Phillips Family Fiddlers, Bob Phillips

Brief bio for publicity or introduction. Click for more detailed information.
Pedagogue, composer, and teacher trainer, Bob Phillips is an innovator in string education. During his 27 years of teaching strings in Saline, Michigan, Bob built a thriving string program of over 700 students and was honored as teacher of the year 9 times by regional, state and national organizations. A recognized expert in the use of large group pedagogy and alternative styles, he has presented clinics throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. Phillips has authored over 50 books for use in the string classroom including Alfred’s revolutionary new method, Sound Innovations for String Orchestra and Sound Innovations for Concert Band as well as the ground breaking Philharmonic series. He has had over 75 works published for orchestras and bands and is an ASCAP-Plus award winner. His conducting resume includes professional, All-state, and youth orchestras. Currently Bob is the String Editor for Alfred Music Publishing and in the fall of 2010 will be in residence as an endowed chair of music education at the University of Alabama.

Brief bio for publicity or introduction. Click for more detailed information.
Pam Phillips has a broad background in arts management and production. Her career includes booking and producing concerts for professional artists as well as school groups. She has administered numerous music camps and planned national and international music tours. Pam has run teacher workshops throughout the United States and has presented at a variety of music conferences. ASTA choose her as their national conference coordinator for the 2007 convention in Detroit. In her role as a music producer and editor she has worked on production of instructional DVDs and audio CDs as well hundreds of orchestra pieces and instructional books. She ran the Saline Fiddlers for eight years and has served as an assistant teacher in the elementary string classroom. Pam has spent the last several years as project coordinator for Alfred Music Publishing’s revolutionary new method Sound Innovations for String Orchestra and Sound Innovations for Concert Band. Currently she serves as the string production editor for Alfred.

Bob Phillips, (B. 1953) composer, string pedagogue, teacher trainer, editor and conductor, is renowned both as an educator and an innovator in string education. Bob and his wife, Pam, devote their time to creating and presenting new music, workshops and materials for string teachers and students. Traveling internationally and throughout the United States they spend time in schools and universities in both workshop and guest residency formats. With over twenty-eight years experience in a public school classroom, as well as twenty years as a teacher trainer, Bob brings a wealth of knowledge and a sense of humor to his workshops, clinics, and guest conducting.
Bob is co-author of the revolutionary Sound Innovations method, String Explorer method books and Sight-Read It for Strings as well as the ground breaking series of books Fiddlers Philharmonic, Fiddlers Philharmonic Encore!, Basic Fiddlers Philharmonic: Old-Time Fiddle Tunes, Jazz Philharmonic, Jazz Philharmonic: Second Set, Mariachi Philharmonic and the Basic Fiddlers book, all published by Alfred Publishing. He serves, along with Richard Meyer, as the String Editor for Alfred, guiding the development of the string catalog. As a composer and arranger he has many published for string orchestra. An expert in the use of folk fiddling and jazz in the string orchestra, he taught twenty-seven years in the Saline Area Schools building a string program with over 700 students. Bob’s groups have performed at national and state conferences and consistently achieved top ratings at festivals. He founded the nationally renowned folk-fiddling ensemble, Saline Fiddlers Philharmonic, which under his direction gained an international reputation annually performing more than 75 shows.
Bob graduated from the University of Michigan with both Bachelor and Master Degrees in Music Education, where he studied with Lawrence Hurst, Elizabeth Green and Bob Culver. His students have been successful as string educators, as well as professional performers in both classical and alternative styles. He has been elected "Teacher of the Year" nine times by national, state, and regional associations and has been invited to present clinics in more than thirty states and in eight foreign countries. He has presented clinics at numerous national conferences including the Ohio State University String Teachers Conference, the American String Workshop, the National String Workshop, the Midwest Clinic, the International String Workshop, the International Society of Bassists and the MENC and ASTA National conventions. Bob and Pam founded the Phillips Family Fiddle Camps and the String Alternatives Workshop. Bob has been credited in several national publications with being one of the prime forces in the creation of the alternative styles movement in schools.
Bob has served as conductor for a variety of youth symphonies, honors orchestras and camps including the All-State Orchestra at Interlochen, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp Orchestras, Jackson Youth Symphonies, Music Youth International Orchestra, Oakland Youth Orchestra, UM Junior Youth Symphony, American String Workshop Orchestra, the MASTA Junior High orchestra, the Kentucky All-State and the Queensland Honour Ensemble Program.
Recognized as Citizens of the Year by the City of Saline for their work in arts education, Bob and Pam were also honored in special ceremonies by both the House and the Senate of the State of Michigan for their work with the Saline Fiddlers.
They have three daughters who have taught at the Phillips Family Fiddle Camps and the Michigan ASTA camps.

Pam Phillips, (B. 1953) has a broad background in arts management and production. Her career includes booking and producing concerts for professional artists as well as school groups. She has administered numerous music camps and planned national and international music tours. Pam has run teacher workshops throughout the United States and has presented at a variety of music conferences. ASTA choose her as their national conference coordinator for the 2007 convention in Detroit. In her role as a music producer and editor she has worked on production of instructional DVDs and audio CDs as well hundreds of orchestra pieces and instructional books. She ran the Saline Fiddlers for eight years and has served as an assistant teacher in the elementary string classroom. Pam has spent the last several years as project coordinator for Alfred Music Publishing’s revolutionary new method Sound Innovations for String Orchestra and Sound Innovations for Concert Band. Currently she serves as the string production editor for Alfred.
Pam graduated from the University of Michigan and then ran a successful business for many years. With Mary Kay Cosmetics she reached the level of Team Manager earning the use of three cars. This experience in sales, training and motivation became part of all future musical and educational endeavors. After spending these years in business and raising three musicians, Pam turned her full time energies to the arts.
Pam served as arts administrator for the performing ensemble, Saline Fiddlers Philharmonic in Saline, MI, for the first eight years after the group’s founding. One specialty of Pam’s is communication between the community and the music department. Together with Bob, she founded a new string program in Tecumseh, MI planning advocacy, interface with parents, classroom activities and assembling a ten-year plan for the new program. Pam is responsible for the development, marketing and organization of the Phillips Family Fiddle Camps, which ran successfully from 1997-2000 reaching over 500 students. An earlier collaboration with Barrage resulted in the well-received Siring Alternatives Workshops for teachers.
Pam has assisted in the graphic design and development of the Fiddlers Philharmonic, Jazz Philharmonic, String Alternative and String Explorer series for Alfred Publishing. Pam served as producer, editor, writer and graphic artist for the newly released DVD series, String Clinics to Go: The Art of Recruiting and Getting Started, distributed by Shar Products.
Recognized as Citizens of the Year by the City of Saline for their work in arts education, Bob and Pam were also honored in special ceremonies by both the House and the Senate of the State of Michigan for their work with the Saline Fiddlers.
They have three daughters who have taught at the Phillips Family Fiddle Camps and the Michigan ASTA camps.