"Orchestra for Little Fingers" Company History

After teaching band for 10 years, Francis Heilmann, a graduate of Duquesne University's School of Music, started to teach beginning orchestra students. Frustrated with the lack of interesting string music to play, he started to compose and arrange selections that would be fun for the students to play and more enjoyable for the audiences. During this time, he wrote and arranged many of the selections used by his orchestra, developing the philosophy upon which "Orchestra for Little Fingers" is based. In 1982, he established Heilmann Publications and made the "Orchestra for Little Fingers" series available to other music teachers around the country. Heilmann Publications went on line in 1999 to better serve their customers.