Andrew Collins Trio

The Andrew Collins Trio brings a high-energy blend of folk, jazz, and “chambergrass” to the stage, led by award-winning mandolinist Andrew Collins. Joined by string masters Mike Mezzatesta and James McEleney, the trio showcases dazzling musicianship, rich vocal harmonies, and a wide range of instruments. Their genre-blending sound introduces students to musical creativity, collaboration, and the art of pushing tradition in exciting new directions.

Strings & Stories: Exploring Musical Traditions with the Andrew Collins Trio

Directions for the Teacher

Use this guide to introduce students to the Andrew Collins Trio, a Canadian acoustic string ensemble known for blending bluegrass, folk, classical, and jazz traditions. Through their performances and instruments — including the mandolin, fiddle, guitar, mandola, and mandocello — the trio demonstrates musical collaboration, improvisation, and storytelling across genres.

This guide is designed for a wide range of ages and music experience levels. Activities are adaptable and can be explored through listening, speaking, drawing, writing, or performing. Students do not need prior music training to participate meaningfully.

Watch & Listen

Use the videos below to explore the Trio’s diverse musical styles. Discuss what you see and hear using the guiding prompts.

Discussion Prompts

1. What instruments do you see and hear? What are their shapes, sounds, and roles?
2. How would you describe the mood of each piece? What musical choices help create that mood?
3. What genres or traditions do you think influence this group’s music?
4. How do the musicians communicate and collaborate without words?
5. If this music told a story, what would happen in the beginning, middle, and end?

Activities & Extensions

• Instrument Discovery (K–5): Learn about the mandolin family! Draw or label a diagram of the mandolin, mandola, and mandocello. What do they have in common?
• Respond with Art (K–8): Choose a video and create a drawing, painting, or short poem that expresses how the music made you feel.
• Build a Musical Mood (Grades 3–12): In small groups, use classroom instruments or found objects to create a short piece that communicates a mood (happy, calm, excited). Share and explain your musical choices.
• Story Mapping (Grades 4–12): Choose one piece and imagine it as a short film or story. What characters or setting would match the music? What happens?
• Genre Detective (Grades 6–12): Research bluegrass, classical, or folk music. What are the defining features? How does the Andrew Collins Trio blend or reimagine them?
• Improvisation Exploration (Grades 7–12): Discuss or try improvising short musical phrases. How do musicians listen and respond to each other in real time?
• Arranging Music (Grades 9–12): Choose a familiar melody and explore how changing the rhythm, tempo, or instrumentation could create a new version, as the Trio does.

Relevant Standards

Elementary School

• MU.K.O.3.1: Respond to music to demonstrate how it makes one feel.
• MU.2.H.2.1: Discuss how music is used for celebrations in American and other cultures.
• MU.3.C.1.3: Identify families of orchestral and band instruments.
• MU.4.H.1.3: Identify pieces of music that originated from cultures other than one’s own.
• MU.5.O.3.1: Examine and explain how expressive elements, when used in a selected musical work, affect personal response.

Middle School

• MU.68.C.1.3: Identify, aurally, instrumental styles and a variety of instrumental ensembles.
• MU.68.H.1.1: Describe the functions of music from various cultures and time periods.
• MU.68.O.1.1: Compare performances of a musical work to identify artistic choices made by performers.

High School

• MU.912.H.1.1: Investigate and discuss how a culture’s traditions are reflected through its music.
• MU.912.C.1.1: Apply listening strategies to promote appreciation and understanding of unfamiliar musical works.
• MU.912.O.3.1: Analyze expressive elements in a musical work and describe how the choices and manipulations of the elements support, for the listener, the implied meaning of the composer/performer.
• SS.912.H.2.5: Describe how historical, social, cultural, and physical settings influence an audience’s aesthetic response.