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Easter Music for Violin
Buy Here At The Cross Level: 2 Music: Ralph E. Hudson Arranger: Ruth Coleman Publisher: Lorenz Corporation This arrangement is perfect for a Suzuki Book 2 student, or late beginner. It begins in the key of A and modulates to the key of D. There are low 2 – G naturals. There are natural harmonics used as echos similar to their use in the Boccherini – Minuet. Fingering and bowing are marked in the score. Demo recording is included with purchase of the book along with piano accompaniment track. Buy Here Beneath the Cross of Jesus Level: 4 Words and Music: Keith and Kristyn Getty Arranger: Kristin Campbell Publisher: Heart…
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March Practice Chart
My students have finished their February Happy Heart Practice Charts and we are marching into practice with this March Practice Chart. What has been helpful about these practice charts is that I actually see how much my students are practicing. No amount of creative teaching ideas can replace daily practice. I fall into the trap of not inspecting what I expect, or not communicating my expectations clearly. So, this teaching aid has helped me see what is happening outside the lesson. Why Practice? A couple weeks back I had a student who was really frustrated because he couldn’t play his music. He kept complaining that this song was too hard…
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February Sale
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Practice Chart February 2023
It’s February 2023 and if your students are like mine, they are tired of recess inside, cold weather, rainy weather, homework… With Valentine’s Day this month here is a Practice Chart for February 2023. Each day they practice they have to draw a face in the heart reflecting what their heart was like while practicing. You can get creative for your student. Some of the ideas I do with students. Weekly Goal: If they practice ___ days each week, they get _________ Month Goal: If you practice _____ days each week for every week of February, you get ______. OR If you practice every day (5 minutes minimum on the really…
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Beginning a Practice Journal
This semester I have had one of my students begin a practice journal. We have kept it really simple. It’s not even a journal of all of her practice. It’s just one part of her practice. I want her to start being very intentional and observant during her practice. I have found that most of my tween and teen students ca: 1. Tell me what they did incorrectly. (Identify the problem) 2. They can tell me how to fix it. BUT THEY DON’T! They don’t really need a teacher! So, why do wait until their lesson for me to tell them what they already know? I’ve asked them why? And I…
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December Technique Focus: Shifting
I decided that my studio December technique focus point is shifting! I gave all my intermediate students these exercises I wrote out. Since it is December, I wanted to have a winter theme and I wanted them to have a mental picture to associate with smooth, beautiful, easy shifting. Like skating, shifting on the violin requires left hand accuracy, speed, and relaxation. I’m not an ice skater, but I appreciate watching skaters. Professional ice skaters make it look easy. They move with fluid, smooth movements. I want my students left hands to look like that, fluid and smooth; no grabbing the neck, or jerky, sticky shifts. So I titled this…
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SALE
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9 Free Easy Christmas Songs
Here are 9 free easy Christmas songs for beginning violinists. All of these songs are in first position. They begin with the easiest finger pattern. You will find one note change in Deck the Halls. This change avoids a using a high 3rd finger on the D string. Then the songs progress to using low 2nd fingers. The final song Carol of the Bells include using a low first finger on the E string and a high 3rd finger on the D string. G Major and D Major Christmas Songs In mid-Suzuki book 1 I usually teach Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Angels We Have Heard on High, and Joy…
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Wobble Gobble November Vibrato Challenge
I’m doing a November vibrato challenge for my students. Once a student has a basic working vibrato sometimes it falls by the wayside. Once the newness and excitement of learning vibrato has worn off they stop using it. I have to remind them to add it into their pieces. And keep giving a weekly assignment to use it. An assignment could be play tonalization and vibrate on every note. Or, play Chorus this week and vibrate on all the 3rd fingers. Another assignment could be, this week vibrate on all the notes that are eighth notes or longer in Humoresque. I’ve also said, “This is the vibrato section in Seitz.…
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The Happy Farmer Fill in the Blank
When a student starts learning The Happy Farmer in Suzuki Book 1, I assign them The Happy Farmer Fill in the Blank exercise. This exercise helps them learn the form of the piece and the endings for the A theme. We discuss how there are 2 sections or themes in Happy Farmer, the A theme and the B theme. The B theme is always the same, and rather short. But the first two times we play the A theme we step down from F# on the D string – “F#, E, D” or “three blind mice.” Then when the A theme comes back after we play the B theme, the 3…
