It's that time of year to be thinking of winter concerts! This post is brought to you courtesy of a reader wondering what to program for beginners' first concert. (Again, thanks for reading, thanks for your question, and glad I could offer some ideas!) At my schools, we share our winter concert with band and choir, so the entire orchestra portion (for first- and second-year players) runs about 25 minutes, for an hour-long concert total. Orchestra students at my schools meet for small groups once a week for 30 minutes and full orchestra during recess once a week for 30 minutes, so here is the kind of music I program for our first concert of the year, given my specific situation and the pacing that allows.
Beginners:
We play about three pieces, one that's all pizzicato open strings that everyone has been playing since the first or second week of school and everyone knows really really well (like the harmony part to "Bile 'em Cabbage Down" from the Supplement Packet and I play melody on the violin), one that has a pizzicato open-string harmony part and pizzicato melody with D string notes (and then we'll play it a third time, perhaps arco, and kids can choose which part to play) with a short piano introduction before each time, and then we have a tradition of playing "Serenata" by Dale Brubaker, from his "Concert Tunes for Beginning Strings" book. "Serenata" is all open strings, arco, and students love this piece! By this time of the year, students have composed two pieces so far, so we'll play a pizzicato composition of D string notes for each instrument, as well. I play piano for everything (and make up a piano part to accompany the students' compositions too).
Second Year Players:
We'll play two or three pieces, grade 1, one of which we'll be performing the following month for our district-wide String Fest, and one that is just for the winter concert. I conduct these pieces (and have a hand ready to jump in at the piano to help support if needed). There are always a couple of students that remark that they're playing fewer pieces than the beginners, but I tell them that theirs are much longer than the beginners' pieces, so it balances out time-wise. The other String Fest pieces they're working on are also in various states of preparedness, and those two or three concert pieces are really what they're ready to perform for an audience at this point.
Combined Orchestras:
If the beginners are in pretty good shape with a String Fest piece by this time, we'll do one combined piece, a sort of sneak preview to String Fest, and then we always end with "Jingle Bells" before turning it over to the band.
Melody/harmony pieces for beginners:
Some winter concert pieces I've programmed for second-year players:
- Appalachian Hymn by Soon Hee Newbold
- I Got Rhythm by George and Ira Gershwin, arr. Michael Story
- Skaters' Waltz by Émile Waldteufel, arr. Richard Meyer
- Sword Dance by Thoinot Arbeau, arr. Bob Phillips
- Ukranian Bell Carol by Mykola Leontovich, arr. Sandra Dackow
Combined pieces:
- Star of the County Down--melody (2nd year students), harmony (beginners)
- Jingle Bells
About a month before the concert, I send a half sheet of concert info home (and post it on our class page online). This is the same day I invite students to decorate flyers to advertise our concert. Please see this post for flyer and concert program templates.
At the concert, a principal or I will welcome families, and then I have students introduce each of the pieces. This is for a couple of reasons: first, students take more ownership when it's the performers telling their families about what they're about to hear (and students get really excited to have a speaking part and talk into a microphone), and second, it gives me a chance to deal with instruments that go out of tune or bridges that fly off of instruments or bows that explode between pieces without having to make everyone wait. If there were more time, I would have students write the speaking parts, but as it is now, I write them and students read them.
Here's a sample script of speaking parts. In full orchestra, a couple weeks before the concert, our question of the week is to drop their name in the bucket if they would like a speaking part. The next week, I draw names, and those kids come up and write their name on the board next to the piece they'd like to introduce. I have the script cut into strips and give each student their part to practice. I do print off three additional copies--one for the alternate to practice from in case anyone is absent on concert day, one to leave on the stand for kids to read off of, and one for myself so I remember who's doing what.
At the concert, I have beginners start off in the front of the orchestra (with second-year students sitting in the back of the orchestra with their stand partner). Then the two groups switch, and the second-year students stay in the front for "Jingle Bells." I use masking tape to tape a little name card of both sets of stand partners on each stand, so the kids know where to sit. I make students sit with their stand partner even when they're just sitting in the back of the orchestra listening to the other orchestra play so that they know their folder of music is accounted for and because I have fewer behavior issues when students are sitting where I want them to sit :)
The last two full orchestras or so are dress rehearsals where we practice sitting in our concert seat with our concert stand partner, staying in rest position while the speaker says their part before each piece, and having our music all in order, and standing and smiling together at the end etc.
I'd be curious to hear what other teachers do for beginning orchestra concerts. I've heard of more informances where the concert really shows families what a typical day in orchestra is like and might include showing the different warmups and such, but I haven't tried that before. My hope is that the speaking parts give not just background information about the pieces but also what the students have learned and what to listen or watch for during the performance. I've also heard of concerts where the students have been teaching a parent or family member how to play their instrument as the students are learning over the weeks and then there's maybe a piece on the concert where all the family members come up and play the piece that they've learned. I haven't tried that before either, but I would be interested in hearing how that has worked out for others. Any other ideas or formats or favorite pieces for winter concerts?
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