Imagine a Career with Strings Attached 2026

A series of lesson plans and modules designed to help middle and high school orchestra students explore what it means to be a music educator. Inspired by the original resources designed in 2005 by Dr. Robert Gillespie, then ASTA’s President, these new resources encourage student action, engagement, and agency as they discover the many aspects of being an orchestra director. While written for the orchestra classroom, many of these resources can be easily modified to work in any music education setting.

The creation of these resources was supported in part by a professional development grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank our participating artist-educators, Jesús Florido, Dr. Taniesha Pooser, and Daniella Valdez for their inspiration and contributions.