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?

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!

Weekly Newsletters

 

Students at my schools have one 30-minute small group and one 30-minute full orchestra rehearsal each week, and I like to send a weekly newsletter to families to keep everyone up-to-date.  I include a summary of what we did that week, the practice assignment, the link to the small group schedule, and any concert info/reminders of important dates.

I used to just write an email each week (with lots of copy/pasting from the previous year's weekly email), but it was only text.  At some point I switched to Google Slides, and I like this format much better.  Each week fits on one slide, and I can include buttons with links to the schedule, concerts in the area, music advocacy resources, and more.  It's easy to add pictures and text boxes and to move things around to make it look just the way I want. (For any students who are flagged "No media release" on Infinite Campus, I do check in with those families to see if it's okay that I include pictures of their student in the newsletter and that has not been a problem.)  Families really like seeing pictures of their students in the newsletter, and I'm hoping that including more pictures makes it more likely for families to read the other information that I include as well :)  The document is set to "Anyone with the link can view," and then I include the link in the weekly email to families.

Instead of starting from scratch each week, I have a tab open with the previous year's newsletter and simply copy/paste the corresponding slide into the top of this year's document and update as needed.  Now the weekly newsletters are all contained in one document, and it's easy to scroll down to previous weeks.  I change the background color each week, so you see a nice rainbow effect as you scroll through the school year.  Any extra slides with concert info or Solo/Ensemble info etc. have a white background so they stand out.

My weekly email is basically:

Happy Tuesday orchestra families!

Please check out our weekly orchestra newsletter to find out what we did in orchestra this week!

(I highlight "weekly orchestra newsletter," hit "Control K," and then copy/paste the newsletter link to turn the text into a link.)

I'll also include concert into or other important info in the body of the email for those who don't click on the link.  I cc my administrators and bcc parent/guardian emails and then "schedule send" the email for the end of the school day.

Here are templates of an entire school year's worth of slides.  Feel free to make a copy and modify as you like!

Weekly newsletter template

• 5th grade orchestra (first-year players) (Google Slides)
• 6th grade orchestra (second-year players) (Google Slides)

Notes: Along the top where it says the week number, I also include the school and grade level, since I teach at multiple schools and want to keep it organized for myself.  I've also removed all the links but kept the text blue to see where I would generally include one.

Seating Charts

 

For full orchestra rehearsals, I put color-coded name cards on music stands so students know where to sit.  It is also easy for me to see at a glance who is missing.  I used to not create a seating chart and just try to mix up the name cards each week so students would be sitting with different stand partners and in different parts of the section until it was a few weeks before a concert and we would begin using concert seating (that I wrote out by hand).  I could also strategically place students together who would be sharing a spare instrument because they both forgot theirs that day.  After full orchestra, I would collect the name cards in order (Row 1 left to right, Row 2, Row 3, etc.), so I had that seating "preserved" until next week and could mix it up from there.  Of course, I couldn't remember which students had sat with which stand partners over the course of several weeks, so sometimes I would hear students say that they've sat with a particular person three times already and they hadn't sat with so-and-so yet.  But that system worked well enough for my purposes.

However, the pandemic arrived and changed things (to say the least).  We weren't able to hold full orchestra during the 2020-2021 school year (I videotaped myself leading "virtual" full orchestra rehearsals for students to play along with at home).  Then, once we were able to resume full orchestra rehearsals at school the following school year, teachers still needed to submit seating charts to the office in case of any contact tracing that needed to be done.  I started creating seating charts using Google Slides, color-coded, of course, by instrument and then referencing that seating chart to get the names cards in order so set-up each week was as quick and easy as possible.  I also make note of how many chairs and stands go in each row and how many are needed total.  This document is just for me--students don't need to see the seating chart; they're just looking to find their name card on their music stand when they enter the room.  It turns out that I really appreciated having a record of my seating charts and have continued to use this Google Slide method.

• Seating chart template (Google Slide)

These days, I will keep the same seating chart about three or four weeks (we have once-a-week full orchestra rehearsals) and then mix it up.  I simply duplicate the slide, add the new start date on the top, and then drag the text boxes around.  In this way, old seating charts are easily viewable and I can reference them to make sure I am changing up stand partners and where in the section students are sitting.  Again, after each full orchestra, I just collect the name cards in order, and then I am all set for the following week.  If a student is absent that day, I still put their name card on the music stand; I just cover their name card with their stand partner's name card and set out one chair instead of two for that stand.  That way the name cards stay in order when I collect them afterwards.

This template document also includes concert seating charts, when I have two orchestras sitting in one big orchestra.  I like to start concerts with the beginners in the front and the second-year players in the back, and then once the beginners' part of the concert is done, students switch places so the second-year players are in the front (basses don't move).  We end with one combined piece, and everyone stays where they are for that.  (See also: Winter Concert programming)

For concerts, instead of putting giant name cards on music stands that the audience would also see, I type up students names in seating chart order in a quick Google Doc, cut them into little strips, and then just tape them on to the stands when I set up for the concert so that only the performers can see.  When students are sitting in the back of the orchestra, waiting their turn to play, I don't assign seats for that part; I just say they have to sit with their stand partner somewhere in an empty seat.  That way, right before the concert starts, if I see any empty seats, I can ask a student who their stand partner is to know who is missing without having to consult my seating chart.  I hope it also makes it easier when it comes time to switch seats to stay with their stand partner to know where to go.  When we do switch places mid-concert, I don't want students searching for their name somewhere in the back of the orchestra; they should just find an available spot--with their stand partner (since we play one combined piece together yet).  Students who are moving toward the front of the orchestra getting ready to play should more-or-less know where they're going because it's the same location they've been in for full orchestra the last couple of weeks and can verify they've found the right spot when they see their names on their music stand.

On music stands for the concert:

5th: Name, Name

6th: Name, Name

One year, I had such big orchestras that it just wasn't feasible to ask that many students to switch places in the middle of the concert, so I had the beginners on one side and the second-year players on the other side, as shown in the third slide in the template document (and below).  The 6th grade cellos were not particularly happy to be sitting in the back, but that's what made the most sense to me with the space we had available (we share the concert with the band and choir--the choir is on the stage, and the band is set up on the gymnasium floor alongside the orchestra).

For small groups (usually about three or four students), I do not create a seating chart.  However, at the beginning of the year, I do put name cards on the music stands for the beginners during small groups while I am learning their names.  Once I am more comfortable with remembering names, I only use the name cards for full orchestra, and students can choose where they sit for small groups.

For our district-wide String Fest, where there are 200+ students in our giant elementary combined orchestra, I still draw that seating chart by hand (See String Fest Seating Chart Template for that one).

How do you like to create seating charts?  I know there are more sophisticated programs out there, but the Google Slide version works for my purposes.

Concert Etiquette and Trivia Slides

 

My district recently hosted a performance of a youth orchestra from the area.  Elementary and middle school students from all the district's schools were in attendance--all the orchestra students plus other students not in orchestra.  I wasn't sure how students would do with the time before the concert started, waiting for students from all the schools to arrive and be seated, and I wasn't sure how much preparation classroom teachers would be doing in the area of concert etiquette, so I had an idea.  I wanted to create a series of slides that could be running on loop before the concert that included a slide welcoming the audience members, concert etiquette, information on the youth orchestra, and orchestra trivia.  For the trivia, I was imagining multiple choice questions, like what you'd see in a movie theater before the movie starts where the wrong answers disappear one by one.

Using Google Slides, I came up with a presentation that matched just what I had in mind.  I used different color backgrounds for each category of slides (trivia/etiquette/youth orchestra info).  In Google Slides, when you go to "Share" and then "Publish to the Web," it gives an option to auto-advance slides every 3 seconds.  That was fine for most of the slides, but others had more text and needed longer before advancing.  To solve that, I just duplicated the slides with extra text (sometimes a couple of times), ensuring they would be visible longer before advancing to the next slide.  There is also a box to check to "Restart the slideshow after the last slide" so it plays on a loop.

Trivia questions included:

• What does Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik translate to in English?
• How many symphonies did Beethoven write?
• What are the names of the two types of bass bows?
• A symphony orchestra is made up of which group(s) of instruments?
• Which string instrument reads alto clef?
• What is the name of the white stick that conductors use to conduct music?

To create more trivia questions, just duplicate the initial slide with the question and type in the new question/choices and add an image.  Then, duplicate that slide and delete one of the wrong answers.  Keep duplicating and deleting a wrong answer until you're left with only the correct answer.  I chose to add some additional information in a text box once the correct answer was revealed as well.

Concert etiquette included tips on being silent while the orchestra is performing, applauding after each piece, and staying in seats during the concert (or leaving between pieces if necessary).

• Concert etiquette and trivia template (Google Slides)

Feel free to make a copy and update to meet your needs!

Name That Tune--Concert Prep

For our last small group before a concert, we'll often play "Name that Tune."  First we rosin bows as I walk through the call time and concert details with the students.  Then, for "Name that Tune" I'll play a note or two or three of a part of one of their concert pieces.  Once someone correctly identifies the piece, I have students pull out their music to find the measure number(s) of the excerpt, and then we play the whole piece together and touch up whatever needs touching up.

A variation on this game is to make it rhythm only, and I'll clap a distinctive rhythmic pattern from each of their pieces.  Another variation (challenge) would be to include an excerpt or rhythm pattern that a different instrument plays--not a part that the specific kids in that small group play.

I'm often surprised by which students are quickly able to identify the concert piece--they're not always the strongest players--and the students like the game aspect of it (though we do not keep score in any way or recognize winners or anything).  It's also more of a fun way to review the different concert pieces than just playing through everything once more before the concert.

When we play through concert pieces on this day, I like to play a different instrument's part along with the students (like I'll play cello with a violin group or violin with a bass group etc.).  It helps to develop their chamber music skills and makes students more aware of what another instrument is doing while they're playing their part.  And there are always students surprised that I know how to play a different instrument than they're used to seeing me play :)  I also get students who look at the white board when they arrive and ask which song is "Name that Tune"...

At the end of this small group, we'll use a cloth to wipe the rosin dust off our strings and instruments so they're totally set to go for the concert, we'll get our music in concert order, and then I always ask which piece they're each most looking forward to performing at the concert.

What kind of lesson plans work well for you as you approach a concert?

Concert Repertoire for Beginning Orchestra

For winter and spring concerts at my schools, we have a combined orchestra, band, and choir concert that ideally lasts about an hour.  The orchestra portion tends to run about 25 minutes total, so a few pieces performed by the first-year orchestra, a few pieces by the second-year orchestra, and then one or two combined pieces rounds out the orchestra portion.  I meet with my students once a week for 30 minutes during recess for full orchestra and 30 minutes once a week during the school day for small group learning, so these pieces are representative of what students can comfortably have concert-ready.

Here is what my students performed last year at these concerts:

Winter Concert

Beginners:

• Bile 'em Cabbage Down (students plucked an open string harmony part while I played the melody on the violin)
• Slavonic Folk Song (pizz. open string harmony, then pizz. melody, then arco melody/harmony together)
• Serenata by Dale Brubaker (all open strings, arco)

2nd Year Students:

• Skaters' Waltz by Émile Waldteufel, arr. Richard Meyer (in preparation for the next month's district-wide String Fest)
• Sword Dance by Thoinot Arbeau, arr. Bob Phillips

Combined Orchestras:

• Blueberry Jam by Bonnie Greene (in preparation for the next month's district-wide String Fest)
• Jingle Bells by James Pierpont (my arrangement)

Spring Concert

Beginners:

• Ode to Joy (my arrangement)
• It's the Blues Man! (from their Orchestra Expressions book, complete with student soloists improvising the rhythms during their 4-measure solo)
• Student compositions (one four-measure composition per instrument)
• Royal Promenade by Don Brubaker (their first "real" full orchestra piece with independent parts)

2nd Year Students:

• Spring by Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Richard Meyer
• Student compositions (two eight-measure compositions--one for upper strings and one for lower strings)
• Fiddles on Fire by Mark Williams

Combined Orchestras:

• The Lion Sleeps Tonight (arr. Bob Cerulli)

This general format has been working well--in December, I like to start with something that's pizzicato open strings to show where the beginners started at the beginning of the year (and because students would be really comfortable performing that) and work up to something that's arco with D string notes.  And the 2nd year students tend to play fewer pieces (about two big pieces alone) because theirs are longer in length.  If we do only one combined piece at the end, 2nd year students may play three pieces alone; if we do two combined pieces, 2nd year students generally play two pieces alone.

Here are some of the pieces my students have performed for past winter and spring concerts listed in no particular order (student compositions are on every concert too):

Winter Concert

Beginners:

Pizzicato open strings (one piece)

• Les Toreadors (from Orchestra Expressions)
• Three Point Shot (from Orchestra Expressions) 
• Bile 'em Cabbage Down (from Orchestra Expressions supplement)

Pizzicato open strings/pizzicato D string notes/arco open string harmony plus D string melody (one piece played three times)...Or play one of these pieces pizzicato only (open string harmony/D string notes melody/choose melody or harmony third time) and play a second piece with the melody arco only

• Mary Lee (Mary Had a Little Lamb)
• Slavonic Folk Song
• Au Claire de la Lune
• Ode to Joy
• Bile 'em Cabbage
• Hot Cross Buns

Arco open strings (one piece)

• Serenata by Dale Brubaker (a winter concert tradition!)

Second Year Students:
A round or something pretty simple (one or two pieces--some years I don't do one of these on the concerts and choose two full orchestra pieces instead)

• Hallelujah by William Boyce (easy round in D Major)
• Do, Re, Mi, Fa (easy round in D Major)
• Brudenell Waltz by David R. Bellwood (transposed to D Major with some extra lines added)

Full orchestra piece (one or two pieces--often one will be performed for String Fest the following month and the other one will not)

• Banuwa (my arrangement)
• I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, arr. Michael Story
• Skaters' Waltz by Émile Waldteufel, arr. Richard Meyer
• Sword Dance by Thoinot Arbeau, arr. Bob Phillips
• Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi (my arrangement that I got permission from the copyright holder to write--sorry, can't share) 
• Appalachian Hymn by Soon Hee Newbold
• Hey Fiddle Fiddle! by Brian Balmages
• Les Toreadors by Georges Bizet (my arrangement) 
• Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II (my arrangement)
• Ukrainian Bell Carol by Mykola Leontovich, arr. Sandra Dackow

 
Combined Pieces:
We always end with Jingle Bells!  If we do a second combined piece on this concert, it would be a String Fest piece

• Star of the County Down (melody for 2nd year students; harmony for beginners)
• Variations on a Sea Shanty (my arrangement)
• Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi (my arrangement that I got permission from the copyright holder to write--sorry, can't share)
• Jingle Bells (my arrangement)

 

Spring Concert

Beginners:
Very simple full orchestra piece or a piece from the book

• New World Symphony Theme by Antonín Dvořák, arr. Michael Allen
• Ode to Joy by Ludwig van Beethoven (my arrangement)
• Twinkle Twinkle by W.A. Mozart (my arrangement)
• A Traveler's Song (from Orchestra Expressions--played Andante, then Allegro)

Piece from book with student soloists improvising their own rhythms (they play a 4-measure solo, deciding which quarter notes to change to pairs of eighth notes).  We play a total of four times--first and last times with everyone playing the melody, the second and third times with soloists to include 6 soloists total.

• It's the Blues Man! (from Orchestra Expressions)

"Real" full orchestra piece

• Medieval Kings by Soon Hee Newbold
• St. Lawrence Overture by Elliot Del Borgo 
• First Scale March by Mark Williams
• Royal Promenade by Don Brubaker
• Hall of Heroes by Brian Balmages
• Impulse by Brian Balmages

Second Year Orchestra:
Two or three full orchestra pieces, possibly one brought back from January's String Fest

• Dragon Dance by Michael Story
• Slavonic Dance No. 1 by Antonín Dvořák, arr. Michael Story
• Jupiter by Gustav Holst (my arrangement)
• Anasazi by John Edmondson
• Fiddles on Fire by Mark Williams
• Honor and Glory by Soon Hee Newbold
• Celtica by Brian Balmages (when I have an advanced violinist who can handle the solo part)
• Rite at Stonehenge by Elliot Del Borgo

Or something a little different

• The Blue Balloon from The Blue Book of Violin Tunes by Bonnie Greene (learned by ear)

Combined Orchestras:

• The 101 by Katie O'Hara LaBrie
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and Solomon Linda, arr. Bob Cerulli
• Rhythm 'n' Blues by Soon Hee Newbold
• Spring by Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Richard Meyer
• Sailors' Song by Mark Williams
• Slavonic Dance by Antonín Dvořák, arr. Richard Meyer
• William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini (my arrangement) 
• We Will Rock You by Brian May, arr. Paul Lavender

Concert info to share with families (Google Docs):

• Winter concert info
• Spring concert info

Please see this post for a Google Sheet of repertoire options organized by unit/concert.

For a more in-depth look at my winter concerts including logistics and sample speaking parts, please see this post :)

Which pieces do you like to program for a beginning orchestra concert?  Which pieces should I consider for future concerts?

Ode to Joy Arrangement

Here is a very simple arrangement of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" that I used with my beginning orchestra last year.  Each instrument has a turn playing melody and harmony.  After the short introduction, violas and cellos begin on the melody together, while the violins and basses begin on the harmony together.  The violas even get a solo measure in the introduction and ending!  Every rest in this piece is a bow lift, so it's good practice for getting bows to match direction :)

The beginners were excited to have their first taste of playing a "real" full orchestra piece, where there are actual melody and harmony parts going on at the same time, and they enjoyed playing a piece that they recognized.  I did play along on piano to provide some fuller harmonies but didn't write out a part for myself.  Please let me know if you'd like me to write out a piano part for this! Update--see below for a notated piano part!

We watched parts of this Ode to Joy flash mob on Youtube too.

• Ode to Joy parts
• Ode to Joy parts with Alpha notation
• Score
• Audio files

• Updated Ode to Joy with fewer bow lifts--parts/score/Alpha parts
• Score with piano part
• Piano part (would work with either version)

Enjoy!

Winter Concert Programming

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:

• Mary Lee (Mary Had a Little Lamb)
• Au Claire de la Lune
• Ode to Joy
• Slavonic Folk Song
• Bile 'em Cabbage
• Hot Cross Buns

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
• Banuwa (my arrangement)

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?

William Tell Overture Arrangement

For this year's district-wide String Fest, I arranged Rossini's "William Tell Overture" for beginning orchestra.  There are two versions for the very beginners--one is a mostly open string harmony part with a few first finger Es and Bs, and the second is more melodic part that sticks mostly to D string notes.  The arrangement for second year players is very balanced--everyone gets the melody at some point!  Instead of writing repeat signs for repeated material, I wrote it out so violins get the melody the first time and violas/cellos/basses get the melody the second time.  This is written in G Major (so some low 2s) with no slurs (but a few tricky double down-bows in the intermediate arrangement that take some practice).

Orchestra members really enjoyed learning a "real" piece that they had heard before and seen YouTube recordings of professional orchestras playing.  While some students were initially put off by its length (two pages instead of one for the intermediate version), they quickly realized there's a lot of repetition and felt a sense of accomplishment as the orchestra learned each section.


Sheet music (all PDFs):

• Beginning orchestra score and parts
• Intermediate orchestra score and parts

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

• Intermediate arrangement audio file

Intermediate melody (first 8 measures only), which I used when introducing the piece:

• PDF sheet music of melody
• Word document of melody

Selected YouTube links:

• Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
• Animated graphical score

Again, I like to use clip art instead of labeling parts "beginning" and "intermediate" or by grade level, so you'll see matching images within the beginning and intermediate parts and scores.

String Fest Reflection Letters

Our annual district-wide String Fest field trip and concert is done for another year!  Instead of having students write up a reflection sheet to share their thoughts about their experience, this year elementary orchestra students wrote letters to the middle and high school orchestra students.  They answered essentially the same questions I would have asked them anyway, but this way they were able to communicate with students they performed alongside last week.  We took a large chunk of time during full orchestra to write letters, and I graded them based on how many questions were responded to in the letter.  Next, I sent them to our middle and high school teachers to distribute to their students.  Students really got into this writing assignment because they knew they were writing to real people--some even addressed their letter to an older sibling or neighbor in orchestra :)

Elementary students were super excited when they came to full orchestra a later week and found handwritten letters to each of them on their stands!  The high school orchestra members had taken a letter, written a response, and then stapled the two together so it was easy to return to the correct elementary musician.  The response letters were so positive and encouraging; it was so nice to read through them!  What a great way to make connections between the different grade levels and schools in our orchestra community! 

Update: I've added a second letter template with sentence starters to make it easier for those students who need the support.  I print the letters double-sided, and students can choose which side they write theirs on.  I've also started marking in the top right corner the student's school and grade level because each middle/high school receives letters from two elementary schools.  This way it is easier to sort and send the letters back to the correct elementary school :)

• Letter templates plus directions (Google Doc)

Blue Danube Arrangement

Here's another arrangement I've written for this year's String Fest.  I've included two sections plus a DC al Fine to end up with an ABA form for "Blue Danube Waltz."  The intermediate parts give the melody to violas and cellos in the A section and to violins in the B section, while the basses get a more traditional bass part.  Harmony parts are either "boom" or "chick-chick," intentionally simple so we can spend more time working on the melody parts in small groups.  Violas and cellos have to play C# on the G string, while violins go up to F# on the E string.  All intermediate parts (except basses) include slurs.  I've also written parts for a beginning orchestra.  The A section is a simplified melody with notes on the D and A strings, and the B section is mostly open strings.  While the intermediate arrangement can stand alone, the beginning orchestra arrangement needs the addition of the intermediate arrangement to fill it out (and to provide a melody for the B section).

I introduced this piece to my sixth graders by listening to a recording of this famous Strauss waltz.  Many students had heard it before and were excited to be learning this piece in orchestra.  Students also learned how to dance a waltz--"forward-side-together, back-side-together" starting on left foot for the leader or "back-side-together, forward-side-together" starting on right foot for the follower.  A few kids partnered up and tried the dance together, while everyone else was content to just try the steps themselves.

Sheet music (all PDFs):

• Beginning orchestra score and parts
• Intermediate orchestra score and parts

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

• Beginning arrangement
• Intermediate arrangement

Intermediate melody (first 4 lines only), which I used when introducing the piece:

• PDF sheet music

Again, I like to use clip art instead of labeling parts "beginning" and "intermediate," so you'll see matching images within the beginning and intermediate parts and scores.

Les Toreadors Arrangement

My district has an annual String Fest, where all the orchestra students in the district get together for a day of rehearsing and listening with a big concert that evening in the field house.  Each grade level orchestra is featured for a piece or two, and then everyone plays a combined piece as the grand finale.  This grand finale piece has to be playable for first-year string players but still interesting to high school musicians.  My solution this year has been to arrange sections of "Les Toreadors" from Carmen by Georges Bizet in a multi-level format.  I did transpose it to D Major from its original A Major to make it friendlier for the beginners, and I shortened the movement to a simple ABA form.

Overview of parts:

• The beginning students get a simplified unison version with limited range--mostly D string notes plus a section with  hopping 2nd finger notes (B on the G string and C# on the A string) and open G.  
• The elementary (second-year) parts have the same simplified rhythms but an expanded range--mostly notes from the D Major scale plus the bass part gets some 2nd finger notes and a fun chromatic passage.  I also included "challenge" intermediate parts which include more finger work, more eighth notes, and a slightly wider range to sound more like the original melody.  The "B" section is the same between the regular and challenge parts.  The different voices would be regular parts (vln/vla/cello basically in unison), challenge parts (vln/vla/cello basically in unison), bass part.
• And then the advanced parts come from Bizet's original, just transposed to D Major.

Here are the openings for the different violin parts for comparison...

Beginning orchestra:

 Intermediate orchestra (regular part)

Intermediate orchestra (challenge part)

Advanced orchestra (Violin I)

Advanced orchestra (Violin II)

Sheet music (all PDFs):

• Beginning orchestra score and parts
• Intermediate orchestra score and parts (with challenge parts too)
• Advanced orchestra score and parts

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

• Beginning arrangement
• Intermediate arrangement
• Advanced arrangement

Intermediate melody (first 4 lines only) and challenge part (first 4 lines only), which I used when introducing the piece:

• PDF sheet music

With all the different versions, you can mix and match to differentiate for individual students.  I like to use clip art instead of labeling parts "beginning" and "intermediate" etc., so you'll see matching images within the beginning and intermediate parts and scores.

Feel free to try out with your orchestras!