Phil Kent

Abstract

Eliminating an array of alternative musical styles from a quality program can inhibit a public
school orchestra program from becoming an attractive and credible voice of an extensive and
multi-dimensional music education experience. Every music educator, no matter what genre or
medium they teach, should encourage all facets of music performance and incorporate alternative
styles in their curricula. There need to seek out new ways of promoting and exposing students to
alternative styles of music so that we do not limit our profession to only a select class of Western
musical experiences. Teachers must be able to find out how to acquire such material and present
it to their students.
There has been a recent development of methods and literature available to instructors
consisting of contemporary, folk, and jazz music within the orchestral idiom that fosters and
promotes these styles. Using improvisation as a tool to understanding new styles, music
instructors can help students discover these styles.
The focus of this project was to introduce or expand a teacher’s knowledge base of
alternative styles for strings through a survey sent to string teachers of Kentucky. This survey
covered an array of topics to provide the reader with a general overview of what is happening in
the classroom.… (mehr)