FAQs & Support
About The Creator
Annie Savage has been committed to music for all and music for life for the entirety of her three decade career. A renown contest fiddler from childhood and a trained concert harpist, Savage has shared with stage with artists from Aretha Franklin to John Williams to Ricky Skaggs. She teaches with one foot in the classroom and the other in the music industry.
Annie’s studies have taken her from the concert halls of the Interlochen Arts Academy to the studios of the Berklee College of Music. She is currently a PhD candidate researching and writing curriculum at the nexus of cultural relevance, creativity, and the skill set required by the current music industry.
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“Thanks so much for the method and thank you so much for coming out to work with our students! It was such a pleasure to get to know you and watch you work your magic – and it is truly magic!” George Nicholson, Ed.D. Assistant Professor of Music Education University of New Mexico
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"Annie Savage is a star: a great teacher and author." -Bob Phillips, former president of ASTA and Alfred's Music
Educator Support/Clinics
We are dedicated to providing the educator with the support and direction needed to teach Free-Strings in the classroom. We understand the need for teaching improvisation can be daunting to even the most skilled teacher and student. Do not shy from reaching out for any help along the way!
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It's easy to use this method to meet the national standard of creating music in daily lessons, as online lessons and sub plans, or even to create your own Free Strings ensemble. Looking for support to help you get started? Reach out to Annie at any time for help and support with the Free Strings Method. She is available for in person or virtual clinics with you or you whole class. Please see the contact information below for help or to set up a clinic.
Contact:
Phone: 319-601-6379
Email: info@free-strings.com
FAQ Library
Who is this method for?
Teacher and students. This is designed specifically to serve those who want to teach the skill of jamming bluegrass and blues to others AND their students. So- this is a professional development course that can also be used by folks who just want to work up their skills in jamming and improvising on traditional stringed instruments OR those who want to take what they know about music already and round it out with the skillset of playing with others creatively.
Is this by ear or by notation?
BOTH…here at Free Strings…we believe in giving the learner both. Why not use what works to shore up any new skills that you hope to build? We also give you the ability to jam along with a professional band in the jam along videos. So, use what works
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FAQ: How do I log in and access the lessons and jam alongs?
Go to the upper right hand corner of the homepage to where it will say log in. Click on that. It will take you to a new page.
*If you are already a member at the very top of this page, continue here. You will see…
“Already a member? Log In” Click on log in. Enter your password. (Your device should remember you if you have a password saver- if not- choose a password that is easy to remember but is unique to this site.)
Once you are logged in, go to “Online Subscription” from the homepage menu. Click on it. It will take you to the method. The lessons are all on the top link to the right of our logo. (If you want to purchase notation packs for violin, viola, cello, and bass- these fall below and can be purchased separately as a digital download by module.) Click on the lessons. What may appear first is a menu of the lessons and what each one teaches. Depending on the speed of your internet connection, the videos can take a couple minutes to load. You don’t need to do anything but wait. If they haven’t loaded within a couple minutes, you can hit us up using the chat feature.
In general though, you can click on the module you want to access and the lessons will appear in list form. You can jump around in them or use them in order. The method is designed to guide folks through the lessons chronologically, but it will let you access any of them at any point regardless of whether you have already done them or not. We hear that folks love this interface once they get in and as always- we are here to help!
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*If you are NOT a member or have yet to purchase the online subscription, you can do this by signing up for the method using the online prompts and then proceed with the instructions above.