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A Beginner Christmas Practice Story
Where the idea came from I have 6 beginners that I started this year and I’m teaching the pre-Twinkle beginner group class at the Centenary Suzuki School. So, my brain has been full of all things beginner. We had our holiday concert last night and played all of our favorite beginner and open string songs. Songs like, Up Like a Rocket, and Pumpkin on a Fencepost, Listen to the Bird Tweet and Open String Blues. It will be 4 weeks before we have group class and so it got me to thinking about how to keep them practicing over the holiday break. So I created a beginner Christmas practice story.…
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Listen to the Bird Tweet
Listen to the Bird Tweet is a great pre-twinkle song that helps us on our journey to Twinkle. The words are were created by Susan Kempter. Students play the rhythm from variation A in Suzuki Book 1 four times. At our school we first teach it using just 1 open string. So all 4 repetitions of the pattern are on one string. (But like any good Suzuki exercise, it can morph into whatever you need!) How this post developed: We have been doing lots of different pre-twinkle songs in group. Songs like, Up Like a Rocket, Pumpkin on a Fencepost, Chicken on a Fencepost, Open E Concerto, Open A Concerto,…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Haydn
This is the great composers note reading worksheet – 6 for beginning violinists and violist. This worksheet tells the story of Franz Joseph Haydn. The notes covered are only the G string notes for violin or viola. Students will identify the notes in order to fill in the missing letters so that they can read the story. 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. Students may not play Haydn’s works for a few years. But since Haydn was so influential in the development of the string quartet, his name and life are…
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Book Review Beyond the Music Lesson
Here is a book review of Beyond the Music Lesson: Habits of Successful Suzuki Families, by Christine Goodner. Having experienced every part of the Suzuki triangle herself, she is well qualified to write this book. She took Suzuki lessons as a kid, has been teaching Suzuki violin in the Oregon area for many years, and has also been a Suzuki parent when her son began violin lessons. As a violin teacher, I found the book extremely helpful to remind me of things I needed to cover with new Suzuki parents/ partners. Christine Goodner writes in the first chapter what motivated her to write this book: Over the last few years, I have been…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Beethoven
Here is The Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet 5 on the life of Ludwig van Beethoven. This is a great worksheet to use with your beginning students. The notes covered are on the A and D string. And the note reading worksheet is available in treble clef for violin students or alto clef for viola. Students will identify the note name and use the letter to fill in the blanks to complete the word. Then, they can learn facts about Beethoven. Here is a great way to practice reading note names away from the instrument and learn about one of the great composers of violin music. You can also check out our other composer note reading…
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We Wish You A Merry Christmas – String Orchestra
The Story This arrangement of We Wish You a Merry Christmas was written for the Liberian Youth Orchestra. Last year I heard via a friend on facebook that a mutual friend and string teacher from Michigan, Julie McGhee was starting a new youth orchestra in Liberia, West Africa. In November 2018 The Liberian Youth Orchestra was born. Through the use of distance learning technology, 34 children are learning to play violin and cello in their school. She visits the school a couple times a year to teach in person and to conduct concerts. I heard about her project through a metal friend on facebook, and sent her some of…
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A Scale Group Lesson Activity
Are you looking for good group lesson activities for pre-twinkle students? Teach the A scale in group lesson with this activity. It uses gross motor skills, visual skills, and helps students work on their sequential processing. We have been working on learning the A scale in my weekly pre-twinkle group lesson. Here are the steps that I am working through. These steps will take almost 3 months to complete. Stay on the step for a few weeks until students can do the step confidently and easily. Step 1 My two group classes are absolute beginners. For the first three weeks of class we sang up the A scale using these motions: A…
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Swamp Rhythm Memory Game
I loved to play the game “Memory” as a kid. So I thought I would create a rhythm memory game with a swamp theme for my students. Growing up we had a couple different versions, but the one I remember best was animal memory. There was an animal on each card, and one animal was a picture of the full grown animal. While on another card was a picture of a baby animal. The players set all the cards out face down, and then would take turns turning over two cards. Your goal was to turn over the full grown animal and its baby animal on the same turn. If…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Schumann
A new note reading worksheet on one of the great composers, Robert Schumann. Students learn note names. And can learn about the composer who wrote “The Happy Farmer.” Schumann did not write much string music in comparison to all his piano and vocal compositions. But, his compositions for string players are significant in string repertoire. String players should be familiar with his chamber works, the string quartets, piano trios, quartets, and quintets. But my favorites are the violin sonatas. Learn more about Robert Schumann in The Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet #4! Facts about Robert Schumann Schumann began composing at age 7. Robert would entertain his friends by improvising music…
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Children Learn to Smile
Who teaches a child how to smile? Shinichi Suzuki, creator of the Suzuki Violin Method, made many observations as to how and what children learn. He noticed that “children learn to smile from their parents.” He observed that they learn naturally the mother-tongue language of their parents. He also noticed that children learn mannerisms from those they are around and their personalities are shaped by their parents and family members. Who is the teacher? When Dr. Suzuki said that “children learn to smile from their parents,” it implies that smiling isn’t the only thing they are learning. Dictionary.com defines smile as to “form one’s features into a pleased, kind or…
