles--print double-sided and cut in half)

• Word document 
• PDF

Melodies by Ear (full sheet, includes all 12 titles--I double-side this with Lines and Spaces for each Clef)

• Word document 
• PDF

Contents:

1. The Itsy Bitsy Spider
2. The Farmer in the Dell
3. It's Raining, It's Pouring
4. It's a Small World
5. Baby Shark
6. Theme from Star Wars
7. Joy to the World
8. London Bridge
9. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
10. Three Blind Mice
11. When the Saints Go Marching In
12. Theme from Jurassic Park

Some songs are more popular/better known than others, but I think most, if not all, of my students have recognized at least one of these.  Which melodies would you add to this sheet?

Lesson Plan Overviews and Agenda by Week

 

I wanted to share sample lesson plans + agendas + resources for the entire school year.  To view, here's the link:

• Lesson plan overviews and agenda by week (Google Sheet)

You'll see the year organized by week, with 5th grade (first-year orchestra) on the left and 6th grade (second-year orchestra) on the right.  The blue week number in the first column is a link to that week's lesson plan, and the image of the agenda/white board in the second column is a link to the Google Drawing.  Feel free to make a copy of either and then edit them for yourself.  The fourth column lists links to corresponding blog posts.

Then, the link below is more specific lesson plans for each week, including full orchestra rehearsals too--not just small groups.  Because the repertoire changes each year, I called pieces things like [String Fest Piece #1], [String Fest Piece #2], or [Spring #1] with pretty broad lesson plans for those. (Please see this post for different repertoire options)

• Lesson plans by the week (first-year orchestra) (Google Doc)
• Lesson plans by the week (second-year orchestra) (Google Doc)

In my district, orchestra begins in 5th grade with 30 minutes of small-group learning once a week and 30 minutes of full orchestra once a week.  (6th grade is still elementary school in my district.)  The school year begins just after Labor Day and ends the first or second week in June.  The first week of school for me is spent recruiting and finalizing rosters and creating the first small group rotation schedule (most students will have signed up the previous spring), so small groups begin the second week of school, hence 35 weeks of lesson plans.  Full orchestra rehearsals begin the third week of small groups (so the fourth week of school, about the last week of September).  For performances, we have a winter concert in early December, a district-wide String Fest field trip and concert the end of January (right as the second semester is starting), an elementary orchestra Solo/Ensemble festival in March, and then a spring concert in early-to-mid May.  Orchestra Expressions is the method book we've used for several years, and then I have different supplements and composition worksheets and other resources that I've created as well.  I hope seeing the school year mapped out in this format with one orchestra teacher's plans helps with both long-term planning and individual lesson plans!

Twinkle Arrangement

Here is a very simple two-part arrangement of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" that I used with my beginning orchestra last year.  Each instrument has a turn playing melody and harmony for a verse.  I've written the Part I and Part II for all four instruments, so you can mix and match instrumentation as you like.  I had cellos and basses play Part I (where they get melody on Verse 1) and violins and violas on Part II (where they get melody on Verse 2).  I double-sided the parts so everyone got a Part I and Part II for their instrument, but I starred the side they'd be learning.  The form is Introduction, Verse 1, Interlude, Verse 2, and Coda.  I used just a bit of Alpha notation where I thought it might be helpful.

I wasn't sure what my students would think of learning and performing this piece, if they thought they were too old to be playing "Twinkle," but they ended up really enjoying it.  I think that they liked that it was a familiar melody to them that they also knew the audience would recognize and that they liked how it sounded with both melody and harmony together.  The harmony part is very simple--pretty much either a third away from the melody using D string notes or just open strings so students were quite successful at being able to learn this quickly and confidently.  There were also opportunities to have to count measures of rests.

Because everyone gets to play both the melody and harmony (and the harmony is basically the same for all instruments), it was easy to rehearse in full orchestra.  I could have everyone practice the melody together (starting on whichever verse) or everyone practice the harmony together (starting on the other verse) or as written (everyone starting on the same measure number).

I did play along on the piano to fill out the harmony a bit and to provide more rhythmic support.  The piano arrangement below is pretty close to what I played--feel free to improvise something else too!

I'm planning to put this into my rotation of a first "full orchestra" piece--along with my arrangement of "Ode to Joy" and Michael Allen's arrangement of "New World Symphony Theme."

• Twinkle parts
• Twinkle parts with links to audio files (WAV files) to preview or for students to play along with to practice
• Score 
• Piano part (with basic score)

Enjoy!