Time Trial: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts

$45.00 USD

Time Trial: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts

Name: Time Trial: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts
Brand: Alfred Music
SKU: 00-40410
Price: 45.00 USD
Availability: InStock

By Andrew H. Dabczynski

Grade: 2

Item: 00-40410

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And they're off! This quick-sprint rondo challenges students with constantly changing meters, but uses only the simplest rhythms, fingerings, and bowings---all within a D-major framework. By varying and combining simple 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 meters, the orchestra learns to "keep time" while preparing for more complex meters. A 7-part rondo form provides the players repetition opportunities to solidify the meter changes and maximize learning. More advanced students can play this piece at the fastest possible tempo to test their ability to play accurately.

Don't just read it, hear it, play along with it, and watch your students grow with it. In MakeMusic Cloud, Time Trial: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts comes alive with professional accompaniment, adjustable tempo, and built-in practice tools that turn solo practice into real progress.

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Series: Belwin Beginning String Orchestra

Publisher: Alfred Music

Page Count: 138

UPC: 038081449852

SKU: 00-40410

More about this title

About the Composer: Andrew H. Dabczynski

Andrew H. Dabczynski has taught string education at multiple institutions throughout his career, including faculty positions at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Connecticut, where he performed as a graduate string quartet violist. As Emeritus Professor of Music Education at Brigham Young University, he founded and directed the BYU New Horizons Orchestra, an ensemble designed for adult beginning string players that also served as a laboratory for string teacher training. His work earned him BYU's Joseph E. White Fellowship for Teaching and Learning, and in 2005 Utah ASTA named him their Higher Education Teacher of the Year.

Beyond the university classroom, Dabczynski has held supervisory and teaching roles in public school districts across Michigan and New York, and served on national committees with the American String Teachers Association. As a performer, he has played viola with the Rochester Philharmonic, Hartford Symphony, Portland Symphony, and Kalamazoo Symphony, and was a six-year member of the Colden String Quartet at Western Michigan University. His pedagogical expertise is reflected in the String Explorer method series, co-authored with Alfred Music, and his research interests in ethnomusicology and traditional fiddle transmission have shaped his approach to accessible, engaging string education.

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Why we love this

Dabczynski cuts through the usual meter-change anxiety by pairing metric variety with rhythmic simplicity, so students focus entirely on the time signature shifts rather than fumbling through complicated passages. The rondo structure builds confidence through repetition while the adjustable tempo lets you scaffold the learning or challenge advanced players, making this one conductor score serve multiple ability levels in the same rehearsal.

What to expect

Time Trial captures the energy and lightness of a rondo in motion, with D major giving it a bright, open sound that sits comfortably under student bows. The switching between 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 creates a playful sense of rhythm games, almost like a musical stopwatch ticking through different tempos.

Who it's for

Grade 2 string orchestras working through their first exposure to mixed meters will find this piece both manageable and musically rewarding. It works equally well for conductors introducing meter variety at a foundational level and for those assessing which students are ready to stretch into more rhythmically complex arrangements.

How to get the most out of it

Mark the meter changes clearly on the parts so players see them coming; color-coding or bracketing each new section helps younger students track the shifts without losing focus on their playing.
Run isolated sections in rotation (A, B, C, etc.) before assembling the full rondo so players internalize each meter pattern separately and gain security before layering them together.
Start at a manageable tempo where students can lock the meter changes solidly, then gradually accelerate in subsequent rehearsals once the form feels stable across the orchestra.

How to use it

Feature this on a concert that emphasizes the orchestra's growth in rhythmic literacy, pairing it with a slower lyrical piece to showcase range, or use it as a festival selection where the challenge of meter changes and the clarity of D major demonstrate technical progress without overwhelming adjudicators. Its energetic character also makes it an effective closer to a rehearsal or a concert that needs a final burst of momentum.