Ball State’s student chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) won the national Outstanding Student Chapter award and traveled to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, to accept it.
The chapter, however, is known for more than its award recognition.
ASTA is a national organization dedicated to supporting string and orchestra players — especially those who wish to become teachers — that holds an annual conference in the spring. Every year, Ball State’s student chapter makes a point to attend.
This year, they were excited to attend and accept their award in person.
As several members of the chapter emphasized, it’s “baffling” for them to be surrounded by an entire conference of string teachers when they’re typically the string teacher for a given school or area.
Ball State’s ASTA student Chapter shows its dedication through a slew of different outreach initiatives. The chapter spends four nights almost every week helping string players in the community of Muncie. These optional events include a lot of younger students, mainly through their work at the Ross Community Center and with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of East Central Indiana (YSOECI), Matthew Spieker, the faculty adviser for the chapter, said.
Spieker is also the artistic director and conductor of YSOECI’s most advanced group.
Spieker said, “I didn’t want to do it if I couldn’t create a program where my Ball State students get opportunities to teach also.”
Through a partnership program he’s put in place alongside Tiffany Arnold, the executive director for the YSOECI, the chapter has been able to get grant money to pay the members who teach the kids at the YSOECI.
“I think it's important to compensate musicians and music teachers fairly, and I want to use my leadership role in YSOECI to make a difference where I can,” Arnold said.
While working with the Ross Center, the chapter teaches beginner viola and cello two days a week as part of an after-school program.
Abigail “Abbi” Best, the chapter president, said working with kids in the Muncie Community School system means seeing the effects of different socioeconomic issues like food insecurity firsthand, which further prepares them to be teachers in the future.
“It is the best thing I’ve done at Ball State so far,” she said.
The chapter also teaches adult learners by working with local members of the New Horizons International Music Association in Muncie. On top of their weekly teachings, the chapter hosts events at Ball State, such as a String Orchestra Invitational. For this event, the chapter partners with the state ASTA chapter to invite high school orchestras to come to Ball State and be consulted by judges.
Not only do schools get feedback from nationally recognized judges, but it also serves as a great way for Ball State to advertise its strings program to prospective students.
While the chapter focuses intently on community outreach, they do a lot to practice and develop their orchestral capabilities as well. For example, they occasionally hold professional development nights where they bring in teachers from the community to speak firsthand about their profession.
Another key example of the chapter’s group meetings is those focused on honing the versatility of their members by asking everyone to swap instruments and sections of the same songs constantly in order to be able to quickly grasp how an instrument plays different sections of the same song.
Over the years, Best said the chapter has evolved significantly since she first arrived at Ball State in 2022. During that time, she said the chapter was left rather small and struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the chapter has been trying to get back to consistency in its scheduling and outreach, hosting three chapter meetings a month.
In the midst of all the routine practice work and extensive outreach, the chapter is also building camaraderie within the community through regular shared laughter and social event planning.
“One of the biggest things for any college student organization is feeling like you’re part of a community,” Best said.
Spieker praised the collaborative efforts of his chapter students, who he said are lifting up not just each other, but the entire Muncie community.
“They just have a heart for kids and for this community. I think that sets them apart,” he said.
Ball State’s ASTA Student Chapter meets Wednesdays three times a month from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. inside Hargreaves School of Music, room 117.
Contact Sean Behling via email at sean.behling@bsu.edu.
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