String Riffs is written by Karen Koger (a former Stanton’s employee!) who earned her bachelor’s degree at The Ohio State University and her master’s degree in cello performance pedagogy from Arizona State University.  As a lifelong musician, she taught private cello lessons for more than two decades and now works with 4th, 5th and 6th grade strings in the Mesa Public Schools (AZ.)  A member of ASTA, she is also an active performer in the Phoenix area.

String Riffs is divided into three progressive volumes of teaching pieces, from very easy to intermediate, complete with concept mapping lesson plans.  They work from unison lines to full harmony and along with the basic lesson for each piece, there are optional challenging parts for those students who need a challenge.  As teaching pieces, they can certainly work in the classroom, but can also be used for concerts.  Tuneful and fun as well as instructive, they have very creative titles that pique students’ imaginations.  Many pieces have a Southwestern flavor that contributes Native American and Hispanic multicultural elements.

• Score and a CD with digital files of the parts.  Make as many parts as you need – on your honor!
• Concept Maps – built-in lesson plans for each piece
• Rhythm Charts – each volume adds more complex rhythmic combinations
• Alignment with National Core Standards
• Segmented and Multi-level pieces for teacher assignment and/or student choice
• Wide range of musical styles so everything doesn’t sound the same
• Substantial cello and bass parts in the advanced volumes so lower strings don’t feel left out
• String Libs – fun, fill-in-the-blank ( a la Mad Libs) scary, stringy stories, written by Ms. Koger’s students

Volume 1 – HME2001 – Grade 1 – $49.95
Volume 2 – HME2002 – Grade 1.5 – $49.95
Volume 3 – HME2003 – Grade 2 – $49.95

String Riffs is a refreshing, new approach to young string pedagogy.  Stanton’s featured them at their New Music Reading Session in July, 2014 and nearly sold out of our first shipment.  If you work with strings in 4th, 5th and 6th grade, these are excellent resources with which to supplement your class method book.

Dan Clark has worked at Stanton’s since 1979, primarily with orchestra music and print promotions.  A “working” musician, he’s a classical cellist, a rock & jazz bassist and a folk & country guitarist/singer. His free time is spent with family or reading, gardening, cycling and working puzzles. He also has a reputation as a pretty good joke teller. Seriously.