School orchestra students often fall behind those who can also access private lessons, and that gap only seems wider since the pandemic. This inequity is exactly what George Bornoff aimed to solve in his approach to strings rooted in Gestalt learning theory. Presenters will share Bornoff’s vision for student empowerment and demonstrate how to use his unique frameworks and sequences to accelerate learning, promote deeper understanding, embrace student choice and creativity, and achieve more equitable outcomes for ALL students in your beginning strings classes.
Target Audience
Elementary and Middle School String Teachers
Additional Notes
Clinician Info
Felipe Morales-Torres
Bornoff Foundation for the Advancement of String Education (FASE)
Felipe Morales-Torres is an orchestra teacher, conductor, clinician, and researcher working to support liberation and healing through music education. He teaches string and symphony orchestras at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA. Felipe also serves as the Assistant Director of the Bornoff Foundation and manager of the FASE Diverse String Teachers Fellowship, using his 15 years of experience leading public school and community-based orchestra programs to support fellow teachers across the U.S. and Latin America. He was previously an instructor of instrumental music education at Northern Kentucky University and a conductor for the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras, which earned various conference performances and national recognition for his diverse and progressive programming. Felipe frequently conducts region and all-state orchestra festivals and currently serves on the national Conducting committee for the American String Teachers Association.
Debbie Lyle
Bornoff Foundation for the Advancement of String Education (FASE)
Debbie Lyle has directed school orchestras (Gr. 5-12) and regional youth orchestras for over 30 years. She was a violin and pedagogy student of Dr. George Bornoff and has carried on his mission as FASE’s Executive Director since 2011. Through FASE, Debbie has created accessible, impactful learning opportunities for teachers and their students, and authored and commissioned culturally and musically varied teaching materials used by thousands of students annually. She is the author of The Bornoff Approach – A Primer and has received various honors for her work in classical and jazz string education, including over 150 sessions and performances at state and national conferences.