In-Person Workshop Activities

In-Person Workshop Activities

String Teacher Workshop

July 12–18, 2026
 

Events include:

  • Opening reception
  • New teacher luncheon
  • Pizza party lunch — Baroque Violin Shop
  • Time to browse and shop from our vendors and partners
  • Jam sessions
  • Reading sessions with composers
  • Workshop dinner party at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus in German Village


Tentative Daily Schedule

Sunday | Opening day!

  • Check-in at the registration area will begin at 2 p.m. 
  • The workshop kicks off at 4 p.m.

Monday through Friday

Instruments will be available to check out for daily use.

  • 8:30 a.m.–12 p.m. — Secondary instrument classes and instrument repair classes. Immerse yourself in beginning and intermediate pedagogy and learn hands-on with the luthiers of Baroque Violin Shop.
  • 12–1:30 p.m. — Lunch break
  • 1–5 p.m. — Rehearsal labs, reading sessions, and break-out sessions
  • 5–6:30 — Dinner break
    • Friday will conclude at 5 p.m. so we can celebrate the end of the workshop with a group dinner at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus in German Village.
  • 6:30–9 p.m. Mon.–Thurs. — Reading sessions, general sessions, and jam sessions!

Saturday

8:30 a.m.–12 p.m. — Closing sessions, check-out, and workshop evaluation

Session topics include:

  • Adjudicator’s Solutions to Common Performance Challenges
  • AI in the Music Classroom
  • The Art of the Bow from Twinkle to Tchaikovsky
  • Beginning Left and Right Hand Technique
  • Breaking into Publishing
  • Chamber Music
  • Chorale Triage for String Specialists
  • Conducting Labs and General Session
  • Curriculum Building
  • Developing a Culture of Excellence in the Classroom
  • Developing a Healthy Sound in Your Orchestra
  • Developing Strategies to Improve Intonation in Your Orchestra
  • Ear Training in Ensemble Settings
  • Fingerboard Geography and Shifting
  • Grade 1 Reading Session
  • Improvisation
  • Instrument Repair and Inventory
  • Intermediate Left and Right Hand Technique
  • Making Your Method Book Work for You
  • Minority Composers of the Past
  • New to Strings? Two Sessions per Day for Band, Choir and General Music Teachers
  • Off the String Bowing and String Crossings
  • Reading Sessions with Composers
  • Recruiting and Retention
  • Rehearsal and Classroom Techniques
  • Score Study
  • Secondary Instrument Classes
  • Shifting, Vibrato, and Rhythm
  • Sight-reading
  • Strategies for Developing Intonation in the Orchestra Rehearsal
  • String Arranging Tips and Tricks
  • Strolling Strings
  • Warm-ups for Orchestra

Clinicians and staff

Heather Lofdahl, workshop director | Julie Ellis, workshop administrator | Erica Donahoe | Creston Herron | Vince Huzicka | Chris Lape | Dión Morales | Anne Marie Patterson | David Pope | Matt Radspinner | Jordan Saul | Laurie Scott | Nathan Southwick | Rotem Weinberg | Baroque Violin Shop | The Loft Violin Shop | Profiles below ↓