A $15,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant helped Creative Strings complete a comprehensive new teaching method, serve more than 100 educators and their students, grow a sliding-scale online academy, and strengthen a free video library that has reached more than seven million views.
Creative Strings is proud to share the results of a $15,000 grant from completed during the 2025–2026 school year.
The grant helped us advance a goal that has always been central to our mission: making high-quality, creative music education available to people regardless of their financial resources, geographic location, or previous access to specialized training.
During the grant period, Creative Strings expanded three connected areas of its work:
- We completed and distributed the Eclectic Styles Teaching Method, an extensive curriculum for private teachers, school educators, and their students.
- The Creative Strings Academy grew to more than 300 members while remaining available on a sliding-scale, pay-what-you-can basis.
- We improved the organization and cataloging of more than 1,000 free YouTube lessons, play-alongs, and guided practice videos that have now received more than seven million views.
Each program serves musicians in a different way, but all three are built on the same belief: creative music education should not be reserved for people who can afford expensive lessons, conservatory tuition, travel, or specialized professional development.
Completing a Comprehensive New Teaching Method
A major focus of the grant was the completion and launch of the Eclectic Styles Teaching Method.
Developed by Christian Howes through more than three decades of teaching, performing, curriculum development, and work with music educators, the Method is what we believe to be the most exhaustive and comprehensive system of its kind for teaching improvisation, harmony, arranging, rhythm, groove, creative musicianship, and eclectic styles to string players.
This is not simply a collection of isolated exercises, inspirational videos, or workshop handouts.
It is an extensive teacher manual and sequential curriculum designed to help educators introduce creative musical skills systematically—even when the teachers themselves were not trained to improvise, arrange, teach harmony, or lead students in styles beyond the traditional classical curriculum.
The Method includes structured lesson plans, modular curriculum, digital workbooks, notated exercises, guided practice materials, backing tracks, play-along videos, and student-ready resources that teachers can share directly with their private studios, classrooms, orchestras, and community programs. It is adaptable for beginning through advanced students and can be used as a complete system or introduced one module at a time. m addresses areas including:
- Structured and free improvisation
- Major, pentatonic, modal, and tonal improvisation
- Harmony, chord progressions, and voice leading
- Arranging and creating ensemble parts
- Rhythm, groove, and embodied musicianship
- Playing by ear and responding in real time
- Micro-improvisation and melodic variation
- Guided practice and play-along teaching
- Social-emotional learning, confidence, and creative expression
- Applications across jazz, fiddle, folk, pop, rock, Latin, R&B, classical music, and other styles
The Method focuses on universal creative skills that can transfer across genres rather than asking teachers to become experts in every individual style. It gives classically trained educators a framework for teaching beyond the page while continuing to reinforce technique, listening, musical understanding, and ensemble skills. 100 Teachers—and Their Students—Benefited
More than 100 educators were served through the Eclectic Styles Teaching Method during the grant period.
Participants included private teachers, school orchestra directors, classroom music educators, community teaching artists, and other instructors working in the United States and around the world.
Many of these teachers wanted to introduce improvisation, harmony, arranging, groove, and a wider range of musical styles to their students but had previously felt unable to do so.
Some had never received this kind of training themselves. Others had experimented with individual jazz books, fiddle materials, online tutorials, or short workshops but lacked a clear, sequential system they could apply consistently with students.
The Eclectic Styles Teaching Method helped bridge that gap.
Teachers received not only information, but a substantial body of curriculum they could immediately use and share. This allowed them to begin bringing these concepts into private lessons, school classrooms, orchestras, ensembles, and community programs where such opportunities had previously been limited or unavailable.
The direct participants numbered more than 100, but the impact extended far beyond those educators.
Every teacher serves students. As participating teachers began applying the curriculum, their students also gained new opportunities to improvise, arrange, understand harmony, develop groove, play by ear, explore diverse styles, and contribute their own ideas to the music.
This multiplier effect is one of the most important outcomes of the grant.
A single private instructor may work with dozens of students each year. A school educator may serve hundreds. By equipping teachers with a curriculum they can continue using, adapting, and sharing, the benefits can reach students for many years beyond the original grant period.
Helping Students Experience Music Differently
The purpose of this work is not simply to add jazz, fiddle, pop, or improvisation as occasional extras to an otherwise unchanged curriculum.
It is to expand what students believe music—and music education—can be.
Many string students learn to reproduce written music accurately but receive fewer opportunities to create, make choices, understand the harmony underneath the notes, develop their own musical ideas, or participate comfortably when sheet music is removed.
This can leave otherwise accomplished musicians feeling uncertain outside a traditional ensemble or classical setting.
The Eclectic Styles Teaching Method gives teachers practical ways to help students:
- Develop confidence in their own musical decisions
- Understand how melodies, chords, bass lines, inner voices, rhythms, and musical forms work together
- Become more independent and adaptable musicians
- Listen and respond more effectively within an ensemble
- Create accompaniments, arrangements, variations, and solos
- Connect traditional technique with contemporary and culturally relevant music
- Take creative risks in an encouraging environment
- Experience greater ownership, engagement, and joy in their musical development
The goal is not to replace classical music or traditional string instruction. It is to build upon those foundations and give teachers more tools for reaching more students.
Making the Method Available on a Pay-What-You-Can Basis
Access was built into the Eclectic Styles Teaching Method from the beginning.
The full program was offered on a sliding-scale, pay-what-you-can basis so that participation was not limited to teachers with large professional-development budgets or well-funded institutions.
Some participants were supported by schools or organizations. Others were independent private teachers paying from their own income. Some served large programs, while others worked with small studios or communities with limited resources.
The pay-what-you-can structure allowed educators to choose an amount appropriate to their circumstances while receiving access to the curriculum and training they needed.
This was not a reduced or secondary version of the program. Teachers received a substantial professional resource, including the full manual, sequential curriculum, training materials, and student-facing content.
By lowering the financial barrier for educators, Creative Strings also lowered the barrier for the students and communities those teachers serve.
Creative Strings Academy Grows Beyond 300 Members
The grant period also coincided with continued growth in the Creative Strings Academy, which expanded to more than 300 members.
The Academy is an online coaching and learning community where string players and teachers study improvisation, harmony, arranging, rhythm, technique, creative practice, and multiple musical styles.
Members receive invitations to live Zoom classes, guided play-along sessions, edited class replays, self-paced courses, personal feedback, office hours, downloadable materials, community support, and a private introductory lesson for new members. The classes are designed so musicians can actively play throughout the session rather than only watching a lecture. erves hobbyists, professional performers, private teachers, school educators, adult learners, and musicians with a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels.
Most importantly, it remained available on a sliding-scale, pay-what-you-can basis.
Members who need financial flexibility can choose an amount they can afford and still receive the same core access as other participants. This structure reflects our belief that a musician’s ability to pay should not determine whether they can receive meaningful instruction, feedback, encouragement, and community support. ers, the Academy offers a first opportunity to study improvisation or harmony. For others, it provides ongoing support they can use in their teaching, performing careers, or personal practice.
More Than 1,000 Free Lessons and Seven Million Views
Creative Strings also continued developing and organizing its free educational video library.
Our YouTube channel now offers more than 1,000 free lessons and has received more than seven million views.
Inspired by the public-access spirit of organizations such as Khan Academy, Creative Strings is working to create an extensive, searchable library of free music education resources that anyone can use.
The collection includes lessons in improvisation, harmony, rhythm, technique, arranging, fiddle, jazz, blues, contemporary styles, teacher training, and creative musicianship.
A distinguishing feature of the library is our use of play-along teaching and guided practice.
Instead of only explaining what a musician should practice, these videos invite viewers to pick up their instruments and participate immediately.
In different formats, students may:
- Play after the teacher in a call-and-response exercise
- Play with the teacher to internalize rhythm, phrasing, and musical vocabulary
- Respond to guided prompts that leave room for their own choices
- Practice scales, patterns, grooves, melodies, and chord progressions
- Build improvisational confidence through repetition and gradual variation
- Experience practice as an active, collaborative musical process
The Eclectic Styles Method incorporates these participatory teaching formats and gives educators guidance for applying them in private lessons, classrooms, ensembles, and video instruction. ant period, we improved the cataloging and organization of the free library so that teachers and musicians could more easily find useful material by topic, style, level, or musical goal.
Because these resources are free, they can reach musicians who may not have access to private instruction, specialized teachers, transportation, institutional support, or paid educational programs.
A musician can begin with a free YouTube lesson, join the Creative Strings Academy at an affordable level, or eventually study the complete teaching Method and bring the curriculum into their own school or studio.
Together, these programs create a pathway from individual learning to community participation, teacher development, and broader educational impact.
Access Is Not an Add-On—It Is the Mission
Sliding-scale pricing and free educational resources are not occasional promotions at Creative Strings. They are fundamental to how we carry out our mission.
During the grant period:
- The Eclectic Styles Teaching Method was offered on a pay-what-you-can basis.
- Creative Strings Academy remained a sliding-scale learning community.
- More than 1,000 lessons remained freely available through YouTube.
- Teachers received curriculum and materials they could use to benefit their own students.
- Musicians and educators participated from the United States and around the world.
The grant from the National Endowment for the Arts helped Creative Strings demonstrate that comprehensive, innovative music education can be both excellent and accessible.
Changing the Culture of String Education
The broader purpose of this work is to help positively change the culture of string education.
Too many musicians grow up believing that creativity is reserved for a gifted few, that improvisation is only for jazz musicians, or that they must reach an advanced level before they can make their own musical choices.
Too many teachers feel pressure to introduce creative skills without having received the training, curriculum, or support to do so confidently.
Creative Strings offers a different vision.
Creativity can be taught. Improvisation can be introduced gradually. Harmony can be made understandable. Rhythm and groove can be practiced. Students can learn to lead, accompany, listen, respond, arrange, and express themselves while continuing to develop strong technique and musicianship.
Teachers do not have to figure it out alone.
With the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Strings was able to provide educators with a practical, comprehensive system; expand a supportive online academy; and continue offering a growing library of free resources to the public.
Looking Ahead
We are deeply grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts and to the teachers, students, members, donors, volunteers, guest educators, and partners who helped make this work possible.
We plan to build upon the progress of the 2025–2026 school year by continuing to:
- Expand and refine the Eclectic Styles Teaching Method
- Support teachers as they introduce the curriculum to their students
- Grow the Creative Strings Academy while maintaining sliding-scale access
- Improve the organization of our free educational library
- Create additional guided practice and play-along resources
- Train more private and classroom educators
- Reach musicians and communities that have historically lacked access to this kind of instruction
Together, we are helping musicians move beyond the page, develop their creative voices, understand music more deeply, and experience greater confidence, connection, versatility, and joy.
Explore and Support the Work
Explore the Eclectic Styles Teaching Method
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About Creative Strings
Creative Strings is a nonprofit music education organization dedicated to expanding access to improvisation, harmony, arranging, creative practice, and diverse musical styles.
Through free online lessons, sliding-scale teacher training, the pay-what-you-can Creative Strings Academy, workshops, school programs, and student-ready curriculum, Creative Strings serves musicians and educators across a wide range of ages, backgrounds, experience levels, and geographic locations.
Our mission is to help musicians become more confident, creative, connected, and versatile—and to give teachers practical tools for bringing those benefits to their students and communities.
