Primer Level
The Magic of Music Theory Primer level is now available at Amazon.com as well as ingramspark.com! This Primer level is perfect for the student who is age 6-10 who has started reading notes or is ready to begin reading. Incorporating the concepts taught in the pre-reading series. Students review pitch placement for the basic finger pattern for all 4 strings. New for this level is learning A and E string notes on the staff. Basic note values of quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes are reviewed. New for this level, 2 beamed eighth notes are introduced for students to recognize and draw. New in Primer level students will draw…
Spot It!
Here is a new game, Spot It! to help students with terms. My students have struggled recently with knowing what the symbol is actually called. They know what does but the actual term often eludes them. So here’s a game to help them brush up on those terms. Based on the game in the U.S.A. known as Spot It, but in other countries as Dobble. Students have to find the symbol on their card that matches the card in the middle and say the name of the symbol. This version uses basic symbols for all music reading. So this version of Spot It is not string player specific. Download Spot…
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…
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
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…
New Christmas Violin Solo
Here is a new Christmas violin solo that is hot off the press. I have a couple students that are going to start working on it for fun. It’s not hard. The arrangement can be played in first and third position with one big shift at the end going into 5th and 7th position. We have been working really hard on 3 octave major and minor scales this semester so step wise pattern in 5th and 7th, shouldn’t be out of reach for them. (No pun intended.) I wanted the arrangement to be majestic. In thinking about this wonderful text by Charles Wesley, I had in my mind the description…
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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…
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…
