On October 23rd and 24th the University of Texas String Project, in cooperation with the Center for Music Learning and the Butler School of Music, presented the 3rd annual Alternative Styles Festival for Strings. Approximately 300 participants attended this much anticipated exploration of non-traditional string performance approaches. Butler School of Music Professor Laurie Scott, Director of the UT String Project, created the event to expand the knowledge of both teachers and students in less commonly studied musical styles. Participation is open to all students, teachers, and others who play a string instrument and even non-performing observers are welcome to attend.

Each year the festival focuses on just a few of these non-traditional styles, many of which incorporate a significant degree of improvisation, bringing in guest clinicians that specialize in the styles covered. The first two years of the festival covered Rock, Jazz, Fiddle, Bluegrass, Mariachi, and Tango music. The focus this year was on Irish, Klezmer and Indian styles. The featured guest clinicians included the Klezmer group Los Klezmeros, Irish fiddler Chris Buckley, and the Butler School’s own professor of ethnomusicology and master sitarist Dr. Steven Slawek.

The Festival began with a concert on Friday October 23rd in Bates Auditorium featuring the clinicians from each of the three styles giving a performance and short introduction to the style of their expertise. The Saturday events included style workshops, instrument exploration, Irish dancing, and cultural demonstrations. The festival concluded on Saturday afternoon with a concert featuring participating students of all age groups performing with the clinicians. A great deal of fun and learning was had by all involved in this entertaining and informative event. Many of those participating return each year to explore the new styles and work directly with the expert clinicians brought in for the festival.