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Newsletter
2009–2010 PADESTA Officer Election
As you likely know, the PADESTA leaders are elected volunteers, who serve two-year terms. We’ll be holding elections for the offices of president and secretary in spring 2010. Please contact Stephen Benham if you have any nominations or would be willing to serve in a leadership capacity. The success of PADESTA really depends on the willingness of our membership to be involved and we’re actively looking for individuals who are willing to share their gifts and talents in order to make our chapter even stronger. Please look for election materials later this year.
Virtually Violin. . .(and viola and cello and bass!)
Gail V. Barnes
University of South Carolina
gbarnes@mozart.sc.edu
Successful string and orchestra teachers want to continually strive for greater performance for both themselves and their students. With dwindling school budgets and a scarcity of travel money, it can be a challenge to find new ideas and collaborate with colleagues. Online communities can be one solution. One example is the Online Community for String and Orchestra Teachers http://web.mac.com/gailbarnes/Site/Welcome.html (User name =orchestrateach; password = playintune). This is a venue where accomplished teachers can share their expertise with their colleagues throughout the country (and the world!). Teacher educators also use it in their methods classes, so contributors are also helping the next generation of string and orchestra teachers.
The site is organized by categories, including position, bow strategies,
rhythm and aural skills. We currently have video from teachers in Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina. We would love to have more, both from these states and the remaining forty-seven. Contributing is easy, particularly with new technology. If you have a Flip video camera, it’s super easy. Just export to a Quicktime (mpeg-4 format). You can then either email or upload to a file-sharing site (4shared.com; me.com; limewire.com). Another option is to send me a CD or mini dv tape with the file on it and I will edit it for you. (Gail V. Barnes, c/o University of South Carolina School of Music, 813 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC 29208)
One question teachers frequently have is about videotaping students. Of course, you have to follow the protocols for your district, but I never put student names on the website. It is also helpful to avoid calling them by name in the video. Password protection should offer a measure of privacy, but if you have reservations and your school does not have blanket permission in place, you may want to obtain parental permission.
A separate, but affiliated site, is http://orchteach.ning.com. What the heck is a Ning? It’s kind of like Facebook, but is used more for common interests rather than being a purely social network. There is no user name and password for this orchestra teacher site, but you do need to sign up for Ning (ning.com). We currently have 126 members, from several states and a couple of countries! We have several ongoing conversations on topics such as orchestra seating, the most economical yet decent strings for school musicians and assessment in large mixed classes. I learned about the Flip video cameras on that last discussion!
Both of these sites allow teachers to learn and share, on their own time. We hope you join us!
Submitting Articles for Publication in Stringboard or PADESTA Website
The PADESTA Newsletter (Stringboard) is a publication created by the PADESTA State Board and PADESTA members for the PADESTA membership. Two issues are published a year (Fall & Spring).
Deadlines for submission for the Newsletter are as follows:
Fall Newsletter: September 1
Spring Newsletter: January 10
Article submissions should be submitted to Newsletter Editor Ken Sarch in camera-ready form, or as an email attachment as a Microsoft Word document (.doc) and photos or graphics in JPEG or GIF form.
We are pleased to invite our members to submit articles for publication on our PADESTA website.
Please send information to:
Ken Sarch - PADESTA Newsletter Editor
Mansfield University
Butler Music Center
Mansfield, PA 16933
Vendors interested in advertising in the newsletter, please contact Ken Sarch for rates and advertisement deadlines.
Mark O'Connor Teacher Training Seminar in D.C. Area.
The ASTA MD/DC Chapter is proud to announce that it is sponsoring the O’Connor Violin Method - Teacher Training Seminar !!!!! The seminar will be held at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. on January 16, 17, and 18, 2010. For more information, please go to www.asta.net.
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