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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Florence Price
With February as Black history month, there are more and more resources that are being produced to help teachers and students explore this part of music history . Here is a Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet on the American female composer, Florence Price. While Florence Price’s music is too advanced for the beginner. Here is note reading worksheet to introduce her name and a little bit about her for the student working on identifying note names. The violin worksheet covers notes on the A and E strings. The viola and cello worksheets cover pitches on the D and A strings. For the teacher using this in an orchestra setting, the…
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Double-Stop Jingle Bells
Many of my Suzuki Book 4 students have been hard at work on learning double stops. So I thought I would challenge them to a version of double-stop Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells is the first Christmas song I teach to my Book 1 students. Jingle Bell Progression So by Book 4 my students have been playing Jingle Bells for a long time. Every Christmas for as long as they have been playing. In Book 2 we are transposing it to D Major and then Giant Jingle Bells comes in G Major on the G string. Then they learn a harmony part to play with the beginners and so by Book…
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How To Draw a Bass Clef
Here is a worksheet for kids to learn how to draw a bass clef. I think the bass clef is the easiest of all the clefs to learn to draw. The important part to remember is where the dots go, and that the bottom of the half of the heart doesn’t touch the bottom line. I also like teaching bass clef because it reinforces where bass F is. The large dot is an easy visual reminder and marker to help them remember F! Here are a couple of talking points when you are introducing bass clef to violin students. What does bass mean? How do you pronounce bass? (It’s not like…
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Tortilla Chip Time
Here is a worksheet similar to the Chips & Salsa Time Signature Game. The difference is this Tortilla Chip Time isn’t a game, it’s just a worksheet. I might have had some fun making these tortilla chips come to life. What would your expression be if you were about to be dunked in salsa and eaten? The note values used in this worksheet are: whole notes dotted half notes half notes quarter notes whole rests half rests quater rests Download Here All the time signatures in this worksheet use a “4” on the bottom of the time signature. This is another good time to remind students that a “4…
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Kreisler’s Preludium and Allegro Preview Spot
Here is a preview spot for Kreisler’s Preludium and Allegro measures 66-83. This is only the first step in learning this passage. It only deals with the left hand intonation and shifting. Other practice steps should be used after learning the left hand to incorporate the bariolage type bowing used. (A great article by Grigory Kalinovsky, who is the Starling Professor of Music (Violin) at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is available at Strings Magazine HERE. He discusses the the articulation and bowing ideas for measure 2 for the Allegro. But his ideas would apply to this passage as well.) Practicing Double Stops If you’re playing Preludium and Allegro,…
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Quarter Note and Half Note Worksheet
Here is a quarter note and half note worksheet. Students help Farmer McDonald get his pigs into the correct barns. They will need to be able to recognize what a quarter note looks like and that it receives one beat. They also need to know what a half note looks like and that it gets 2 beats. It is a straightforward worksheet and it will probably be pretty quick for them to complete. So, why even take the time? First, it is an activity away from the instrument. Sometimes I like to do these quick worksheets in a lesson. I don’t want to use too much lesson time but I…
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Violin Finger Number Vending Machine
I created the violin finger number vending machine worksheet for a little student who is just starting to place fingers on the fingerboard. The finger number vending machine works for viola and cello as well since they use the same finger numbers! I wanted a fun activity to help this budding violinist remember the number for each left hand finger. By seeing the number on the page and then touching the finger and thumb to an object I hope it helps remember the finger number. I also wanted to have a tactile experience of picking up an object between the thumb and finger and not squeezing. So the finger number vending machine…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Joplin
This great composers note reading worksheet on Scott Joplin. Joplin is called “America’s King of Ragtime.” Joplin was born in Texarkansas, Arkansas. His father was a former slave from North Carolina. His mother was a freeborn African American from Kentucky. Joplin was the second oldest of 6 children. Both of his parents enjoyed making music. Joplin’s father played the violin and his mother played banjo and sang. Joplin began taking music lessons after school and really enjoyed it. Then his parents separated, and as a teenager Joplin tried playing piano on the weekends at party and restaurants to help support his mother and siblings. Joplin’s Music Education One of Joplin’s…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Piazzolla
Here is a great composers note reading worksheet on Piazzolla. Astor Piazzolla is a Latin American composer who was born in Argentina. His family moved to New York City when he was 5. Then the Piazzollas moved to Buenes Aires when Astor was 19. Throughout his adult life he lived in New York, Buenes Aires, and Argentina. His father bought a bandoneon from a New York pawn shop. And so Piazzolla’s music education began. Are you wondering what a bandoneon is? It is like an accordion. Piazzolla became a master at playing the bandoneon. He played the bandoneon in his tour band. You can see Piazzolla playing a bandoneon in the youtube…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Mozart
This worksheet introduces Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as the next great composer note reading worksheet for beginning violinists and violist. Students will review the notes on the A string and E, F and G on the E string for violin. And viola students will review D string notes, and A, B and C on the A string. Students identify the note name in order to fill in the missing letters to complete words. Then they can read the story about Mozart. It is yet another way to reinforce note names away from the instrument. And at the same time teach them about the lives of the composers. Mozart’s works for violin are a…
