Asta String Conference

This past week I attended my first American String Teachers Association conference, otherwise known as ASTA.  (astaweb.com).  I've wanted to check out this conference for years.  This year, for the first time, it did not fall in March, which was wonderful (if you play Irish music in NY as I do, you are pretty much booked for St. Patrick's gigs all through March).

I WENT WITH NO EXPECTATIONS
 I wasn't selling anything, trying to make connections, or even planning to go to particular sessions.  My main requirement for myself was that I find good strong coffee and workout a couple times. The Omni Providence had a nice gym, and as a bonus,  the gym also had the best strong coffee in the entire hotel.

MY INTEREST WAS AS A VIOLINIST
I do teach (at the United Nations International School) and I"m always interested in ways to help students, but I confess my real interest was as a violinist. So I started with the Eclectic string workshops that were held a day before the conference. Lots of cool ideas about improv and chances to experiment with it all. Christian Howes did a session that was especially fun http://www.christianhowes.com
I also really enjoyed the groove workshop by Tracy Silverman http://www.traceysilverman.com

There were numerous teaching workshops, and I went to several on tuning large groups, sightreading, working with special needs students, and creative ways to work with students, both musically and in areas such as motivation. Sometimes a little tip could make a big difference (i.e. for special needs kids that have trouble processing info, use short directions with no filler. i.e. "Get a pencil" or  "Sit down" instead of "Please take a pencil and then sit down".

TEACHERS THAT SURPRISED ME
For the most part the workshops were outstanding. There were a few teachers that said they were uncomfortable doing even basic improv in teaching, and that surprised me.  There were also some teachers that seemed totally dedicated to their teaching, without much of a musical life outside it. That didn't surprise me as much, but it made me a little sad.  Overall though, I was impressed with the quality of the workshops and came home with some new ideas.

HIGHPOINTS OF THE CONFERENCE
1. Rachel Barton Pine played a version of Brahms lullaby that was exquisitely beautiful.
2. I had way too much fun buying things in the exhibit hall and ended up with music, a blingy violin key chain, glittery rosin, and a new wireless system that I got at the Electric violin shop booth.
3. The variety of musicians there in the violin world - Mark O'Connor, Mark Wood, Christian Howe, Juilie Lyonn Lieberman, Martha Mooke, Tracy Silverman....just a lot of people who do their own thing.