Nora's Eighth Violin Lesson

Practice List To Do, Friday 10/5/2007 Lesson 8 Week 4

I. Identification of All Twinkle Rhythm Variations, Plus Early Book 1 songs
II. Bow Sets 3-5 times per day
III. Bow MHD, HB + other rhythms on left shoulder while singing the rhythm
IV. Violin Sets 6 times a day
V. Rosin Bow before practice and wipe off at the end of practice
VI. “Dessert” Play MHD HB SBB WASH on E string within yellow tape on bow
VII. NEW String Crossing E to A and back A to E
VIII. The Pebble Game – E string repetitions X times of all rhythms (except twinkle slow)
IX. NEW The Tickle Spot on left index finger for holding the violin
X. Note Cards and singing A E F#

I. Identification of Twinkle Rhythm Variations, Plus:

Begin identifying these songs by their names during listening or in listening part of practice time:
Lightly Row, Song of the Wind …… Go Tell Aunt Rhody, O Come Little Children
* added ID May Song

For Rhythm Identification, Practice Strategies:

1. Hear the first line on the violin, slice, rub and clap and the recording


2. Give Nora a contrast of 2 choices: Is it Lightly Row or May Song?


3. NEW: He plays song on violin and as soon as she knows what it is she should begin clapping and singing that song or rhythm.

Mr. S played rhythms or first lines on Nora’s violin and she identified MH & HB, she got SBB after he rubbed it on her arm and Wash after it was clapped by Mr S. For most rhythms she seemed to be looking out of his picture window or looking down at the floor.

She named Lightly Row, Song of the Wind and Aunt Rhody (!!!), but confused O Come Little Children with Lightly Row. He said that this was understandable given that both start with E’s and C#’s. She hummed along with what he was presenting, even when she did not give an answer.

When Nora began to sing the 1st line of the traditional American version of “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” Mr S told us that Mr Suzuki thought of this song in the Japanese w ay, as a lullaby. Mr S said that Suzuki was horrified when he found out what the American children were singing. I told him that Nora was singing “the old grey goose is fed” (not dead, as it is in the original). Mr. S smiled and nodded.

II. Bow Sets 3-5 times per day

1. Green Feet, Soft knees , Parent holds bow (usually horizontal)


2. Nora places fingers hanging curved over stick, soft hand, fingers spaced with air between each one, middle finger across from bumpy thumb, pointer finger on silver


3. Bow tip points to ceiling, Parent points very close to tip and Nora looks at tip for count down from 10

III. Bow Practice MHD, HB, SBB, WASH on left shoulder while singing the rhythm
A. NEW: Guide soft shoulders rather than opening elbow
B. May do “My Turn” bowing with parent holding the stick above Nora’s bow grip rather than at screw of bow. This may give less of a slip off the shoulder feel?

The shoulder bowing is one of the hardest things for Nora to do at this point, and it is an essential part of group class performance.

He said that her right bow arm was opening nicely at the elbow and we can use our hands in other places now to get her to relax her right shoulder and her left shoulder, for example, or to keep her left knee “soft” …… or whatever, rather than always touching her elbow joint to guide that motion (which she seems to be doing well on her own at this point).

Today’s video clip shows Mr S doing this shoulder bowing with Nora the “new” way, guiding the soft shoulders rather than the opening elbow joint.

Nora is tending to twist a bit to the left, keeping her right knee nicely bent and soft and straightening her left knee (which should also be softly bent). Again he noted that we should watch that Nora’s right bow arm shoulder remain down and relaxed. Nora’s shoulders should be directly over her green feet and nicely back and straight and should not twist, or raise, or move forward.

The example bowing should be fluid, legato type bow strokes and not too fast.

IV. Violin Practice Sets 6 times per day
1. Green Feet, Soft knees , Left arm on softly waist, Nora looks straight ahead, Parent places violin, Nora turns head, drops head, left arms move up for thumb pillow.
2. NEW: add tickle spot violin neck hold see IX below (we will probably start after the weekend)
3. Parent lets go of violin and holds something of interest at end of the scroll – hand should be fine now, she will not need her favorite rabbit, Willa, cavorting around anymore.
4. Nora should look at violin for a count down
a. from 10
b. from 20 (she just barely did this at the Tue lesson)
c. he said he would like to increase this to a high number … 30 and eventually more (but with the new tickle spot he just to from 10 again)

Behavior Issues:
Nora left her hair in the band at the back and only pulled it out for the last part of the lesson. She fidgeted a bit with her skort and underwear. When her gave her a chance to get the wiggles out, this time she was ready on the first 1-2-3 count.

He gave her one 5 count to get back on the foot chart and she promptly complied.

He kept her going at the end of her lesson with closely spaced repetitions of her new skill and he told her that there was just one more to go – or this was the last one, and then she would take her thank you bow. This worked well for Mr S who was coordinated enough to do the practice repetitions with much more fluidity than Mima can muster at this point.

V. Rosin Bow Procedure: Rosin each day before practice
1. hold rosin in left hand
2. bow in right hand - hold bow firmly at frog but not actual bow set grip
3. place bow on rosin track, use whole bow strokes frog to tip
4. do 7 strokes (count one and two and)
5. lightly wipe off violin bridge area with light handkerchief at the end of practice

Mr S said that Mima needs to do the wipe for her violin and it seems that it would be helpful if Grandpa Jim could give the old fiddle a good cleaning. In looking closely at this violin, I think it may have belonged to Nancy Wec, as it does not seem to be dark enough to be Grandpa Phil’s. But the Label does not say Philadelphia s I remember Wec’s did, it says Vienne …..

VI. “Dessert” is MHD, HB, SBB, Washington, played on E string at yellow tape marked on Bow Stick
new* these were played all in a row at the lesson without break

1. Green Feet, Soft knees, Right Bow hand set with parent, Left arm softly across waist


2. Violin set with parent, Parent maintains grasp on scroll of violin


3. Parent guide bow by screw to place on E string at lowest part of yellow tape


4. My Turn – parent moves bow downward to begin rhythm, keeping bow stroke within yellow, Your Turn: parent lets go of screw but continues to guide right elbow


5. Nora is to try to stay within the yellow tape bow playground area and to stay on E string


6. *sing the rhythm on the note E while playing


7. NEW: Keep bow hold soft – he told her to turn OFF her muscles


8. NEW: Play “easy easy easy”


9. NEW: right shoulder (bow shoulder) needs to stayck and soft, relaxed


10. NEW: keep bow off bridge area and out of the “crocodile pit”

It was after she played all of these rhythms (My Turn, Your Turn) in a row that Nora needed the 5 count to return to the foot chart. She really played well and kept the bow going in generally the right direction in generally the right area. At one point her bow slipped over the bridge.
*In the observation part of the lesson she learned (and he repeated it in her lesson) that her bow should not slip over the fiboard, because that is called the “crocodile pit “for bows. Nora loved the crocodile reference!

NEW 7 & 8: He played a rhythm for her 2 ways and asked her which one she preferred. He played the first one with too much pressure, a stiff and tight bow grip, high right shoulder and locked elbow bowing, and he played the second one “easy”. After Nora got a better understanding of first versus second (and perhaps we can go over this a bit) she picked the “easy” open nice sounding rhythm, over the first forced squeezed sounding one.

The video has a nice shot of Mr S using his right ring and pinky fingers on Nora’s left shoulder to relax it down during his violin set. So far, this is not a technique that Mima has mastered.

VII. Practice “Touch E, Reach A” String Crossing E to A and back A to E
A. “Touch” Bow to E string (play a rhythm on E My Turn, Your Turn) and rock bow to A string and play a rhythm on A My Turn, your Turn
a. Reach to A string, bow hand leads and arm follows
b. Drop to E string, arm leads and hand follows

VIII. Pebble Game The Burn, but did not do, did not mention at this lesson
New Practice Game for these rhythms to encourage Nora to play one after the other without a break – she should keep standing on her green feet with violin in playing position. In the lesson I think that she actually played all the rhythms at least once with him except perhaps “twinkle slow” as Mima plunked 8 pen caps into a china mug.
a. He said he liked this game best when pebbles (little rocks) were dropped into a container for each practice item that is done without break (green feet violin up and go through all repetitions or exercises).
b. If Nora does get off green feet, lower violin, or otherwise break the rhythm of this practice exercise then all the pebbles go out of the cup and we begin again to try to get ALL of the pebbles into the cup.
c. Nora now has 10 small smooth shell pieces in a container in her case

IX. NEW The Tickle Spot on left index finger for holding the violin
a. Touch (no) versus Tickle (yes) – the idea is that Nora is holding the violin so gently, so softly that it is just a tickle and not even an actual touch. He touched her arm and then he did a very light “tickle” and she felt the difference.
b. This is the new position for Nora’s violin sets and for her playing
c. On the thumb side of the middle joint of the left index finger he made a pen mark for Nora and for Mima and this is where the violin just tickles the finger
i. Keeping this spot will prevent the violin neck from falling into the web space between the thumb and the index finger, or from riding so high that the fingers will have a hard time reaching the finger board.
d. *we will start this new step next week and keep everything the same for the weekend

Reviewing the video clip of this new step should help us to help Nora with this task.

On one video clip you can hear Nora telling Mr S that her mother will “probably” not like him drawing on her finger with marker. When he very calmly tells her that he is using ball point pen and so it is OK, Nora accepts this explanation readily.

You can see on the second video clip that Nora’s hand position with the tickle spot is a more classic violin position and the wrist is not as collapsed toward the violin as her first try, but he said absolutely noting about her wrist or general hand position at this point.

X. Practice Music Reading and Pitch Training (not addressed on this lesson)
Note Card Game:
1. Mix note cards up and place on the floor face up with all cards showing
2. Parent names a note (may give hand sign to assist if needed)
3. Nora is to first sing the pitch of the note as she names it
4. Then she finds the note card with the note on the staff

Extra Notes:

End of Lesson:
Mr S worked with Mima on her full sized violin to show her the proper tickle spot and how the proper violin hold “feels”. Mima has some relaxing to do to let go of her tense muscles and be soft, easy and relaxed for the violin position. He was not sure if Mima had enough sponges to feel “secure” about her violin hold. He said that he assumed that Mima was able to tune the violins if given a reference pitch and Mima said that she could do this. He said that the students are introduced to tuning at about the book 4 level.

Leaving:
Nora learned (I hope) that it is best to sit on the rug on the floor to put on her shoes at the end of the lesson. She had a nasty tumble backwards off of a lobby chair and into the glass door of Ms. C’s (thankfully empty) studio. Nora was OK (the door was OK), Nora was mostly frightened as she cried into Mima’s shoulder for a bit, but not a sob was heard in the other rooms and she disturbed no one. She knew, of course, that Mima had told her not to get onto that particular chair for that particular purpose, and especially not to be sitting sideways on the chair.

With the mention every now and then, by Mr S of book # this or book # that, Nora told me on the car ride home that she supposes that she is in “book two, probably” - even though Mima told her that Mima supposed that she was on the twinke rhythms in book one.

Additional:
Nora picked out a chocolate croissant at the store at the end of the street, and pretty much finished it on the 5 minute car ride to the park! We had a picnic on the small tables under the trees, a spot that was new for us. Nora tried some new, and very high climbers today at the playground. We did the planes and cars and trains and several swings as well. She is getting better at using her legs to “pump” herself on the swing, and it helped her to watch a girl in the next swing really pumping efficiently and getting her swing to go really high. The fact that Nora cannot yet go that high herself is probably a good thing for now! We listened to two Pooh stories on the way home, and at this point she must hear a story to it’s conclusion in one car ride. Luckily these are really short stories.