Music Theory for Little Violinists
I’m really excited to tell you that my NEW music theory workbooks are available this summer. The PreReading series has just been released. Primer, Book 1 and Book 2, will be available Fall 2024. My students have been testing out these pages and lessons for the last 5 years.
I told my husband this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted, not because the subject matter is hard, but explaining concepts in concise clear, and engaging manner was a challenge. I want a 4 or 5 year old or a non-musical parent to be able to understand. Lesson time is valuable and already rather full. So, I wanted each theory lesson to be able to be understood without a long explanation.
The next challenge was trying to deciding what order to teach concepts. I’ve taught theory to piano students for almost 20 years. But teaching theory to string students the same way we teach piano students doesn’t work so well. I asked other teachers what they used or did, I got a lot of non-answers. In the end, I just gave up and didn’t teach theory to my violin students. But I was never quite happy that these students were missing out. So this has been my project to help string students learn music theory from the fingerboard. I’m excited to share these with you and hope they help your students in your studio thrive and flourish in the learning.
The PreReading Series
The Magic of Music Theory PreReading A and PreReading B workbook introduces young beginners and their practice partners through identifying music symbols away from the instrument. Get your student ready to begin reading music by seeing and drawing music notation. the PreReading series teaches music theory from the perspective of the fingerboard.
This PreReading series is perfect for the young beginner who has not begun reading notes on the staff. Developed for use in private violin lessons, this series allows the practice partner to help the student prepare to read music. These short, fun, engaging lessons introduce the student drawing and recognizing to basic note values, the music alphabet, parts of the violin, fingerboard pitches, dynamics and much more. This series can also be easily used for group class instruction (both heterogeneous or homogeneous classes).
What’s Inside
To see sample pages, see the table of contents, listen to the audio tracks for the aural skills activities be sure and check out The Magic of Music Theory PreReading A or The Magic of Music Theory PreReading B.
PreReading A
What’s in The Magic of Music Theory PreReading A?
- Music Alphabet
- String Family
- Right Hand vs Left Hand
- Identify 1st Position A and E String (violin) or D and A String (viola/cello) Fingerboard Pitches
- Draw and Identify Basic Note Values – Quarter Note, Half Note, Whole Note, Dotted Half Note
- Dynamic Symbols – Forte and Piano
- Aural Skills: High & Low, Loud & Soft, Same or Different, and to Identify Open Strings A or E (violin), D or A (viola/cello
PreReading B
What’s in The Magic of Music Theory PreReading B?
- Music Alphabet
- String Quartet
- Right Hand vs Left Hand
- Identify Fingerboard Pitches on the D and G string (violin), or G and C string (viola/cello)
- Introduce Note Values & Rests – Quarter Note, Half Note, Dotted Half Note, Whole Note, Quarter Rest, Half Rest, Whole Rest
- Time Signatures – 4/4, 3/4, 2/4
- Line Notes vs Space Notes
- Introduce the Three Clefs
- Compose on the G and D string (violin) or G and C string (viola/cello)
- Dynamic Symbols – Forte, Piano, Mezzo Forte
- Staff Lines and Spaces
- Aural Skills: Up and Down, Forte and Piano, Long and Short, Identify All Open Strings
