About
Overview & History
Heralded by musicians and educators throughout the world as one of the finest programs for the training of teachers and the development of young talent, the University of Texas String Project is sponsored by the Butler School of Music. It has received many national awards, including the First Education Institution Award for being the most significant program in strings among American universities and colleges and was named 2008 String Project of the Year by the National String Project Consortium. Thousands of people are playing string instruments today because of the far-reaching effects of the UT String Project, which has served as a nationwide example for the training of teachers and young string players.
Attracting university students from almost every state and many foreign countries, the String Project has prepared string teachers who upon graduation have founded, developed, or expanded string programs in public schools, taught in universities, established private studios, or played in symphony orchestras. Many of these teachers began their string study as children in the String Project.
The idea of the String Project came about in the years following World War II when an acute shortage of string players became apparent. In 1948 Dr. William E. Doty, founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts, listened to and supported Albert Gillis’ idea of tackling the problem head-on by developing an imaginative program for the preparation of string teachers. Together they founded the Junior String Project and Professor Gillis became the director, a position he held for the first 10 years. Eight years after its founding, the program was renamed the University of Texas String Project. Professor Phyllis Young joined the staff in its fifth year and began directing in 1958. She was involved with the University of Texas String Project for 41 years, directing it for 35 of those years.
In the fall of 2002, Dr. Laurie Scott became the director of The University of Texas String Project. Initiatives under her leadership, included further development of the Preschool Cadet Instrumental program, an Eclectic Styles String Festival, early childhood classes, and parent ensembles. Professor Scott expanded the program including the creation of outreach initiatives with The UT Elementary School and Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, ensuring access to string education for these communities.
| 1993-1995 | Dr. Anne C. Witt |
| 1995-1997 | Susan Wallace |
| 1997-1999 | Linda Jennings |
| 1999-2001 | Christine Crookall |
| 2001-2002 | Jessica Gilliam-Valls |
| 2002-2025 | Laurie Scott |
| 2025-present | Marissa Guarriello |
OUR FACULTY
The String Project’s faculty are students at the Butler School of Music. Most are graduate students, although qualified undergraduates may be teachers in our program as well. Most of our teachers are students of music education, although many are performance majors interested in becoming excellent teachers. Our faculty have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences as teachers and performers; to find out more about specific teachers, visit our Faculty page.
THE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM: CADETS
Our preschool cadet program, called Cadets, is a two-year program using the Suzuki Method and is open to four & five-year-old beginners. All students who begin an instrument with the String Project while in this age range participate in the Cadet program, regardless of their actual school experience. Cadet students all begin on violin and cello. Parents of students interested in viola or bass should not be dissuaded from joining Cadets, as the early start to music instruction will only help build a thorough base of music skills, and making the transition to another instrument in a few years is very feasible. Cadets is for both parents and students. They practice together and attend all classes, lessons, and other activities together. During the week, cadet students attend one class with their “pod,” a small group of students who take a group lesson together regularly. Cadet families also have one 30-minute private lesson each week. In the initial stages of Cadets, parents will learn the instrument along with their children in order to serve as the “home teacher.” As the students grow older, their attention spans lengthen, and their repertoire of skills and tunes increase, the majority of lesson time will shift from training parents in the skills to be taught and monitored at home to directly working with the student. For more information on the Suzuki Method, visit the Suzuki Association of the Americas website.
THE REGULAR (SCHOOL-AGED) PROGRAM
The regular program encompasses all of our students not in the Cadet program. Most of our students are full-time, taking part in both weekday ensembles and weekly private lessons with a member of our faculty. We also offer Ensemble-only status for students who already have a private teacher and want to participate in our program.
View the Guidelines for exactly which ensemble or orchestra a prospective student can expect to be placed in. These are the same guidelines that current students follow to be promoted to a new ensemble. The guidelines are based on the Suzuki Method repertoire, but literature of similar difficulty that demonstrates the same skills can be substituted; scales, arpeggios, and other requirements should be performed as listed on the promotional guidelines.
In addition to a list of repertoire and exercises that vary by level, students’ success in moving from one level to another, especially in joining the program, depends on proper setup and technique as outlined in our technique and posture checklists.
GUITAR PROGRAM
The guitar program emphasizes expressive music-making from the very first notes while teaching all of the essential technical and musical skills for first-rate musicianship on the classical guitar. The program is taught by undergraduate and graduate students in the classical guitar program at UT, a highly regarded program world-wide. Students must be age 7 and older to participate.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
String Project students participate in two concerts a year, one at the end of each semester. In addition, our more advanced students in Chamber Ensembles, Sinfonia Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, and Guitar Ensemble 3 may compete in a bi-annual concert competition, while full-time students play in studio recitals and can audition for the bi-annual Honors Recital. Past special events have included the annual Fall Festival/Eclectic Styles Festival and performances of String Project orchestras at the Texas Music Educators Association conference in San Antonio.
The University of Texas at Austin String Project will not take custodial responsibility of minors while participating in any classes associated with String Project. Custodial responsibility will remain with teachers, parents, legal guardians, and chaperones.