FULL SEMESTER of Beginning String Orchestra - 50+ Songs, Exercises, Curriculum

This is everything you need to teach a full semester of beginning, year one string orchestra. This bundle comes with easy-to-use products for giving a pre-post test, teaching basic beginning music theory knowledge, 50+ scaffolded songs and exercises with a guided curriculum (student books for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and conductor's score), four full concert pieces for the students' first performance, and play-along audio tracks for every piece of music in the curriculum.

Everything in this curriculum is easy for students to understand, and no new concepts are introduced without explanation of every musical term, symbol and concept. I am so incredibly excited to be able to offer this full semester bundle for beginning string orchestra! Read below for a full breakdown of all the exciting products included in this full semester mega bundle!

Quarter 1 Method Books

This product comes with 5 method books for every instrument in a beginning string orchestra. Included are 32 beginning songs, fingering charts, parts of the instruments and bow, with a guided curriculum showing students everything from the first notes and rhythms, terminologies and parts of the instrument they should learn in the first quarter of string orchestra. There are also four cumulative "play tests" included at the end of each of the four units. This is about 8 weeks or one quarter (one week per student page) of beginning string orchestra curriculum.

In these books, students will learn eight different notes, as well as the basic rhythms in a 4/4 time signature. Also, a fingering chart is provided each time a new note is introduced. The book is complete with terms, symbols, definitions and illustrations. The conductor's book includes full arrangements of every piece as well as helpful guidelines to show what students see in their books.

Also, every piece in the book has a corresponding YouTube video with a play-along track on the Early Ensembles YouTube channel! Just scan the QR code to listen/play along.

Here is a full breakdown of every concept covered in these books:

• Eight notes - D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and D
• half notes, quarter notes
• quarter rests
• Pizzicato
• Finger positioning
• Repeats
• 4/4/common time
• Definition of scale
• Common beginning orchestra terms - finger 1, 2, 3, and 4, scroll, pegs, neck, fingerboard, c hole, f hole, fine tuners, bridge, tailpiece, endpin, chin rest, steps on how to hold the instrument

Here is a list of all the books included in this product:

• Conductor/teacher's Book - 24 Pages
• Violin - 13 Pages
• Viola - 13 Pages
• Cello - 13 Pages
• Double Bass - 13 Pages

Quarter 2 Intro to Bowing Books:

This product comes with 5 method books for every instrument in a beginning string orchestra. Included are 20 beginning exercises and songs with a guided curriculum showing students everything about beginning bowing they should learn in the second quarter of string orchestra. There are also two cumulative "play tests" included at the end of each of the units. This is about 4 weeks (two weeks per unit) of beginning bowing for string orchestra curriculum.

These books are part of a larger curriculum, and assume students have learned pizzicato, as well as the first eight notes in the D Major scale. In these books, students will review eight different notes, as well as the basic rhythms in a 4/4 time signature. The book is complete with terms, symbols, definitions and illustrations. The conductor's book includes full arrangements of every piece as well as helpful guidelines to show what students see in their books.

Also, every piece in the book has a corresponding YouTube video with a play-along track on the Early Ensembles YouTube channel! Just scan the QR code to listen/play along.

Here is a full breakdown of every concept covered in these books:

• Review Eight notes - D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and D
• Review half notes, quarter notes
• Review quarter rests
• Review Pizzicato
• Review Finger positioning
• Repeats
• 4/4/common time
• Arco
• Down Bow
• Up Bow
• Bow Lift
• Half Rest
• Arpeggio
• Round
• 2/4 Time Signature

Here is a list of all the books included in this product:

• Conductor/teacher's Book - 16 Pages
• Violin - 7 Pages
• Viola - 7 Pages
• Cello - 7 Pages
• Double Bass - 7 Pages

Full Winter/Holiday Concert of Four Beginning String Orchestra Pieces:

This product also features a beginning, first year orchestra concert arrangement of Jingle Bells, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, and Snowy Day Blues (an original composition). These sheet music arrangements are all full orchestra compositions for violin, viola, cello and double bass (with a piano accompaniment option as well), and are written for the beginning orchestra student's first concert performance.

These arrangements are in D Major, and use one octave of the D Major scale. Both pizzicato and bowing techniques are used, as well as repeats, ending 1/2, and fermatas. Snowy Day Blues uses "C natural and F natural" (low 2's) for a bluesy sound. The C and F naturals are used in a very accessible and playable way for the first-year orchestra student to easily grasp the concept. This music is written and arranged to only include techniques for the first year string orchestra student. Included in this product are:

Jingle Bells full arrangement

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas full arrangement

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel full arrangement

Snowy Day Blues full arrangement

The conductor scores

Violin parts

Viola parts

Cello parts

Double Bass parts

Piano Accompaniment parts

QR code to scan and listen to play-along tracks

Terminologies, symbols and lessons included on the sheet music

I Can Read Music! Beginning Music Theory Book (For the very first two weeks of orchestra)

This 35 page music theory book is perfect for beginning band, orchestra or choir in middle school. Students will learn treble, bass, and viola clef lines and spaces as well as note reading skills, and an understanding of basic rhythms and time signatures, 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4. Unit assessment and teacher key is included.

This book can be used for anyone who is learning the basics of music reading. However, I wrote this for the specific purpose of getting all of my beginning 6th grade students on the same page before starting Concert Band or Orchestra. I teach both middle school band and orchestra, and my sixth grade beginners are always in different places. The purpose of this 35 page book is to have a crash course in general music theory and music reading before we start playing instruments out of the method books.

I wrote this book to accommodate beginning band, orchestra or choir students, and every musical concept can be explored in treble, bass or viola clef. This makes for a great foundational resource that gives common ground to any middle school music student, no matter which music class they are in. I also wrote this to be simple, basic and easy to understand. This book is not meant to be a course to master music theory. Rather, it is “learning before the learning”, so all students are off to a great start in middle school music.

The goal for this resource is to give every one of your music students the knowledge of the staff, clefs, notes and rhythms that they will see when starting their method books or concert music in beginning band, orchestra or choir. Be sure to print this book out for all of your students so they can follow along, as most pages have exercises as well as lessons and information. They can always refer back to this book as a resource throughout the year. Give students the unit test at the end to truly assess their understanding.

I hope this resource is valuable to you for years to come like it has been for me! Please follow Early Ensembles by Taylor Weimer on Teachers Pay Teachers, and leave me a review if you found this valuable.

Table of Contents:

Part 1: The Staff and Clefs - Page 2

Part 2: Pitch and Note Names - Page 8

Part 3: Basic Rhythm - Page 11

Part 4: Measures and Time Signatures - Page 17

Part 5: Putting it All Together! - Page 22

Glossary of Terms and Symbols - Page 27

Unit Test - Page 29

Unit Test: Teacher Key - Page 33

Pre-Post Test for Year 1 of Beginning String Orchestra

This is a Google Form/Quiz Editable Pre-Post Test for beginning string orchestra year 1. The Google Quiz keeps all data saved on the form! Included: Printable Digital, Answer Key. Assign this to your students, and the Google test grades itself, and will keep all data saved for you. This test is meant to be given to beginning, year 1 orchestra students once at the beginning of your class, and again at the end to show pre/post data improvement. It is perfect for having data at those evaluations, and it requires no extra work from you, the teacher! Even though the digital test grades itself, this product also includes a printable version and an answer key to make your job even easier!

In this test, the following musical concepts are tested (see the preview for the full test):

• Note and rest values - Whole, half, quarter, dotted half, eighth, dotted quarter
• Time signatures and tempos - time signatures, 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, tempo, andante, allegro, and moderato
• Clefs and notation - treble clef, bass clef, alto (viola) clef, flats, sharps, naturals, key signatures, note names in treble, bass and alto clef
• Dynamics - piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, crescendo and decrescendo
• Other Musical Terms and Symbols - Repeat, ending 1 and 2, fermata, rehearsal number, up bow, down bow, tie, and slur

Upon purchase of this product, you will be provided with the PDF version and answer key. On the second page, you will see a "link". Click that link to obtain your own editable copy of the digital Google Quiz! Share it or assign it to your students and you're good to go! In my opinion, this is the best way to go, since all your data will be saved automatically when your students take the test.

Personally, I have always struggled to show good, valuable data for my orchestra students. It is so hard to find a valuable way to accomplish the task of showing growth in an orchestra classroom. I made this pre/post test to help teachers show growth, nail their evaluation meetings, and I wanted to make it incredibly easy to calculate the data. Look for more pre/post tests to come!

(Years 2 and 3 of these pre-post tests are also available on my store)

BONUS - Free Finger Chart for first and third position is also included with purchase of this product!