Rationale Middle school is a really critical moment for students development into adult hood.

This is maybe the first time where many of the students will start thinking to the future, and become more or less serious about particular subjects. Though many students will become more serious about music, and by the end of high be applying to conservatories, many students will not. Because of this I think it is important to provide a strong musical experience for as many students as we can. The experience must be able to provide knowledge that can be molded into skills that can apply both to future musicians but also future businesspeople, or journalists or professors. There are many common goals associated with school ensembles. School ensembles are great for providing an environment that fosters the growth of collaboration and cooperation among students. We achieve this by having a successful product that the students all had a hand in creating. Each student can only be successful if the ensemble is a unit, this requires to students to be willing to work with each other as well as try their hardest to perform at their highest level. We will also have activities that provide the more advanced students with responsibility and leadership roles, such as leading the whole group in small exercises and modeling different aspects. For example, having the first cello lead us through our scale warm-ups, by modeling and having peers mimic, or letting the first violin help come up with the bowings for a new passage. This ensemble cannot be focused only on techniques of strings and the ensemble, although these are not to be ignored either. Much of the repertoire for string ensembles is highly creative and evocative (Hamann, 2004). As the teacher I want to take advantage of this, and use it for the growth of fun and creativity activities with the music. This can only be done with good repertoire chooses that both challenge and inspire the students. Students need music that will not

just be technically challenging, but music that is challenging and that they can get really excited about. Many of our exercised will start as a creative process, having the students think deeply and creatively about the piece of music before thinking technically about it (David, 2008). This is to make sure they are excited about the piece of music before they begin to struggle with the challenges within the music. It is very important that they are constantly successful but still challenged. Students of this age still need to have a very structured experience, but one that is ever changing (Erwin, 2004). This is very easy within an ensemble of this nature. We have a very pressing end goal that will not change, the concert, and within each rehearsal we will also be very organized, to help build good practice routine at home, but also to optimize class room time. Within these exercise though they will constantly change, increase in difficulty and vary the technique used to play them. Making the warm-up routine always present but always morphing slowly as the students skills improve or a new piece calls for new techniques. The whole rehearsal will also alternate between hard in-depth work on a piece of music and creative activities that will release the frustration but also get them excited about the music in a different way and promote success at many different steps along the process. Middle school is a really difficult time for both the students and teachers. But, with this ensemble we will make use of many of the exciting developments for this age group, while giving them a strong, in-depth musical experience that they can carry with them through-out their lives whatever path they choose. The many goals of this curriculum are there to encourage the students personal progress, and the assessment of the course is designed to really help each individual student with particular difficulties they may be having, whether it be rhythm, bow hand, intonation, being a part of an ensemble, or performing in front of people.

Resources Hamann, Donald L. and Gillespie, Robert (2004). Strategies for Teaching Strings: Building a Successful String and Orchestra Program. Oxford University Press. Litrell, David (2008). Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra, Vol. 1, 2 and 3. GIA Publications, Inc. Erwin, Joanne (2004). Prelude to Music Education. Prentice Hall.