Speaking string in the 21st century: a guide to teaching Strum by Jessie Montgomery and Entr'acte by Caroline Shaw

Abstract

This paper serves as a guide to non-string playing conductors and music directors who find themselves wanting to conduct and teach Strum by Jessie Montgomery and/or Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw to an advanced student ensemble. Both pieces are contemporary string orchestra works originally conceived as string quartets. In this paper, I describe how to achieve the variety of bow strokes, extended techniques, and sound effects that are used in Strum and Entr’acte. Though this paper focuses on those two works, the methods and general information could be applied to many other pieces as well.