Violin Lesson October 27 2007

Practice List To Do, Friday 10/26/2007 Lesson 12 Week 6
Practice List:

I. Identification of All Twinkle Variations, Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, Aunt Rhody and O’ Come Little Children. NEW: add May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro
II. Singing and Hand Signing A, E and F# C#
III. Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = AA EE F# F# E D D C# C# B B A
IV. Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then tip up
V. Shoulder bowing of twinkle rhythms (while singing), i.e. “listen please”
VI. KEY: Violin Sets with soft left knee and head back for count to #
KEY: head on it’s own bed (chin rest and tail piece not violin wood on right side of tail piece)
VII. Playing MHD, HB, SBB, W on E string KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions
a. Keeping bow on “red road” looking with “eyeballs” on her bow at bridge area.
b. Remember head leaning slightly backward at the “back door.”
c. Safer place for head on chin rest and tail piece, not on wood of violin
d. E string repetitions X times of all rhythms (except twinkle slow)
e. KEY: Listen for tone

VIII. Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: E “reach to” A and A “drop to” E
a. KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on red road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn” (this is the “pebble game” for 5) allows Nora to do Dessert F# exercise IX
b. KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions
c. KEY: Listen for tone

IX. Dessert: F# on the E string ( “touch E, reach to A” “touch F#”, “pop off”)
a. A A E E F# F# E E
b. On last E
i. The left hand (arm and elbow) move (“swing”) slightly sideways toward the right side of the violin. The pinky side of the palm of the hand leads the movement.
ii. Simultaneously the knees make a slightly deeper bend
iii. This is in preparation for getting ready to place the 3rd finger D on the A string
iv. Decrease tension, balance point is important
c. KEY: Listen for tone

X. Weekly Poem recitation Tuesday KEY: Look at (look into eyes) of Mr S or person to whom you are speaking / presenting. This makes it a special gift from you to your listener. You should feel like you are saying it just for Mr S.
XI. Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) FridayExplanations

1. Nora did an excellent job of identifying all of the twinkle variation rhythms and the early book one songs as he played them on her little violin. She even correctly did May Song. But she did not answer him for the others that we have not studied: Long Long Ago and Allegro (despite the fact that she correctly identified Allegro at last week’s group class).
2. KEY: When adding new songs we should make sure she can tell Aunt Rhody from Long Long Ago and she may also confuse Song of the Wind, May Song and Long Long Ago as they all start on the note A

3. Note Cards and pitch singing were not covered in this lesson; we are to continue working.
a. He advised against using a metronome pitch meter with a moving arrow
b. He preferred a piano (in tune) or a small portable keyboard

4. KEY: Using your ears to listen for a nice tone
a. He wants Nora to listen critically to what she is playing
b. He had her sit in his “teacher” chair while he played repetitions of MHD on the E string
i. Even though he had everything looking OK (position, bow set, bow on road, eyes down), he played with good and bad sound.
ii. Too crunchy, too whispy, too fast, too heavy, too light and “just right”
iii. As in the story of Goldilocks, finding the sound that is “just right”, nice tone

5. Dessert: F# on the E string Exercise
a. Begin with bow on E string
b. “Reach” bow up to A string
c. Play MHD A (listen please and your turn)
d. “Drop” to E string
e. MHD on E string (listen please and your turn)
f. “Touch F#”
g. MHD on F# (listen please and your turn)
h. “Pop off”
i. MHD on E string (listen please and your turn)
j. “swing” violin hand and bend knees

6. Dessert F# on E string
a. When he asked how the F# dessert went this week, Mima told him that Nora earned 3 desserts by playing 5 MHDs with bow on road and head back. Mima told him that we had only played two of the desserts and we had one still left to do.
b. Mr S showed Mima how it feels to “swing” the left arm gently forward on the last E of Nora’s dessert playing.


Notes

7. Nora did an excellent job of reciting her Listening Piece to Mr S. “I listened to Hungarian Dance Number 7 in A Major” …….. long pause ……. he gave her a hint (“Jo …”) and she continued “Joahnnes Brahams, played by Sara Chang on the violin.” He told us that we will work up to including the pianist or orchestral accompaniment.

8. L’s mother shared a few practice tips that Mr S gave them since it is really hard to get these girls to practice. He suggested that the child can choose which rhythm to play first and next or they can choose the number of repetitions or a die can be rolled to get a number from 1 – 5.

9. Nora showed Mr S her notebook with the notes she took during the time he works with Mima and they both saw that she had written a new word “cat” in addition to her word “zoo”. It is the first time Mima has seen Nora write the word ‘”cat”! Nora also showed some letters and said that it was the word “dog”.

10. Nora did not spontaneously come to Mr S to do her “thank you” bow and she was a bit slow with this part of the routine for the last few lessons.

11. It is a very rainy day today. We had boots and raincoats and had to wrap the foot chart in a plastic bag (remember to use crayon next time!). Somehow in the rush to get out of the house as the plumber was working in Mima’s room, the extra hair barrettes did not get into our lesson bag. And since Nora tore out the hair band her mom put into her hair this morning her hair was messier than usual. She had her hair in her mouth when she was listening to Mr S play his MHDs, but otherwise it did not prevent her from having a good lesson.

13. We could not go to the park in the pouring rain, so we drove back to Maryland and went to the library. On the way back to the car with our books, Nora took a detour through a big puddle and had a great time splashing back and forth through it.

14. She picked a box tiny Halloween cookies from our favorite store at the end of the street and asked to eat 12 of them for dessert. We also bought “Frog and Toad Are Friends to give at the birthday party tonight. Who has a birthday party on Friday night for 4 year olds?

15. Nora still has a cough but plays actively and energetically.