American String Teachers Association - National String Project Consortium

National String Project Consortium

Since 1948, there had been a movement to run programs for string instrument instruction for young children in universities called the String Projects. The first project was started from a program at the University of Texas, and the former ASTA President Robert Jesselson then was expanded to other universities. The teachers in the projects were mostly graduate students at the universities where the programs ran. These projects continued for decades and gained national attention. In 1998, when Jesselson became the ASTA President, he started the foundation to form the project more formally within the umbrella of ASTA. The National String Project Consortium (NSPC) was formed in 1999 to use these programs to address the shortage in the stringed-instrument teachers for public schools in the United States. NSPC grew and expanded to 24 sites to the point that it would need to be an independent organization from ASTA. In 2007 NSPC finally became independent. The organization currently has grown to include 35 string projects at universities around the United States.