In this rehearsal lab, Mrs. Ball will demonstrate rehearsal strategies and concepts with an emphasis on practical pedagogy that you can implement in your ensemble rehearsals as early as tomorrow. The shared strategies are as equally applicable to a group “firing on all pistons” as they are to an ensemble in a rebuilding situation, and while some ideas are “tried and true,” others may open new avenues on ways to help your students better understand their role in music making.
Sarah Ball
- Biographical Information
Sarah Ball has been teaching orchestra for thirty years in Gwinnett County Public Schools. She is currently one of three orchestra directors at North Gwinnett Middle School in Sugar Hill, Georgia. The NGMS orchestra has close to 600 students enrolled in grades 6-8. Mrs. Ball has had orchestras perform at GMEA, The Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, and Carnegie Hall. The NGMS Orchestra has twice been awarded the Exemplary Performance Award by GMEA and the NGMS music department was awarded the inaugural Exemplary Program Award from GMEA (2017-18). Mrs. Ball holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Appalachian State University and a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Lesley University. She was named the North Gwinnett MS Teacher of the Year in 2011-12 and was named the Gwinnett County Middle School Teacher of the Year. In 2018, Mrs. Ball was selected as the GA ASTA String Educator of the year. In 2023, she was awarded the Elizabeth A. H. Green school educator award by ASTA at the Orlando conference. She has served in many leadership roles in professional organizations and served as a mentor to many student teachers and early career teachers. Mrs. Ball is on the author team for GIA Publication, Habits of a Young String Musician Books 1 and 2. Mrs. Ball has presented at the local, county, state, and national level, and is active as a clinician, adjudicator, and conductor across the state and nationally, including at the Ohio State University summer workshop and the Habits Institute in Charleston, South Carolina. Mrs. Ball started playing violin at age 10 in Hendersonville, NC in the Henderson County Public Schools and lives in Johns Creek, Georgia, with her husband, Jerrod, and their two cats, Topsy and Turvy.