Notice the new tab on the website? Yes, it says Workshops! Yours truly is doing her first clinic at the Ontario String Association’s Spring String Conference, coming up soon on Saturday, April 21st, 2018 at North Toronto Collegiate in Toronto. It is so exciting for me to have this opportunity to share my ideas with a live (and hopefully eager) audience. If you are not familiar with the Ontario Strings Association, you can read about it in my last post.
Events
It is so amazing that the OSA provides string teachers in Ontario with a chance to get together on a regular basis, and their upcoming Spring String Conference is the place to be. The conference will offer the opportunity to take two workshops in the morning and two in the afternoon, including a reading session if you are looking for new repertoire. In the morning you will also be greeted with coffee and muffins upon arrival, and at lunch you will be served a wonderfully satisfying meal and time to chat with colleagues.
There will also be a chance to browse booths from local music vendors. That means you will get a chance to browse Smart String Teacher publications before you buy! Best yet, you can take advantage of the amazing conference-only special I will be offering for school-licenses of Smart Scales for Strings. It will be like getting to go to the conference for free!
Clinicians
The conference will feature special guest clinician, the well-recognized Michigan string educator, pedagogue, conductor, violinist, clinician, judge and strings advocate, Valerie Palmieri, director of orchestra at Adrian College. She will be presenting clinics on teaching scales, choosing repertoire, and she will be conducting the reading session.
Also from the U.S. will be John Fulton, representative of Scherl & Roth stringed instruments, violinist and teacher. He will be running a clinic on instrument construction and how it affects your students’ sound.
Local bassist and teacher, Ian Medley, will be teaching a valuable clinic about common mistakes when teaching the double bass. Hmmm…. I think I need to take that one!
And yours truly, Grace Law, will be doing two clinics, one on teaching intonation, fingering and shifting, as well as one on teaching fiddle music in the classroom.
The Best Part…
But honestly, what I enjoy the most about the strings conference is getting together with other string teachers, sharing ideas, and meeting new people. It’s especially satisfying when you are able to help teachers who come from areas where they may be the only string teacher and they need resources and support. Knowing other string teachers can make all the difference.
Visit ontariostrings.ca to register and come on out and join us for a great day with others who have made their living teaching what they love, strings!
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