-
Violin Fingerboard Flashcards
Are you looking for a floor activity for a young student’s lesson? Or maybe mom needs an in the car activity on the way to violin lesson to get them thinking about violin. These violin fingerboard flashcards might be just what you need. Each card has a picture of the violin fingerboard. A small house is on each place on the fingerboard marking a pitch. The back of the card shows the letter name for that fingerboard house. Whether the student is reading on the staff or not, these cards help them identify and review fingerboard pitches. Choose the notes your students, and as they add new notes, add in…
-
Apple Orchard A & E String Activity
The Apple Orchard A & E String Activity is a way to review finger numbers and note names on the A and E string. You can easily turn it into a game or just use it as an activity. Sometimes it is nice just to not have to win! This helps students think about the fingerboard in their mind and know the name of the note that the finger is playing. If you have a student with a broken arm, wrist, or jammed finger, this might be the perfect solution for lessons or practice time. To play the Apple Orchard A & E String Activity, you’ll need a die. I…
-
Learning the Staff
Through the years, I’ve sort of pieced together worksheets or drawing worksheets on blank staff paper for little violin students learning the staff. I’ve found some worksheets online that aren’t keyboard specific and used those. Since moving, I’ve had some extra time the past few months and I’ve just started a beginning student. The perfect circumstances to create some worksheets staff worksheets for violin students who aren’t reading yet. I’ve made the mistake of starting to teach note reading from the note reading book and I find myself explaining in one lesson, staff, line-notes, space-notes, treble clef, quarter-notes, measures… What was I thinking!!!! No awards for that lesson. It makes me…
-
Learn the Music Alphabet
Learn the music alphabet this summer using ice cream. Who doesn’t love a dripping ice cream cone on a hot summer day? Summer arrived with a bang here in Louisiana and our temperatures are in the 90’s with the humidity level about as high, I’m using ice cream cones in my lesson today to teach the music alphabet. Today we are going to talk about skips and steps through the music alphabet. There are several activities you can do with or without the instrument. And we can celebrate summer with ice cream scoops. Stepping Activities to Learn the Music Alphabet 1. Music Alphabet Mix-Up – mix up the scoops on…
-
Teaching Skips
Steps and skips! Sometimes a visual aide helps students understand skipping and stepping with string crossings. I’ve been drawing this diagram over and over for a couple months now and thought I would create a worksheet. Some exercises in skipping up and down through the scale helps students understand how to skip across strings. Skipping from D to F# can be confusing or hard to grasp when we are skipping from 3rd finger to 1st finger, or skipping from C# to E. Skipping down can even be more confusing. So after students feel comfortable with the A scale and saying the letters up and down the scale, we play a…
-
The Galaxy Race
Reviewing away from the instrument reinforces fingerboard knowledge, and a game is a great way to review, add variety into practice time, and help visual learners understand the fingerboard.
