Illinois ASTA Teacher Enrichment Workshop!

On a Saturday morning, 4 dedicated ASTA members woke up to the sound of an alarm at 4:30 in the morning!  Why you may ask?!??!  To attend the annual Illinois ASTA Teacher Enrichment Workshop!!!

IT was a great day of speakers, presenters, and networking between other student chapters and seasoned professionals!

Here are some highlights from the sessions...

8:00 – 8:45 Steve Eggleston, Illinois Wesleyan University - working with conductors

• "This is a rennaissance dance...can you imagine the dancers?"
  
• "If you give them a 3 pattern to start with and stop conducting, they'll play this piece PRETTY well"
• "Sometimes, I like to dance...but I have to move that enery from my feet, to my upper body...why don't you try sitting on a stool?"

8:45 - 9:30 Steve Eggleston - topics in conducting

• "Play your instrument everday; it will make you a better teacher"
• "For 2 patterns, focus on the back of the ensemble(tubas, basses)"
• Gestures of syncopation - "it's like throwing a dart"
• Prepping = "Palms inward, Palms down, Prep"

9:30 – 10:30 Jim Kjelland, Northwestern University - "Orchestral Bowing – A Guide to Style and Practice"

10:30 – 12:00 Gilda Barston, Music Institute of Chicago - Cello Pedagogy

12:00 – 12:30 Lunch – orders will be taken at registration

12:30 – 1:30 Michael Becker: Characteristics of Fine Instruments: Helping Your Students Select Quality

• "Does everyone need an expensive instrument?  Think to yourself,...what is it being used for?...School? Performing?  Private Teaching?"

1:30 - 2:30 Brian Cole, Moorhead, Minnesota Public Schools - "Building a dynamic orchestra program 5 -12"

• "All students are gifted,....some of us just open them at different times..."
• "That boy may need orchestra more than orchestra needs that boy"
• "The greatest tool for recruiting is word of mouth"

2:30 – 4:00 Ed Kreitman – "Tonalization - a Suzuki-based approach to sound production"

• "Everything else is related to posture"
• "Think of your instrument as a bell...think about holding a bell...if it's too tight, it won't ring!"
• "Concentrate on having the entire instrument right, instead of just the string"
• "Hold the instrument in such a way so that it is "free""
• "What are the places on the hand that NEEDS to touch the bow?"
• "I draw dots on their hands and ask them to hid the dots..."
• "You have to have the student learn to love their sound...it will be their motivation to practice/play"

4:00 - 5:00 Brian Cole, Session 2 – "What parents are most interested it – and it's not the music"

5:00 – 6:00 Allen Dennis, Midwest Young Artists - "Preparing for Festival or Fischoff"

• "Chamber music has to be part of every child's education"
• "You win everyitme you learn something in an experience"
• "If they win a competition, but they didn't learn something, they didn't win"
• "I base my program on desire"
• "The desire to do something is the most important aspect in a program"
• "Competitions should be part of your string program"
• "Choose music that flows with your educational goals for the year"
• "If I am not prepared, my students won't want to work."
• "If you don't get something done, your students won't think it's worthwhile"
• "Leave your "door" open for questions (e-mail, phone, during rehearsals, etc.)"

6:00- 6:30 Dinner - pizza

All in all, it was a fantastic day of ASTA sponsored events.  It was great meeting and hearing such wonderful speakers that really motivated us to become better teachers and in the end, contributors to society.