String Pre-Conference Intensive

String Teaching Simplified: Jumpstarting Your String Teaching Journey for Those New to Strings

This Pre-conference event will take place at McCormick Place West in Chicago, IL on Tuesday, December 16 from 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM CT.  

Attendees will be able to add registration for this event at the end of their Midwest Clinic Conference Registration.  Due to limited seating, only Professional and College Student registrants are eligible to attend.  Conference Registration opens August 1st.

Registration Fees:

• Directors $100
• College Students $50

Tentative Schedule

12:00 - 1:30 BREAKOUT SESSIONS

• Beginning Track - Healthy Instrument Position, Left Hand, Bow Hold, Tone, D Maj. Scale. Goal: To have participants ready to play the D major scale with hands together, symmetrical rhythm patterns: mississippi stop stop, down wiggle up wiggle, wiggle wiggle in the middle.
• Intermediate Track - Foundation Review, Finger Patterns and Positions (Shifting and extensions), Vibrato

• 1:45 - 2:45 Learning to Teach by Ear
• Break
• 3:15 - 4:00 Strategies for Rehearsing Grade 1 - 2 Music
• Break
• 4:15 - 4:55 Strategies for Teaching Artistry: Connecting Expression, Musicality, and Technique Grade 2 - 5

4:55 - 5:00 WRAP-UP, Q&A

Clinicians

Dr. Stephen Benham is Professor of Music Education at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is an internationally recognized music educator, conductor, and clinician. As a highly sought-after conductor, clinician, speaker, and adjudicator, he has professional appearances in 45 U.S. states and over 40 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. His work includes numerous All-State and international conducting engagements, clinics, multiple residencies, and hundreds of presentations at state and national events.

Dr. Benham’s areas of expertise include string pedagogy, curriculum development, assessment, instructional methods, and leadership training. His research explores pedagogical and cultural issues in music education, with a focus on expanding access for underserved populations. He is lead author of the ASTA String Curriculum and Yes You Can! The Band and Choral Director’s Guide to Teaching Strings. His scholarly work has been published by Oxford University Press, Sage Publications, and Alfred Music, where he also serves on the Sound Innovations writing team.

As a consultant, Dr. Benham has helped establish new music programs in the U.S., Europe, and Africa. He has held leadership roles in several state music education organizations and is a past president of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). His contributions have been recognized with the 2021 Duquesne University President’s Award for Excellence in Service and the 2024 President’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He is the recipient of ASTA’s 2024 Marvin J. Rabin Community Service Award for having “a profound impact on string education locally, nationally, and internationally.”

Yvonne Davila-Cortes, a native of Chicago, began Suzuki violin lessons at age five. She earned her B.M. in Music Business and Violin Performance from DePaul University, studying with Joseph Genualdi, and performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra as a substitute. She completed her M.M. in Violin Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under Vartan Manoogian. Dr. Davila-Cortes has appeared as a soloist at the AIMS Music Festival in Solsona, Spain, and the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She was a member of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and a substitute with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Her teaching experience includes adjunct instruction at Ripon College, leading an elementary string orchestra in McFarland, Wisconsin, and founding Suzuki violin studios in Madison and Spring Green. She later moved to Texas to pursue teacher certification and a Doctorate in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. There, she directed a middle school orchestra in Round Rock ISD and led the Austin Youth Concertante Orchestra. She also maintained a private Suzuki studio and held leadership roles in the UT String Project, including Preschool Coordinator and Assistant Director. Dr. Davila-Cortes’ research focuses on children’s musical development, parent education, and musical achievement. She has presented her work at conferences hosted by the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the American String Teachers Association, and the Texas Music Educators Association. She currently serves as the Assistant Professor of String Education, Director of Orchestra, and Artistic Director of One City Strings at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago.

Dr. Benjamin de Kock received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under the instruction of Professor Albert Laszlo, and his doctorate at the University of Colorado at Boulder under Dr. Paul Erhard. He received additional instruction from various faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

 As a performer, he plays with several orchestras and chamber groups across the United States. He served as principal bass of the San Juan Symphony in Durango, Co, principal bass with the Colorado Bach Ensemble, assistant 3rd chair with the Greeley Symphony, section member of the Boulder Philharmonic, is currently assistant principal of the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra, and guest musician with the Charleston Symphony in South Carolina.

 Dr. Benjamin resides in Illinois and is the Instructional Assistant Professor of Bass at the Illinois State University, where he teaches private and studio classes and various other courses. He also co-teaches with his fellow string faculty in String Project, a nationally recognized organization that offers string education to children in the community.  In the summers, he has taught at the Lamont Academy at Denver University and the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs. This summer he will teach and coach for the Young Artists Orchestra part of Boston University Teaching Institute (BUTI) at Tanglewood.

Dr. Frank M. Diaz is an associate professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Before his appointment at IU, Dr. Diaz held appointments at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, the University of Oregon, and at school districts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida. He is also former Music Director and Conductor of the Corvallis Youth Symphony in Corvallis, Oregon.

Dr. Diaz has served as a conductor, adjudicator, presenter, and clinician in over 30 states as well as internationally. Ensembles under his direction have performed at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the National Association for Music Education, and at various conferences and honor festivals across the United States. At the university level, he has led orchestras at Indiana University, UMKC Conservatory, and Florida State University, and taught courses in instrumental music education, conducting, orchestral literature, and musicians’ wellness.

Dr. Diaz holds degrees in education, performance, and conducting from Florida State University and the University of South Florida, and has been an active performer on trombone as well as electric and double bass in wind bands, orchestras, jazz ensembles, rock bands, Afro-Cuban ensembles, and various other groups throughout Florida, the Northeast, and the Pacific Northwest. He was born in Havana, Cuba and currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife, daughter, and three cats. 

Dr. Heather Lofdahl is Assistant Professor of Music Education at The Ohio State University, where she directs the string education program. In addition, she serves as Music Director of the Newark-Granville Youth Symphony and string education specialist for Play Us Forward, a community partnership aimed at increasing access to string instruction for underserved students. Dr. Lofdahl is the recipient of the 2025 Ohio State School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. Lofdahl is published in the String Research Journal and American String Teachers Journal. She is an active member of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and the National Association for Music Education. Through these organizations as well as the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the International Society for Music Education, Dr. Lofdahl has presented research and pedagogy sessions at the Symposium for Music Teacher Education; International Society for Music Education Conference (Glasgow, Scotland and Helsinki, Finland); American String Teachers Association National Conference; and various state conferences. Her research is focused on equity and access in music education, best practices of outstanding string teachers, and practice behaviors of string players. Dr. Lofdahl is President-Elect of the Ohio String Teachers Association.

Dr. Lofdahl holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Music Education and Viola Performance from Augustana College, Master of Music degrees in Music Education and Viola Performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and a PhD in Music Education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She is an active guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States and abroad.

Dr. Rebecca B. MacLeod is Professor of Music Education at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign where she teaches string pedagogy and conducts the University of Illinois Philharmonia Orchestra. She is the author of Teaching Strings in Today’s Classroom and contributing author to Teaching Instrumental Music, Rehearsing the Middle School Orchestra, and Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra. A passionate advocate for increasing access to string education to all students, her research on working with underserved populations, vibrato technique, music teacher education, and music perception has been presented at the International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, Music Research and Human Behavior International Conference, International Society for Music, Music Educators National Conference, National Association for Music Education National Conference, American String Teachers National Conference, Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, Society for Music Teacher Education, and music educators state conferences. She is immediate Past President of the American String Teachers Association.

James Mick, Ph.D., is Professor of Music Education at Ithaca College in upstate New York where he teaches courses in string pedagogy, orchestral rehearsal techniques, instrumental conducting, and the psychology of music teaching and learning. He is a past president of New York American String Teachers Association and served as music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra from 2015 to 2023. He previously taught elementary and middle school orchestra in Texas, and high school orchestra and jazz in New York. He holds music education degrees from Florida State University, Ithaca College, and Texas Christian University.

Felipe Morales-Torres is an orchestra teacher, conductor, clinician, and researcher working to further liberation and healing in music education. He is the Assistant Director of the Bornoff Foundation and manager of the FASE Diverse String Teachers Fellowship, using his 10+ years of experience leading public school and community-based orchestra programs to support fellow teachers. Felipe also teaches instrumental music education at Northern Kentucky University and is a conductor for the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras, which have earned various conference performances and national recognitions for his diverse and progressive programming. He conducts students in region and state honors festivals across the US and Latin America, and serves on the board of the Ohio String Teachers Association and the ASTA national committees for Conducting and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Dr. Kristen Pellegrino is Professor of Music Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Past-President of American String Teachers Association (ASTA). Kristen’ degrees are from the University of Michigan (Ph.D. in music education with cognates in violin performance and general education; M.M. in violin performance/chamber music performance) and the Eastman School of Music (B.M. in music education and violin performance).

Kristen has presented over 115 pedagogical and/or research sessions at international, national, state, and regional conferences. She also has 40 scholarly publications in leading journals and chapters in book. Kristen was co-editor of The Oxford Handbook on Preservice Music Teacher Education in the United States (2019), for which she authored/co-authored three chapters, and Teaching Instrumental Music: Contemporary Perspectives and Pedagogies (2023), in which she also authored/co-authored eight chapters. She is co-authoring a third book, Journeys of Becoming and Being Music Teachers, which is based on a seven-year longitudinal study and written in compelling narratives for college students. 

 Kristen’s background in music education includes eight years of public-school string teaching at the high school and elementary levels (Fairfax County Public Schools, VA and Warwick Public Schools, RI), and 16 years of collegiate teaching experience. Before teaching in college, she was a full-time performing musician, including performing in the Chagall String Quartet through Chamber Music America’s Rural Residencies Grants, and she taught private violin lessons for over twenty years. She continues to perform as a member of RI’s Music on the Hill Chamber Music Festival. 

 

James Ray is Associate Professor of Instrumental Music Education at Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA). He teaches courses in string education and music theory, and directs WWU’s String Sinfonia. He also coaches chamber music with the Bellingham Youth Chamber Players and is music director of the Olympic Strings Workshop hosted at Olympic National Park. Previously, Dr. Ray spent twelve years teaching public school orchestras, from beginning classes to award-winning high school ensembles.

Dr. Ray is a sought-after clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor. He has been a featured guest at venues from school orchestra retreats to multi-school honor ensemble festivals. At the national level, he is an adjudicator for WorldStrides Heritage Festivals. Dr. Ray has guest conducted the Bellingham Symphony, and has appeared with the Port Angeles Symphony as a guest conductor, soloist, and guest concertmaster. Additional performance experience includes military service as a keyboard player, violinist, and assistant rehearsal conductor in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Dr. Ray is a frequent presenter at state and national conferences, and has served on various committees with the Washington Music Educators Association and the American String Teachers Association. His peer-reviewed papers have been published in the American String Teacher and the Journal of Research in Music Education. He is a contributing author to the textbook, Teaching Instrumental Music: Contemporary Perspectives and Pedagogies.

 Dr. Ray holds a BM in violin performance from Central Washington University, an MA in secondary teaching from Western Oregon University, and a DMA in music education from Boston University.

 

Bruce Walker is Associate Professor of Music at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA, and Music Director of the Walla Walla Symphony Youth Orchestra. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Suzuki Association of the Americas, is the College/University representative for the Washington Music Educators Association, and a Past President of the Washington chapter of the American String Teachers Association. In 2021, he was honored as Music Educator of the Year by WMEA.

Walker has previously directed the Yakima Youth Symphony and Oregon East Symphony Youth Orchestras. A sought-after conductor and clinician, he has appeared with orchestras including the Portland Columbia Symphony, Olympia Symphony, Walla Walla Symphony, and the Musicians of the Spokane Symphony. His conducting studies include work at Marrowstone Music Festival, Pierre Monteux School, and workshops sponsored by the Conductor’s Guild.

 During summers, Walker teaches at Suzuki institutes, festivals, and retreats across North America. Internationally, he has worked with the Youth Excellence on Stage Academy (American Voices), teaching and conducting in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Known for his engaging teaching and knowledge of orchestral literature, he frequently conducts All-State and Honors Orchestras, including recent appearances in Oregon, Alabama, Georgia, and the 2024 National Orchestra Festival.

 He holds Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Cello Performance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Master of Music from Central Washington University. He began his Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education at Boston University in 2019. Outside music, he enjoys hiking, BBQ, and collecting argyle socks.

 

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