Children's Sized Stringed Instruments

[eViL cAkE]

Greetings Guys,

I've just been hired by a local charter school to start up a string program. The school used to be strictly an elementary school, but they've been adding grades for the past five years (goes up to 10th grade now).

String orchestra will be offered to 5th thru 10th grade students (10 to 15 years old). I would like to offer all instruments to all grade levels of students, therefore some mini-sized instruments will be needed. I was just wondering how many mini-sized instruments we should purchase. We're looking to have a total of 27 students enrolled in the string program this year.

12 Violins
6 Violas
6 Celli
3 Double Basses

Thank you, any help you can offer me in figuring out a good sizing ratio for the age group mentioned above will be greatly appreciated.

[matt macgown]

WOW! Have fun!

[eViL cAkE]

For clarification purposes, I'd just like to state that we'll probably need some of the following.

1/2 size Violins
3/4 size Violins
4/4 size Violins
13" Violas
14" Violas
15" Violas
16" Violas
1/2 size Celli
3/4 size Celli
4/4 size Celli
1/4 size Basses
1/2 size Basses
3/4 size Basses

I would appreciate any help I could receive on figuring out an ideal assortment for a 27 piece string orchestra.

12 Violins
6 Violas
6 Celli
3 Basses (Well this would be 1 1/4 size,1 1/2 size & 1 3/4 size, but help on the other instruments would be nice)

Thanx A Lot

[John Sprague]

Hi Evil,
Are you already familiar with TMEA ? they're a great resource for Texas educators. Perhaps they could help you out a bit?

Best of luck with your new program!

John