Strum

Strum runs without a break, so think of it as one arc in three stages.

It opens quietly, with players plucking their strings rather than bowing them. Short repeated figures pass around the group like people tuning up together, and a simple rising tune surfaces above the plucking. Nothing is hurried; the texture feels like a folk band settling into a groove.

The middle stretch is where the bows come in and the music starts to sing. A long, warm melody spreads through the violins and cellos, harmonized in a way that suggests fiddle tunes and spirituals without quoting either. Underneath it the plucking never stops, so you hear two things at once: a song on top, a steady strummed pulse below. Listen for the moment when the whole orchestra leans into the tune together, one of the piece's clearest landmarks.

The last stage speeds up and tightens. The dance rhythm sharpens, phrases get shorter and more insistent, and the players trade quick answering figures across the sections. It builds to a fast, stamping finish, with the ensemble hitting hard on the beat and the piece ending abruptly, more shout than fade.

Jessie Montgomery, born in New York in 1981, trained as a violinist and wrote much of her early music for players she knew personally. Strum began in 2006 as a piece for string quintet, written for the Providence String Quartet and friends, and Montgomery returned to it more than once, arranging and revising it until it reached its familiar form for string orchestra in 2012, made for the Sphinx Virtuosi. Her long association with the Sphinx Organization, which supports Black and Latino string players, put the piece in front of touring ensembles early. It spread quickly. Strum is now among the most frequently played American orchestral works of the last two decades, opening concerts for youth orchestras, conservatory ensembles, and major symphonies alike. Montgomery served as composer in residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2021 to 2024, a post that brought her larger scores to wide attention, but Strum remains the piece most listeners meet first.