If you are a string player or teacher seeking to gain knowledge of improvisation, contemporary styles, and related subjects, scroll down for online curriculum, workshops in schools, summer conference, teacher training, literature, and more offered through Christian Howes and Creative Strings.
String teachers offer feedback following a teacher training session in the video below:
- Creative Strings Academy– a home study course with over 200 multi-media instructional resources.
- Instructional books, videos, CDs, and more – Ala carte literature, instructional videos, and downloadable courses.
- The Creative Strings Blog and YouTube Channel – Free informative articles, podcasts, and videos.
- The Creative Strings Workshop – Our one-of-a-kind summer conference where adults and teens develop alongside world class improvising string players.
- Educational outreach – Clinics, master classes, residencies, and collaborative guest performances at your school or studio.
Watch this short video documenting a Creative Strings residency in public schools near Kansas City
Teacher Testimonial
“I tried out some of Christian Howes’ improvisation exercises/games on our kids last Friday. They LOVED them… I was so surprised and really touched when I saw one of our students play and interact along with the group for the first time all semester.”
Student Testimonials
“I learned a ton from you and it really has motivated me to get even more into music. The way you talked about music in general, as well as improvisation and music theory just really made sense to me in a way that it never has before.”
“Music means more than sheet music – it has its own emotion and I have never felt that more true than last night playing Cascade. Having Christian Howes come and help us made me recognize what it was I loved about music, not because he is a professional but because he shares that love for music that I do.”
“It was wonderful seeing so many people break their classical boundaries and simply play out the music of their hearts. Throughout the pieces, group unity was notably improved from rehearsals. Also, our intonation and tone quality were strikingly mature. I feel like this was truly an eye-opening experience, in that prior to this experience many of us were restricted to our orthodoxy and technical structure, but now we can play music to our heart’s content. Music means something different for our orchestra’s members now, and this is something we should cherish for the rest of our musical endeavors.”
Says Christian, “As a “Suzuki dad” I wanted to encourage my kids to learn the things I missed out during my classical training; especially the creative side of music making. This is what led me to develop improvisation curriculum for string players as part of a method which teaches the “whole musician.” Developing knowledge and comfort with improvisation and composition in different styles can only add to the joy of being a musician.”Creative Strings is a non-profit cultural organization with a mission to support and transform music education through outreach, summer conferences, and online curriculum.