Innovative Academic Teacher-Training Program in Bowed- Strings: Academia-Field Case Study 

Authors

  • Racheli Galay Author

Keywords:

strings pedagogy, practicum in music, multicultural strings repertoire, instrumental music teacher training, student motivation, music education in Israel

Abstract

This article describes a strings curriculum case study founded on a symbiotic liaison between the music teacher training program at Givat Washington Academic College for Education and a practicum hub at the nearby Amichay Kvutsat Yavneh Elementary School. This experiential process consists of a mutually beneficial program based on the students teaching the school pupils, guided by their pedagogical lecturers. The article describes the transfer of pedagogical strategies from the heterogenic strings class to the practicum hub at school, thus providing an opportunity for the lecturer to demonstrate teaching and then pass the torch on to the students, giving them constant guidance and feedback. This close Academia-field connection allows for a continuous reference to real- time situations, which in turn creates a conscious learning process and promotes young teachers’ realistic expectations. Both the positive reception of the school children and the tight pedagogic coaching empowers the students. An atmosphere of giving and creativity encourages composition of new pedagogically-aware arrangements for the program. These arrangements represent the cultural diversity in Israel. This article includes videos, pictures, and musical scores of new repertoire for strings classes. 

Author Biography

  • Racheli Galay

    Racheli Galay is a cellist, educator, and researcher specializing in Jewish music. She earned her doctoral degree in cello performance from Northwestern University with Hans Jørgen Jensen, minor in strings pedagogy with James Kjelland and Paula Kosower, Masters from Indiana University Bloomington with Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, cello pedagogy with Helga Winold, and a B.A. in Musicology magna cum laude from the University of Tel-Aviv. Racheli Galay is a trained Suzuki teacher by the American Suzuki Association. She was cello faculty and interim Strings Department director at VanderCook College Chicago, music faculty at ChiArts High-School Chicago, cello faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and orchestra conductor at Chicago Summer Suzuki Institute. 
    Currently she is Visiting Researcher at the Jewish Music Research Center at the Hebrew University Jerusalem and Senior Lecturer at Givat Washington Academic College for Education. Galay wrote her dissertation on the life and music of cellist-composer Joachim Stutschewsky. Awarded grants from the Stutschewsky Foundation, the City of Tel Aviv, and YIVO’s Heifetz Fellowship. Galay is the cellist of Quartetoukan – A Jewish-Arab performing ensemble and Trio Abibar that performs Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish-Klezmer music. 

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Published

2024-02-04

Issue

Vol. 15 (2018)

Section

Articles