MIDDLE SCHOOL STRING ORCHESTRA EVENT DRAWS 150 STUDENTS; YOUNG ORCHESTRA STUDENTS FROM AREA ALL TIED UP WITH STRINGS, BOWS

Middle-school students carrying violins and bows streamed between Brandt Music Building and Academic Hall while others filled the third floor of Academic Auditorium with the deep rumble of the bass viol Thursday.

The reason was the fourth annual Middle School String Orchestra Festival at Southeast Missouri State University.

More than 150 students from Cape Central Junior High School, Fort Zumwalt South Middle School, Parkway Northeast Middle School in St. Louis and Sikeston Middle School participated in the afternoon event. Most of the directors of the orchestras are Southeast alumni. They helped rehearse the individual sections between Southeast Symphony Orchestra director Dr. Sara Edgerton's turns with the full orchestra.

"Very flabby" was Edgerton's assessment of the first sounds out of the massed orchestra. But soon, following her direction to bow near their bridges and to put more weight on their strings, the sound shaped up.

The Sikeston and Cape Girardeau schools first proposed the festival to as a way to motivate middle-school string players, who don't have district competitions and performance tours to look forward to yet.

"They are at a stage when they need something to enhance their studies," Edgerton says.

One of her goals was to give them some new ideas about rehearsal strategy and to get them to play well together.

One hundred and fifty string players is an unwieldy orchestra the Saint Louis Symphony only has 80 but performing in a larger group than usual does have some advantages.

Sometimes a student who has been a meek player will gain confidence in a bigger group, says Steve Schaffner, the orchestra director at Cape Central Junior High School. "There is safety in numbers."

A lot of educational cross-pollination occurred at the festival. Students from Edgerton's string education class watched the rehearsals and helped out.

Michelle Collins, a seventh-grader from Sikeston Middle School, said Schaffner helped her improve her bowing technique during the sectional rehearsals. She thinks the festival is worthwhile.

"It helps us understand what musicians around us can do," she said.

Collins was one of only a few girls among the 18 bassists at the festival. "I like how low it is, the sound of it," she said, explaining her choice of instrument. "And there are not that many bass players."

Many St. Louis students begin playing string instruments in the fourth grade compared to the seventh grade in Cape Girardeau. The festival provides a basis for comparing approaches. "The kids get a sense of what the standard is like in other areas," Schaffner said.

One good thing about waiting until seventh grade is that the students have orchestra every day.

At the festival, students can make friends with people they may run into for the rest of their musical lives, Schaffner said.

The festival culminated with performances in Academic Auditorium by the Faculty Trio, which consists of Edgerton, Dr. Ronald Francois and Dr. James Sifferman, and by the full string orchestra.

Francois, concertmaster of the Southeast Symphony, also rehearsed the first violins.

The other middle-school teachers taking part were Kathy Kuntzman of Fort Zumwalt, John Bourzikas and Peggy Craig of Parkway Northeast Middle School and Gay French of Sikeston.