On Thursday, Monticello Community Strings had its first workshop with two visiting conductors. With the Violins was Dr. Marion Judish, Associate Professor of violin and viola at St.

She is also the concertmaster for the St. Cloud Symphony and the Amadeus Chamber Symphony. She worked with 19 violinists including one with less than a year s experience in playing and, as one said with a smile, over 100 years of playing.

Judith went over the score to Pirates of the Caribbean measure by measure, praising the students for the excitement they exhibited. She talked about how the piece should be played for pirates, short and jumpy, not drawn out and beautiful as for a love song. She then concentrated on timing, fingering and accents with the students.

Down the hall in the band room the cellists were learning under the aegis of Paul Wolfram. Paul is a member of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra and his quartet performed for Mikhail Gorbachev. He has received many accolades and fellowships for his outstanding performance on the cello.

Judish was explaining to students how Gene Kelly in the movie, American in Paris danced with the children and was very upbeat, Wolfram taught the cellists to grunt at certain times to keep things moving. He told his students that these pieces were a nice change from Bach but each had it s own intricacies of fingering. The cellists ranged from a petite blond of 6th grade to older adults.

By the end of the two hours both groups were feeling like they accomplished major steps forward in playing their difficult pieces. Comments are limited to 200 words or less. On Thursday, Monticello Community Strings had its first workshop with two visiting conductors.