The beginning of class is the time to teach fundamentals, reinforce technique, and hopefully have some fun! Add to your bag of tricks for teaching posture, left hand position, bow hold, finger patterns, vibrato, scales and third position. These ideas are sure to bring big smiles to your orchestra classroom!
Anne Marie Patterson
- Biographical Information
Anne Marie Patterson is the Orchestra Director at Robert Frost Middle School in Fairfax, VA. Before recently moving to Virginia, she taught elementary, middle and high school orchestra in Charles County, MD. She also directed the Charles County Youth Orchestra and Encore Strings for seven years, and has been a private teacher and freelance violinist in the Washington, DC area for 23 years. She is the recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Music Teacher Award from the Maryland Music Educators Association.
Anne Marie received Master’s Degrees in both Music Education and Music Performance (violin) from Florida State University. Her Bachelor’s Degree was also in Music Performance from Washington and Lee University, where she graduated with honors. She has served as President of the MD/DC Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and is a frequent presenter at the national ASTA conference. She has also presented a national webinar for ASTA, as well as sessions for UMEA and VMEA.
Anne Marie is the author of Basic String Technique: A Practical Guide to String Instruction, published by Kendor Music. She is also a contributing author for Rehearsing the Middle School Orchestra by Sandy Goldie. Her instructional videos and materials may be found on her website, www.stringsintheclassroom.com.