-
Is My Student Ready for Book 3?
One of my students is finishing up learning the last piece in Suzuki Book 2, Minuet by Boccherini, and we’ve been asking the question “Is my student ready for Book 3?” I actually posed this question to her a couple weeks ago. I wanted to know what she was thinking. She immediately said she didn’t think she was ready for Book 3. I think she has learned the technique points and could be ready for Book 3, but I found it interesting that she didn’t think she was ready. So, I’m taking a cue from her and we are going to do some supplemental literature this summer that is at…
-
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…
-
La Folia – Variation 7 Rhythm Worksheet
I have a student working on La Folia. We got to variation 7. She worked through it and her counting the next week wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t exactly accurate. Rather than having her write the counting into her book and clutter up the page with information I wanted her to have in her head I created this worksheet. I took out the pitches and took out the bowing. This allowed her to focus on the counting alone. Working in 2 measure groups I had her write in the counting and then play it counting out loud on open D. The first run through of the 2 measure phrase we…
-
Sale
-
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…
-
Reviewing
Reviewing is one of the key ingredients to a Suzuki students success! It’s one of the key components or pillars in the Suzuki method, and the benefits of reviewing are deep, and long lasting, even life long. Review the Fundamentals First, when a student daily reviews pieces they already know it refreshes all the muscle memory for the techniques they learned in those pieces. I have heard the Suzuki repertoire compared to a pyramid. The techniques we learn/teach in Twinkle are used in every following piece. So by reviewing we revisit each of those learning steps. Review Pieces As Technique Etudes Secondly, as Suzuki teachers we often use review pieces…
-
Wedding Music for Violin
It’s wedding season. Our social media feeds are filled with pictures of celebrations. We live at the beach and at this time of year we see multiple weddings taking place every weekend. No piece says “wedding” quite like Pachelbel’s Canon. I was thinking about how many times I’ve played Canon in D for weddings and my love hate relationship with it. I remember learning this as a kid to play with my cousins for my aunt and uncle’s wedding, and I thought I was “hot stuff” because I could play it. Now, I’ve played it more times than I can count, and in more ways and renditions than I can…
-
How To Draw an Alto Clef
Teachers of beginners know that clefs are hard to draw. The treble clefs aren’t that easy to draw, but I think that the alto clef is just as complicated to draw. Here is a a worksheet on how to draw an alto clef. Sometimes the alto clef is also called the C clef. Everyone who uses the alto clef needs to know how to draw one. And that means that young violist need to know how to draw the clef they use! Why do we even have an Alto Clef? Technically this clef is called the moveable C clef. The middle sideways v can be placed on any line on…
-
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,…
-
April Practice Chart
With Student Day and Solo Celebration for the Okaloosa County Music Teachers Association is this month, my students are highly motivated to practice and they may not need this April Practice Chart. But, the monthly practice chart is giving them the visual reminder of practicing. I also am really loving these practice charts as they are giving me insight into the amount of practicing. In The theme for this month’s blocks is based on the rhyme, “April showers bring May flowers.” So download and print the practice chart and get to practicing so you can color an umbrella! April Practice Chart Download Here
