October 2025 Energizing Young Players: Creative Ideas to Inspire Beginners bySBO+ Contributor October 15, 2025
SBO Presents the Class of 2018 Best Tools for Schools Award Recipients byMike Lawson March 3, 2018 0 The annual SBO Best Tools for Schools awards were presented at the 2018 Winter NAMM.
Stringed Instruments: Winter Weather Helping Students Handle Instrument Maintenance Needs from a Distance byMike Lawson March 2, 2018 0 This January found many students without adequately functional instruments (as can most winter months).
Bowings: An Orchestral Language byMike Lawson January 8, 2018 0 If you have spent much time in the company of career orchestral string players, you will undoubtedly encounter or witness...
Etiquette and Managing Musicians byMike Lawson December 6, 2017 0 Originally intended as a “grand finale” to the series of articles addressing orchestral etiquette(s), I am finally able to present...
Appreciating and Teaching Musical Movement in the Symphony Orchestra byMike Lawson November 6, 2017 0 I have often wondered how music appreciation can effectively be taught in a class-setting.
School Orchestra and Private Instruction Working Together (and Avoiding Conflict) byMike Lawson October 4, 2017 0 There are good reasons guiding a fairly uncontested rule of ethics amongst teachers who provide individual instruction to students in...
A Practical Guide to Chamber Music Success byMike Lawson September 8, 2017 0 It is rare to hear a string player be anything but enthusiastic when it comes to playing with other musicians of...
The Importance of Personal Musical Enrichment for Educators: Goals, ongoing ensemble experiences, and retaining professional performance as instrumentalists and musicians byMike Lawson July 14, 2017 0 As musicians and educators, I suspect at some point in time each of us has experienced “the fear.”
Concepts and Tips for Teaching Form byMike Lawson June 19, 2017 0 There are few aspects of playing a stringed instrument (specifically violin/viola) which feel like a natural, physically familiar, comfortable use...
Protecting Your Instrument – Part Two byMike Lawson April 7, 2017 0 Expenses quickly accrue to levels not all musicians' families can manage; it is probably the most obvious of factors cited again...
Protecting Your Instrument – Part One byMike Lawson March 20, 2017 0 Handling Your Instrument and Avoiding Accidents
Orchestral Contracts – Preparing for Your World as a Self-Employed Musician byMike Lawson February 13, 2017 0 Editor’s Note: It’s often said by students that they don’t think they learn enough about the real world in school,...