To promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music.
NJSO EARLY STRINGS PROGRAM
Through the NJSO Early Strings Program,
the Orchestra seeks to expand its unique partnerships with schools and districts to provide modified Suzuki violin instruction to second- through fourth-grade students.
Sample Outline of Instruction • Second graders begin with pre-instrument games, instrument care
and readiness, and ear training and rhythm, followed by basic bowing
and fingering.
• Third graders build on the skills developed in their first year,
begin left-hand pizzicato and practice introductory repertoire.
• Fourth graders expand their repertoire, begin fourth-finger work and
deepen ensemble playing skills.
Program Features • Modified Suzuki training methods for school-based music teachers
• Regular coaching sessions for participating students by NJSO musicians
• In-school chamber music performances by NJSO musicians
• Tickets to the NJSO Concerts for Young People
• Public performance and award ceremony for "graduating" fourth graders
Program Benefits The NJSO Early Strings Program has been proven—through eight years of assessments by researchers at Columbia University's Teachers College—to contribute not only to students' increased capacity to stay on task, work with others
and express themselves with confidence, but also to their ability to outperform their non-participating peers by 20–30% on standardized math, science and literacy tests. These findings support the belief that music has a vital role in schools.
NJSO Early Strings Program — Newark The NJSO and Newark Public Schools began their partnership in 2000–01 to provide classroom violin instruction supported by regular coaching visits by NJSO musicians. In the 2010–11 season, NJSO Early Strings served more than 650 second- through fourth-grade students and music teachers across 11 Newark schools.
Bring the NJSO Early Strings Program to your District! We invite principals, superintendents, teachers and community leaders—anyone with a commitment to supporting our young people's high achievement as students, 21st-century thinkers and model citizens—to find out more about the NJSO Early Strings Program.
Explore a partnership with the NJSO to provide this high-impact program for your students by contacting the Coordinator of Education & Community Engagement at 973.735.1733 or email education@njsymphony.org.
Additional Information Columbia University Teachers' College's Center for Arts Education Research provided eight annual reports that show statistical evidence of both academic and personal/social advantages this unique program imparts to its participants.
