Treasure Hunt

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Piano — This piece was part of the "Free Commission Project." The goal of this project was to provide school orchestra programs with a composition that meets the needs of each program, as well as the opportunity to work with a professional composer. With input from each program's director, I created custom pieces to fit into each orchestra's curriculum. Treasure Hunt was written for the beginning orchestra students at Autumn Creek Elementary School and Yorkville Intermediate School in Yorkville, IL, under the direction of Allison Buettner. Her commission request focused on the need for beginning level music that reinforces skips.PERFORMANCE NOTESSteps and Skips: This piece of music uses both steps and skips throughout. The challenge of performing skips can usually come down to either note reading or the physical execution of the notes. For students struggling with reading I suggest that as you reteach it, take time to show them that the music staff is in alphabetical order. l've had so many students have a light bulb moment when they figure out that the letters on the staff are not random!For students who struggle with getting their fingers down in time, I suggest having them focus on keeping all their fingers close to the string even when they are not being used. The phrase I use with my students is, "one centimeter fingers."High Strings vs Low Strings: I wrote this piece to represent two different groups of treasure hunters who are in a race to find a long lost treasure! The piece reflects that by including a call and response motif between upper and lower string sections for most of the piece. "Treasure Hunt" was written for beginning orchestra students with a focus on practicing steps, skips, and call-and-response musical elements between the upper and lower string sections. With something new to discover around every corner, young string explorers will encounter pizzicato, arco, dynamic changes, and articulations such as staccato and accents to build bow skills and confidence in performance.