Building in the Shadows: Growing an Orchestra Alongside an Established Band or Choir Program

Structural Transfers

Taking advantage of the resources and knowledge of strong programs next door can save significant time and set you down the right path from the start. As teachers, we are constantly training our students to transfer success to new scenarios, such as applying the bow stroke developed during a warmup to a concert piece. While not everything that works well in a band or choir will transfer to orchestra, many systems and structures that contribute to successful programs can be transferred effectively to orchestra. Most established programs have extensive handbooks that discuss policies, procedures, and expectations. Pay attention to language dealing with common issues such as sporting conflicts, grade structure, and audition requirements. As you read these examples, keep in mind specific language is often developed as a result of real-life past scenarios. As you review your colleagues’ handbooks, consider adopting similar policies to create consistency across the department. Policies addressing topics such as class set-up procedures, rehearsal attendance, concert etiquette, student responsibilities, field trips can all be transferred easily between disciplines. Compiling a well-crafted set of policies and expectations will help shape your program vision and outline clear expectations for student success.

In addition to handbooks and classroom policies, your band or choir colleagues may already have established protocols with your administration or district that could also benefit your program. For example, if your band colleagues have arranged a way to invite private teachers into the building for coaching or lessons, it may be easy to adopt a similar program to benefit the orchestra. If your choir colleagues have streamlined a way to regularly visit the middle schools during a planning period, consider using this protocol to invest similar time building relationships with potential students.

Rehearsal Transfers

Alongside basic policies and procedures, pinpointing the musical aspects that contribute to the success of a school’s band or choir program can also provide further opportunities for transfers. Take note of how your colleagues structure rehearsals in terms of fundamentals, literature, and ensemble musicianship. Watching a veteran band director rehearse long tones with the low brass section or a choir director use Takadimi to develop sight reading skills can give orchestra teachers insights into the detailed approaches needed for raising the level with detailed string teaching. Similarly, observation can inspire new or different ways of approaching concepts in the orchestra classroom.

A string teacher can also gain insights into the additional rehearsal structures inherent to many band and choir programs. Marching bands and show choirs often involve rigorous after-school rehearsal schedules in addition to time in the classroom. Incorporating a regular after-school sectional or rehearsal into an orchestra program may help develop each section and increase the overall level of the group. Before making changes, it is important to take into account the group of students, school, and community culture. In some cases, adding a weekly after-school sectional may function as a positive step to further the musical and social development of a program. In other cases, additional activity might deter students who are already overworked and perhaps chose orchestra because it required fewer after-school commitments. I have found that students will continue in your class if they are having fun and feel musically successful.

The social dynamic of a school music program can be just as important as the musical when it comes to capturing and maintaining student interest. Marching band programs benefit socially from the fact that all their students—freshmen through seniors—are together for hours a day. Similarly, choral students who participate in a musical naturally mix between ensembles. This provides ample opportunities for collaboration, positive social interactions, and mentoring between younger students and upperclassmen. While full program rehearsals may not be possible or even helpful for orchestra, finding ways for students to create meaningful interactions across classes is crucial. My program has had success hosting a fall social at a local park or in the school cafeteria, allowing students to interact in a low-pressure setting. I have also created scenarios for my upper-level orchestra students to run sectionals with one of our less-experienced ensembles. This is a great way to develop strong leaders as well as motivate younger students by showing examples of where continued hard work and dedication could take them.

“Sharing ideas between disciplines, purposefully building positive colleague relationships, and advocating for your program at all stages of development are key to successful growth and development.”

Build Relationships

It is important not to view your music colleagues as competition, but rather establish and maintain positive working relationships from the beginning. As your orchestra program grows, you will need to work together to accommodate shared students, coordinate schedules, and creatively solve rehearsal or performance space issues. At some point, the time might come for you to add a class, host a festival of your own on a busy weekend date, or combine with the band to create a full orchestra. If you are constantly at odds with your band or choir colleagues, it will be difficult to find solutions when you most need them. I have found small gestures, such as attending a colleague’s concert or proactively talking through a rehearsal conflict with a shared student, go a long way in laying the foundation for a positive working relationship.

When my program grew and it was time to add additional orchestra classes, I had to work with my band colleague to find another location for one of their classes that had previously been using the orchestra room. Because I had developed a strong relationship and my colleague respected the work I was doing to raise the level of the orchestra program, we were able to find a solution with minimum difficulty. Similarly, I have shared a number of students with my choir colleagues over the years. These students were often top performers in both programs and our upper-level ensembles would frequently be scheduled during the same period. In order to accommodate these students and not force them to choose between one program or another, we worked together with the guidance department and administration to adjust class schedules, allowing those students to participate in both ensembles. Building positive colleague relationships helps foster a spirit of collaboration and teamwork that will benefit not only your orchestra program but the entire music department. Viewing your next-door neighbors as a resource instead of competition can help the orchestra along its journey to higher levels of success.

Advocate

As you grow a program, do not shy away from celebrating accomplishments no matter how small. While your successes might not have the same size and scope of your colleagues, it does not mean students are learning less and their hard work should go unnoticed. Comparing achievements with your colleagues is not usually an accurate—or healthy—way of measuring success as a teacher.

Recruitment includes more than simply encouraging students to join and continue in a program. Effective string educators also need to recruit parents, administration, and community support to nurture a program and celebrate success. Perhaps you only have three kids in all-state versus thirty from the band. Maybe you earned a superior rating at a local theme park festival while the choir placed first in a national competition. Instead of a well-known college clinician, perhaps you only had the funds to bring in a retired master teacher from one county over. Each milestone in developing a program is important and should be celebrated.

As with growing numbers, growing an orchestra’s level and accomplishment takes time. Dedicate time to emailing your principal a picture of honors orchestra students, communicating to the local paper your orchestra earned a high rating, and posting pictures highlighting the progress your students made with a guest clinician. Do not wait until your program is fully built to start promoting the great things you and your students are doing each and every day.

Growing, strengthening, and advocating for your program is part of every string teacher’s job. When a teacher is tasked with doing so alongside a well-established band or choir, it can magnify the challenges and cause a teacher to doubt themselves. Take confidence that little by little each step will help build the foundation for growth.

Conclusion

Whether you are building the orchestra program from the ground up or developing a program that has never taken off, the key to growth is patience. You may feel like you should be able to dramatically increase enrollment in only one or two years. Keep in mind the larger band or choir most likely did not start out that way. At one point—maybe even a few decades ago—it had to build from the ground up to cast its current shadow. Use all the resources you can to help build a program that casts its own shadow of excellent music making and student learning.