String Day

What does the day look like?

A day of all things strings, handcrafted for you!

Workshop Schedule:

1:00 – 2:00:

• Care and Repair with Jennifer McSweeny from Acoustic Strings
• Mock District Auditions with Karl Orvik

2:00 – 3:00:

• Ensemble Skills for Beginning String Players with Rose Baker
• Cello Choir with Colleen McGary Smith and Sarah Freiberg
• Introduction to Old Time Fiddle with Ellery Klein
• Unlocking The Splendor of Hindustani Teen Taal Rhythms with Parama Chattopadhyay

3:00 – 4:00:

• Posture Games with Annierose Klingbeil
• Fiddle Contest with Ellery Klein
• Finding Your Voice on the Strings with Ken Mok

4:00 – 5:00:

• All-Play Rehearsal, Concert, and Raffle!

You can get up to four raffle entries – here’s how! Workshop attendees will get one raffle ticket per workshop. All-play concert participants will get one raffle ticket. If you come to all the workshops and play in the All-Play, you’ll have four raffle tickets by the end of the day! (Not participating in the All-Play? Bring your raffle tickets from earlier in the day to the concert to enter!).

Care and Repair

Time: 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Level: All
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Jennifer McSweeny from Acoustic Strings

Join Jennifer McSweeney from Acoustic Strings of New England as she leads an interactive presentation of the insides and outsides of various string instruments, and how to best care for your own instrument!

Introduction to Old Time Fiddle

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Level: All
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Ellery Klein

Learn a simple tune or two, and an accompanying silly song, from the American Old Time tradition.

Unlocking The Splendor of Hindustani Teen Taal Rhythms

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Level: All
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Parama Chattopadhyay

Teen Taal is a rhythmical passage form typically found in semi-classical as well as traditional Hindustani music. It is played on the tabla or other percussive Indian instruments, with each “bol” or drumbeat in a 16 beat structure. It can not only create structure in Eastern music but can also be merged into Western music’s common time signature of 4/4. This class explores the structure of Teen Tall, practicing it as a whole class, and then pairing it with traditional Indian melodic themes as well as contemporary Western rap.

Posture Games

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Level: All
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Annierose Klingbeil

Learn how to make playing a string instrument with excellent posture fun and accessible. In this workshop, we’ll dive into posture techniques for violinists, violists and cellists through a series of creative games that will help you develop strong, balanced playing habits. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, these games are designed to improve your body alignment, bow hold, and overall comfort while playing.

Fiddle Contest

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Level: All
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Ellery Klein

Fiddle contests have long been a part of the fiddle tradition, as a way of bringing the community together and allowing folks to show off their skills. While in some corners of the contest fiddle world, the stakes can be high, here at Powers we’re inviting people to give this a try in more of an “open mike” spirit. We will choose a few winners and have a few fun prizes, but mostly this is an opportunity for students to try performing some fun music and have a good time. If you need a suggestion for a tune to work on in advance, feel free to reach out to fiddlerellery@gmail.com.

All-Play Rehearsal, Concert and Raffle!

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Level: All
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Karl Orvik

The traditional Grand Finale of String Day!  All students will gather in the concert hall to rehearse the pre-assigned pieces that they have been practicing.  The rehearsal will lead directly into the performance at 4:30, and the day will finish with a raffle drawing!  Prizes include tickets to a Boston Symphony concert, a gift certificate from Johnson Strings, and much more!

4:00-4:30: Rehearsal for the All-Play concert

4:30-5:00: Performance and raffle drawing!

Raffle prizes!

Enter to win prizes specially picked for string players!

You can get up to four raffle entries – here’s how! Workshop attendees will get one raffle ticket per workshop. All-play concert participants will get one raffle ticket. If you come to all the workshops and play in the All-Play, you’ll have four raffle tickets by the end of the day! (Not participating in the All-Play? Bring your raffle tickets from earlier in the day to the concert to enter!).

Current prizes:

• Voucher for two tickets to an upcoming Boston Symphony Orchestra concert
• $100 gift card to Johnson String Instrument

If you are a business and would like to donate a raffle prize, please reach out to Noah at nstone@powersmusic.org.

The raffle drawing will happen at some point during the All-Play, so if you’re interested in raffle prizes, make sure you’re there for the All-Play!

Ensemble Skills for Beginning String Players

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Level: Beginning
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Rose Baker

It’s never too early to learn about playing in a group! Sharpen your ensemble skills in this workshop for beginning students. Practice the skills you need to play with others, including listening, watching, and leading. Learn what it means to support the melody and how to fit your individual part into the group. You’ll learn how to work as a team to create a beautiful, exciting group sound.

Cello Choir

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Instruments: All Strings
Teachers: Sarah Freiberg and Colleen McGary Smith

Come join us for a session of playing great music arranged for multiple cellos—the repertoire is varied, with 3-5 separate parts for each piece, and some of the parts are played in tenor clef.  We hope to have plenty of players so that we can double up on each part.

Finding Your Voice on the Strings

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Instruments: Violins and Violas
Teacher: Ken Mok

Discover how to make your violin or viola sing with a healthy and expressive sound.  Through focused exercises on bow techniques and listening skills, you will learn how to bring warmth, clarity, and colour to your playing.  You will leave with practical tools that you can immediately apply in both practice and performance.

Mock District Auditions

Time: 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Level: Advanced
Instruments: All Strings
Teacher: Karl Orvik

For any string students who are participating in the MMEA District Festival Auditions, this is an opportunity to experience a practice run of your repertoire in front of a small audience!  The class will be most appropriate for students in the Senior Festival of MMEA’s Northeastern district (which includes Belmont High School), but is open to any string student planning on taking a district audition this academic year.

Cello Choir

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Instruments: All Strings
Teachers: Sarah Freiberg and Colleen McGary Smith

Come join us for a session of playing great music arranged for multiple cellos—the repertoire is varied, with 3-5 separate parts for each piece, and some of the parts are played in tenor clef.  We hope to have plenty of players so that we can double up on each part.

Finding Your Voice on the Strings

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Instruments: Violins and Violas
Teacher: Ken Mok

Discover how to make your violin or viola sing with a healthy and expressive sound.  Through focused exercises on bow techniques and listening skills, you will learn how to bring warmth, clarity, and colour to your playing.  You will leave with practical tools that you can immediately apply in both practice and performance.