String Teacher Preparation Programs in the United States

The rise in demand for string teachers is a sign of support for string programs across the United States. Despite an increase in string teacher positions, there is growing concern regarding the lack of qualified string music education graduates to fill the vacancies, sometimes leading administrators to close programs. This study investigated the status of string teacher education programs in the United States. Participants for this study were degree-granting institutions ( N = 636) accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). The NASM directory listings and institution websites were examined to determine what type of degrees were offered, and presence of a full-time string music education faculty member. Results indicated that while most NASM-accredited institutions offer some type of undergraduate degree in music education, very few institutions (16%) were shown to have a full-time string music education specialist. Results also indicated a significant relationship between the size of school and likelihood of having a full-time string music education specialist, χ2 (7, N = 526) = 80.03, p < .001.

Beginning Strings

The purpose of this chapter is to describe current research and practice in beginning string instruction and teacher preparation, to provide an overview of the challenges faced by music teacher educators (MTEs), and to offer suggestions for future directions. First, the chapter provides an overview of the curriculum for beginning string education classes and identifies performance and teaching competencies needed to teach beginning strings. Next, it describes the teacher education coursework and authentic-context learning experiences commonly used to address these performance and teaching competencies. Finally, the chapter challenges and promising practices for string teacher preparation and provides suggestions for future research.

The Status of Strings and Orchestra Programs in U.S. Schools

The purpose of this study was to monitor the status of school string and orchestra programs in the United States and to gather descriptive information in the areas of program characteristics, curriculum, support, and student/teacher demographics. A second purpose was to document trends observed when compared with results of previous studies. Based on the review of literature, specific variables were identified as potential for trends: string student enrollment, symphonic orchestra offerings, enhancement offerings, private lesson enrollment, string teacher shortages, and student/teacher demographic information. All members of the American String Teachers Association indicating K-12 string teaching as part of their duties were contacted to complete a web-based survey ( N = 2,232). After follow-up contact, 369 respondents participated (16.5%). Although teachers indicated growth in both number and size of programs, increased utilization of approved curricula, and representative racial demographics among students, analysis revealed the following concerns: a decline in the offering of symphonic orchestra and other enhancements, a decline in student participation in private instruction, unrepresentative gender and racial demographics of string teachers, and factors that indicate a continuing string teacher shortage.

Review of Literature: Pedagogical Content Knowledge and String Teacher Preparation

In the past few decades, there has been an increase in the percentage of non-string specialists teaching string classes. In this article, we review literature about subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in general and music education settings, to better understand the challenges that teachers with limited knowledge of string-specific content may face when teaching strings students. Included in this review are discussions concerning trends in the string teacher workforce, PCK in education and music, acquisition of PCK in general settings and music teacher preparation programs, and relationships between teacher content knowledge and instructional effectiveness, both in general and string education settings. Based on this review, we recommend that preservice and professional development curricula for music teachers include comprehensive preparation in both content-specific and pedagogical-specific knowledge for teaching strings.

Learning from a Master Teacher Using a Tripartite Structure Framework

The purpose of the study described in this paper was to investigate a master string teacher’s teaching occurring in one-on-one, group and ensemble settings. This study used a tripartite structure as a framework to identify the master teacher’s subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge that contribute to his teaching success. This study employed the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the research methodology to explore a master string teacher who is one of the most renowned violinists and string pedagogues in Australia. The following question guided this study: What are the distinguishing features of the master teacher’s one-on-one teaching, group teaching and ensemble directing? The findings of this research indicated that a teacher’s teaching manner, instructional skill, leadership and teaching philosophy have powerful influence on students. The master teacher offers a model to assist other string teachers.