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Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician

By Christopher Selby & Scott Rush

Habits Middle School String Books

For Middle School and Intermediate Level string musicians

Methods for Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass

Available as a physical book or online digital version
Online digital version available for $6.95

Exclusively available on the MakeMusic Cloud online teaching platform

Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician is a field-tested musical collection of over 300 sequenced exercises for building fundamentals. Perfect to use with the entire string orchestra or a solo player, this series contains carefully sequenced finger pattern and shifting etudes, tone and articulation warm-ups, sight-reading exercises, rhythm vocabulary studies, chorales, and much more.

In one place, this series collects everything an aspiring player needs to build fundamental musicianship skills and then be able to transfer those skills directly into the performance of great literature.

Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician:

  • Presents a differentiated, sequential, and comprehensive method for developing finger pattern and shifting skills to address the most common problems encountered by intermediate level orchestra students.
  • Organizes tone, rhythm, and articulation patterns into a flexible and sequential series.
  • Creates a method for teaching scales, arpeggios, and thirds that simultaneously accommodates students of different ability levels.
  • Provides chorales for the development of tone quality, ensemble sonority, and musicianship.
  • Presents sequenced rhythm vocabulary charts in a format that allows transfer from timing to pitches in a musical context.
  • Includes over ten pages of audition sight-reading exercises in a full- ensemble format that is well planned in scope and sequence.
  • Promotes the idea that students should cross the threshold from the “technical components of playing” to music making.

Available Editions

Testimonials

This book is a must-read for all interested in teaching string orchestra at the K–12 level! Written by a seasoned and exemplary teacher—it is chock full of great teaching ideas that will help you be successful in your classroom! Buy it, read it, and keep it in your library—you will come back to it time and time again!

Mary L. Wagner

Former National ASTA President and co-author of the ASTA String Curriculum

Go Digital!

Most method books in the HABITS series is available digitally for access on any device of choice!

Student method books are available digitally for $8.95

Conductor's Editions are available as a secure digital document purchaseable at GIAMusic.com

View Habits Digital Books