Strings Fundamentals
Strings Fundamentals prepares music educators to teach violin, viola, cello, and double bass in K-12 settings, covering technique, care, intonation, and pedagogy.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.93 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.79 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Explain and demonstrate proper care and maintenance of orchestral string instruments.
Demonstrate fundamental technical playing proficiency on violin, viola, violoncello, and double bass.
Explain and demonstrate the function of the left hand, bow arm, and vibrato in tone production.
Demonstrate knowledge of intonation issues and fixes.
Demonstrate an understanding of strings transpositions.
Demonstrate an understanding of the clefs most often used in viola, violoncello, and double bass compositions.
Demonstrate the ability to diagnose and solve the common problems of beginning strings students.
Demonstrate knowledge of method books, etude books, and appropriate solo repertory.
Demonstrate knowledge of recommended makes and models of string instruments and accessories, including instrument sizing to match students’ physical size.
Demonstrate knowledge of how to select and replace strings.
Demonstrate knowledge of relevant and important string instrument performers.
Play each string instrument with appropriate posture and a characteristic sound.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapDeclared in Music: Education BM
- Declared in Music: Education BM
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Declared in Music: Education BM
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.93 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.79 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- Tone production mechanics: left hand, bow arm, vibrato
- Intonation issues and solutions
- Transpositions and clefs for string instruments
- String selection and replacement
- Notable string instrument performers
Skills
- Teaching orchestral string instruments in K-12 settings
- Care and maintenance of orchestral string instruments
- Fundamental technical playing proficiency on four string instruments
- Diagnosing and solving common problems for beginning strings students
- Knowledge of method books, etude books, and solo repertory
- Selecting instruments and accessories with proper sizing
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2025
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
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Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
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Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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