February 19, 26 and March 5 | 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Online Webinars
Participation fees: Early Bird (before Feb 12th) INR 1200/-. After 12/02/2021: INR 1500/-. WMEA members' discount: 50%.
Internationally renowned music educator and concert violinist Dr Jason Sah will be holding lectures and a workshop aimed at equipping beginner string teachers to succeed at creating effective teaching programs and methodology. The details are:
Teacher Training Module for Beginning String Teachers
A look inside a successful beginning string program: What you need to make it function daily (lecture)
Before considering the pedagogy behind a successful beginning string program, educators need to know what it takes to start a string program and keep it running smoothly. Considerations include budget, teaching and storage space, instrument inventory and care, equipment, sheet music, technology in and out of the classroom, among others.
This lecture will address what beginning string teachers need to build and maintain a string program. It will feature a heavy Q/A portion to address the concerns unique to each participant.
Building a beginning string ensemble repertoire: Music that is fun, engaging, and teaches students what they need to know (lecture)
Beginning string ensemble teachers prioritize making class fun and engaging as well as educational. When they choose repertoire, they consider the music’s accessibility and variety along with the development of technique and concepts. Accessibility is the first and most vital consideration because students that are not engaged and happy will not learn. When student interest is peaked, all other learning is possible.
This lecture will explore ways of keeping students engaged in the music, from how to choose repertoire to various teaching strategies that keep student interest high. It will provide a repertoire list of music that is fun, diverse, and ordered in a way that builds on technique.
Levelling the playing field: Pedagogy for all string students that keeps them engaged and feeling good (Workshop)
Students in orchestra class must tackle multiple jobs simultaneously in order to be successful–they have to play their instruments, read notes, count, follow the conductor, and collaborate with one another. While students are multi-tasking they often experience increased physical tension as a common side effect. Students lacking the resources to study privately to help mitigate tension issues often have their playing stress go unchecked in a classroom setting. Left to work alone, students with less access often lose interest in playing. Faced with the possible loss of undiscovered talent, educators must incorporate ease of playing into their classroom string pedagogy so that all students have the chance to flourish unimpeded by physical discomfort.
This workshop will help string educators recognize the feel-good aspects of basic right-arm and left-hand mechanics. It will show how imagery-based vocabulary can capture the essence of technique in ways that students can understand, and then show how this jargon can be condensed into fun, concise, effective classroom pedagogy.
About the Instructor:
Since his debut in Carnegie Hall with Eastman Rising Stars in 2001, Dr. Jason Sah has enjoyed an international career as a music educator and concert violist. He has appeared in concert throughout Latin America and Europe, with such groups as the Eastman Broadband and Salzburg Camerata, and has performed in the Cervantino, Skaneateles and Chihuahua International Festivals.
He is formerly Professor of Violin and Chair of Chamber Music at the Juan N. Corpas Universitaria in Bogota, Colombia, and has served as a Visiting String Artist at St. Mary’s University, MN, and the Conservatorio Superior de Quito, Ecuador. In past summers, he has served as artist faculty at the Montecito, Beverly Hills, and A Tempo International Music Festivals, and at the Sequoia, Point Counterpoint, and St. Mary’s University Chamber Music Festivals. He holds performance degrees on both violin and viola from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California, and he is a graduate of the Doctor of Musical Arts and ArtsLeadership Programs of the Eastman School of Music. He has studied with renowned violinists and violists Oleh Krysa, Zvi Zeitlin, George Taylor, Donald McInnes, and Tomas Riebl, as well as chamber music with the Cleveland Quartet.
In recent years, Dr. Sah has worked in K-12 settings throughout the US and India. He has a special affinity for working with children that started over 20 years ago in South Central Los Angeles. He later collaborated extensively with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and Seattle Youth Symphony in helping to build string programs in the Greater Seattle Public School Systems. He has also taught alongside instructors from El Sistema Venezuela and Tocar y Luchar of Colombia.He has served as Director of the String Academy of the Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts, UT, Director of Orchestras and General Music at El Camino Real Academy, NM and Director of Orchestras and Upper String Specialist at Woodstock School, India. In demand as a lecturer and workshop presenter, he has spoken on such classroom string pedagogy topics as assessment, empowerment, equal access, and practice routines.
Currently, he is pursuing work as a 2021 Global Leaders Program Cohort, a highly selective organization that works with a handful of international music educators to create social change through music. He works alongside his wife, violist and music educator Larissa Brown, in the Norwalk Public Schools, CT. He has two sons, Micah and Gabriel.
