String Riffs — original music for strings
All volumes include:
- Segmented and multi-level pieces in a wide range of musical styles
- Alignment to federal and state standards
- Sound effects and advanced techniques to hold student interest
- Concept maps for planning and lesson facilitation (in Teacher’s Score for Method Volumes)
- Substantial viola, cello, and bass parts in advanced volumes
- Hits like “Enchi-chilada,” “The Pirate’s Awakening” with “The Pirate’s Lair,” “Orchestrocity” and many more
- “Scary String Stories,” allowing students to write their own entertaining narratives
We offer original music for strings ranging from elementary school beginners to high school musicians. Repertoire is thoroughly tested in the classroom, and most pieces are supplemented with invaluable concept maps providing unique shortcuts for lesson planning.
Fun tunes like “Saddles and Spurs” and “Arizona Rodeo” combine Southwestern charm with techniques carefully designed to improve specific skills. These versatile compositions adapt easily to teacher preferences in articulation, rhythm, tempo and style as integral building blocks in the string classroom, offering differentiated instruction aligned to state and federal music education standards. Lower strings receive equal attention thanks to the composer’s background as a cellist.
Biography for String Riffs composer Karen Koger
String Riffs spotlights the engaging music of composer Karen Koger, an experienced professional educator and performer. Koger’s background includes a bachelor’s degree in cello performance from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in cello performance pedagogy from Arizona State University.
As a lifelong musician Koger has been teaching private cello lessons for more than two decades and most recently instructed fourth- through eighth-grade students in Arizona’s Mesa and Tempe Public School systems, maintaining a long relationship with the American String Teacher Association and a dynamic ongoing role in music education with particular focus on beginning, intermediate and advanced string orchestra studies. She actively plays in chamber, orchestral, studio, instructional and theatrical ensembles.
Koger actively plays in chamber, orchestral, studio, instructional and theatrical ensembles as a member of the American Federation of Musicians. Her work includes performances with The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, Arizona Theatre Company, Phoenix Theatre, commercial studios, and national Broadway touring shows ranging from The Lion King to Mary Poppins.
