Lamar Stringfield Haydn Orchestra with Scott Laird on CR Violin
Hi all –
For the past two weeks, I have been teaching at the Lamar Stringfield String Camp at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. It was another great year at Lamar Stringfield with many fantastic moments.
I am frequently asked how I incorporate electric strings into my teaching. This week, at the camp, I programmed a little blues piece as part of the repertoire for the “Haydn” Orchestra which consists of students from 4th grade through 8th grade. As part of the performance, I brought in professionals to play guitar and drums and I played my CR violin. I had the kids play through the piece 2 times and on the second pass, the guitarist (my friend and colleague, Todd Miller from Apex, NC High School) and I took turns improvising over the chart. As part of the rehearsals, I also took the opportunity to have a 20 minute Q and A session with the kids on electric violins, how they work, and how to play them. I was thrilled to tell them all about the WAV Violin and the NXT Instruments as well. It was a wonderful learning opportunity for everyone. The students really took to the style, especially when we added the drums and the performance was really successful. The linked video will give you a good idea of how things went.
I encourage string educators to give something like this a try. Regardless of whether you do classical, jazz, bluegrass, or some other style of music with your orchestra, the NS Family of Instruments are perfect for this type of performance. And, I guarantee, your students want to not only see you perform, but perform with you as well.
Best wishes!
Scott