In his pre-COVID-19 life, UA cello professor Theodore Buchholz regularly went into Tucson area schools to work with young cellists.
Ten or 12 times a year, the former Tucson Symphony Orchestra cellist would huddle with young musicians and work with them on everything from bowing techniques to vibrato, focusing on their posture and their bow stroke precision and the tiniest intricacies of their craft that make a world of difference when they perform.
“I’ve been missing doing that,” he said earlier this week from home, where he continues to teach his University of Arizona class via Zoom sessions after the UA closed its campus and switched to online learning in mid-March in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was through those Zoom classes with his college classes that it struck Buchholz: Why not reach out to middle and high school students? After all, they are now as well versed in Zoom and other online learning platforms as his college students.
“And I thought wow if there’s a silver lining to this thing it is (that) I could do this and maximize outreach,” he said.
So beginning Saturday, April 25, and continuing every Saturday through May 16, Buchholz is hosting online cello classes through Zoom for students in middle and high school.
The sessions are free and open to students in Tucson and Phoenix. He’s also gotten some interest from students outside the state. Buchholz said he will cap registration at 50.
The one-hour sessions will cover practice strategies, posture and set up, right and left hand development including bowing techniques from how to properly hold the bow and bow strokes to maximize intonation, velocity and vibrato.
Buchholz, who played with the TSO from 2006 to 2014 when he turned his full-time attention to the UA, also will touch on sight reading and work with the group on select repertoire to help keep them motivated during the state-ordered stay-at-home period.
Buchholz said there are limitations to Zoom when it comes to teaching music. Because of varying internet speeds, there’s inevitably an awkward lapse that could have students playing out of turn. But “we’ve come up with ways to make it valuable, to make it work, to make it meaningful,” he said.
“I love engaging with those students and I hope they get something valuable out of it,” said Buchholz, who has earned his doctoral degree from the UA.
In addition to teaching at the UA, Buchholz is director of the UA String Project, which he launched in 2015.
The project employs 12 music majors who offer private lessons to 100 K-12 students who might otherwise have no exposure to music education. To learn more, visit stringproject.music.arizona.edu
