Made possible by the Biddle Foundation, the Duke University String School collaborates with Duke graduate composition students to provide DUSS students with access to support in music theory and composition, as well as the opportunity to perform pieces by living composers.
All classes and opportunities are available to DUSS students at no additional cost. Learn more about this year's collaborator and offerings below.
Meet the 2026 Composer In Residence and Mary Duke Biddle Fellow: Tyler Jordan
Fall 2026 Schedule
Office Hours with DUSS Composer in Residence (Fall Semester)
Need help understanding a music theory concept or finishing your composition? Sign up for a 30-minute time slot to receive one-on-one feedback from Tyler Jordan during his office hours throughout the fall semester. Open to all students with teacher recommendation to sign up.
- More dates will added as the semester progresses
Crash Course Theory for high school students (3 weeks)
Students will learn how their individual part fits into the whole of a piece by reviewing the basics of reading a score, finding the home key, intervals, Roman numeral analysis, how chord progressions work, and more music theory fundamentals. Open to high school students in the Concert String Orchestra (CSO) and Youth Symphony (YS).
Class Dates: 9/19, 9/26, 10/3
Time: 9–10am, Room 069
New Music Ensemble (4 weeks)
What new sounds can be made when we play our instruments in strange ways? How can we engage with form and structure in works that don’t follow a strict form like sonata allegro or binary? What does it mean for a piece to not fit neatly within a key? The DUSS New Music Ensemble is an opportunity for students in the Youth Symphony to engage with new ideas of what music can be through works of from the late 20th century to today. This fall, students will rehearse and perform Terry Riley's famous "In C" and a newly composed piece by Tyler Jordan specifically written for this string chamber group. Open to the DUSS-Ciompi Quartet Collaborative (DCC) and Youth Symphony (YS) students.
Rehearsal Dates: 11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/5
Time: 9–10am, Room 101
Performance: DUSS Chamber Music Concert 12/5 @3pm, Nelson Music Room
New String Compositions for DUSS (Fall Semester)
Students in the Concert String Orchestra will have the opportunity to learn and perform an string orchestra piece different from any other work they have played, and composed just for them by our Composer in Residence during the Fall Orchestra Concert.
Performance: Sunday, November 15th @4:30, Baldwin Auditorium.
Students in the Violin & Cello Choirs will have a piece composed for 2 of the ensembles this year as a cross-class duet during the Winter Violin and Cello Choir Concert.
Performance: Saturday, February 20th @4:00, Nelson Music Room.
