Nora plays the whole first "bread" part of MHD:
Practice List Tuesday 11/27/2007 Lesson 18 Week 10
Practice List
1. Tuning procedure: have Nora use her hand to indicate as we tune when she thinks that the pitch is correct. She can move her hand up higher to indicate too high and low to indicate low and the hand rests at the hand sign for “A” or “E” when it is at the correct pitch.
2. Playing “MHD Bread” A E F# E, D NEW: add C# and B and Nora gets her first slice of MHD BREAD A E F# E D C# B A then add EDC#B EDC#B , and the 2nd slice of bread.
a. Assignment: Do the Whole Song 3 times every day!!!
b. NEW: The new dessert exercise is as follows
i. Nora plays one slice of “bread” A E F# E D C# B A
ii. Nora sings the peanut butter & the jelly EDC#B EDC#B
iii. Nora plays one slice of “bread” A E F# E D C# B A
iv. (hand violin to parent when doing the singing parts)
c. NEW: use “walking fingers” with split second timing for the pop off and transfer.
d. KEY: bow arm opens at elbow need to grow.
e. Nora chooses MHD, HB, or SBB as rhythm to use for this new “Bread Dessert”.
3. Identification: Etude + AlleGR’etto, AN’dantino, Perpetual Motion. (Twinkle Variations) Lightly Row versus Aunt Rhody, Song of the Wind, O’ Come Little Children, May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro)
4. Pitch Training: A, E, F# C# NEW: D and B, singing, hand signs and movements
a. KEY: Hear pitch for one note on the violin, then sing the name of the note with the hand sign
b. Sing the pitch, hear the pitch, then pitch match if needed
c. NEW: add the note card for D ….. and perhaps B as well
5. Shoulder bowing of Twinkle Variations while singing along “Listen Please” “Your Turn” (may hold left arm across chest/waist to prevent twist) *KEY watch for elbow joint opening
6. Keep green feet, head back on chin rest, bow on one lane of road, soft left knee, no twisting
7. Do 5 times a day: Left hand “Swing” includes the body balance shift with simultaneous knees forward, 1st finger “Open Back”, “Drop D” 3rd finger drops on A string and “ Tap D”: tap 3rd finger lightly a few times on A. Do as separate practice exercise.
8. Playing MHD, HB, SBB, Wash, My name on E string and A string. KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions, playground amount of bow on the “road” & listen for tone. KEY: bow arm opens at elbow joint.
9. Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: “touch E” “reach A” and A “drop E” KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn”
10. “Fix it” or “Move on” Game: Object is to get all “Move Ons” as she plays dessert A E F# E (not mentioned; we can work up to this challenge over time)
11. Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then maintain bow in tip up position
12. Violin sets for count of 10 seconds and work to more
13. Finger tapping thumb to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th finger
14. Get violin to rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me _______.
15. Vocabulary: Dynamics
16. Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = A E F# E D C# B A
17. Listening Piece Story for Friday
18. Poem for Tuesday *still needs eye contact as primary objective
Notes:
1) Nora identified , Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, O Come Little Children, May Song (after a quick guess of Perpetual Motion), Long Long Ago (she got this correct, but at home she still confuses this one with Aunt Rhody), Allegro, Perpetual Motion (after his verbal cue of “it keeps moving”), Allegretto (verbal cue of “AL___” ), Andantino (verbal cue of “An___”), Etude (she got this one right away.) No new additions as these are no yet “easy” for Nora.
2) Mr S played pitches on her violin and Nora was asked to name and sing what she heard. We are to continue to do these as singing and hand signs and now add the note card for “D” and then later, “B”.
a) He gave her the following note sequence: A E F# E D C# B
b) He said we could give her “scale” sequences to help her find the notes
c) Nora was able to sing “A” without sticking out her tongue (a major accomplishment!)
d) Nora is still learning all of the pitches and benefits from repetitions.
3) Twinkle song, beginning with MHD was described to Nora as a sandwich so that the musical form of the piece can be recognized and discussed in concrete terms. The piece has two pieces of bread (that Nora, as of today, “knows” how to play) A E F# E D C# B A. The piece then has two identical peanut butter and jelly parts that Nora has not yet been taught, E D C# B, E D C# B. And then the piece ends with a “slice of bread”, the sequence of notes that Nora is now practicing A E F# E D C# B A.
4) Thus Nora is being asked to play her “Bread” and then hand her violin to her practice parent while she sings the two peanut butter and jelly parts, and then after her violin is set for her she again is supposed to play her “bread” to end the sandwich and the piece.
5) Steps in “dessert” entire “BREAD”, fade verbal cues as Nora does these steps independently
• “Green Feet”
• “Soft Knees”
• “Soft Bow Hand”
• “TURN HEAD”
• “DROP HEAD”
• (Mima can swing Nora’s left arm to make sure it is soft and relaxed)
• “Thumb Pillow”
• “Tickle Spot”
• “Touch E” (need to teach Nora “touch E” because she got confused in group class when “Touch E” command caused her to “touch her F# finger to the string at the wrong time.
• “Reach A”
• “my turn” (a variety of cues can be used here, such as A listen, A play)
• “your turn”) (she really improved on this and is rarely playing too soon now!)
• drop E
• “my turn” “your turn”)
• touch F#
• “”my turn” – “your turn”
• “pop off”
• “my turn”– “your turn”
• “swing”
• “open back
• “drop D”
• “float bow” (to A string)
• “D listen”
• “D play”
• “C# listen”
• “C# play”
• “B listen”
• “B play”
•
NEW: use “walking fingers”.
i) As fingers change on A string from D (3rd finger) to C# (2nd finger), C# to B (1st finger), 2 fingers are momentarily down at the same time.
ii) This is essentially independent fingering not “block fingering”.
iii) Nora now has a 2nd finger tape on her violin.
b) KEY: bow arm opens at elbow joint (if possible one hand or person gently guide elbow joint using finger/s inside elbow the other finger/s at outside of joint. Use whole yellow tape playground / stay in playground and make a nice sound. As Nora grows size of her yellow tape, or even her bow size may need to grow.
6) The swing should bring the hand forward so that the 3rd finger just drops down to touch on the A string (her knuckle should not collapse downward.
a) For the Tapping, he showed how he touches the back of Nora’s hand lightly under the base of the third finger knuckle joint to help cue that the movement comes from the tendons in the hand and not just the distal joints of the 3rd finger.
b) MOVIE Clip 1 min 26 seconds taken at today’s lesson shows Nora’s first bread as it was done with teacher. This clip has some moments where it shows how he gently controls Nora’s left and right hands in subtle ways that we at home can not yet even approach. Also, it shows the “joy” always the “joy” connected with this Suzuki violin learning process, especially in the lesson.
7) Lightly “contribute weight to” Nora’s 3rd finger D on the A string as needed The touch on the string is so lightly that it may not depress the string enough to actually make a note that would sound. ….
8) Remember to place fingers 1st, 2nd 3rd)on string at thumb side corner (not verbalized to Nora, just be aware)
9) Nora told her teacher that she had difficulty seeing whether or not her left hand finger was on the correct string and the correct red tape because she was looking at her bow road. He explained to us that she will eventually be able to:
a) LOOK at the bow road
b) FEEL the correct placement for her fingers
10) Behavior: Nora followed directions well, however she had to be reminded by teacher to return to her foot chart – he called it “the bubble” that she needs to stay in during the lesson. She very quickly ran to Mima a few times for a very brief hug when she was a bit overexcited, but this did not seem to bother Mr S.
11) Mr S had Mima use his violin for her portion of the lesson. He helped Mima to play through the entire Bread (my turn, your turn) – sing peanut butter and jelly parts – and play the last bread (my turn, your turn).
a) Mima needs to remember to place fingers on thumb side corners.
b) Also remember to be relaxed in the left hand hold on the violin (next time Mima will bring “her” full sized violin and then perhaps she will be more relaxed).
c) Nora moves so quickly and sometimes unexpectedly that Mima at one point rescued Mr S’s bow from where it had been placed, too close to where Nora was standing between the teacher’s chair and table.
Further Explanations:
12) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Choose two Possible Variables
• Head back (Nora fixed her own head spontaneously a few times in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
• Use playground
• Nice sound
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
13) Story Format: for Listening Piece Recitation on Friday: “Antonio Vvaldi composed Four Seasons Concertos, and they were performed by Itzhak Perlman on the violin.”
14) Poem recitation Tuesday, look at Mr S.
Group Class for performance (Mima thinks this is right?):
0. parent will place foot chart at front of room
1. Walk out with purpose w/ violin in “rest position” (look ahead at leader or child in front of you and not around room or at ceiling)
2. SMILE (when hear clapping)
3. Place violin on chart
4. Look at leader – follow command for “green feet”
5. variation rhythms follow his “______ please” and clap hands, slap knees, stomp feet, pat cheeks, ____
6. hear a single note and sing the name of the note while making hand sign
7. pick up violin and put in rest position
8. BOW in rest position with “red feet” with SMILE (left arm straight down at side)
Group Class Information:
Note Hand Position Movement
A bottom of chin sit down
E top head, hairline stand up
F# above head jump
D forehead/eyebrow touch shoulder
C# nose touch waist
B lips touch toes
More Notes:
1. Nora dictated a few “I am thankful for” sentences at school for their Thanksgiving project, and the first thing on Nora’s list was “violin lessons” – not practicing, but the actual lessons themselves! We will have to remember to tell her teacher about this.
2. Giving Nora even the most basic choice (such as which of 3 rhythms she wants to play, or whether she wants to do 2, 3 or 4 repetitions) has helped the practice sessions at home immensely.
3. After Nora played her very first complete “bread” of MHD twinkle and Mr S took her violin, she ran away, flung herself onto the couch, and bounced around in excitement. In answer to her teacher’s question “did you get her reaction on film” Mima had to answer that she did not, as Nora ran right out if the picture frame!
4. We did remember to turn the heater on and in the few minutes before the teacher arrived the studio had heated up to a comfortable temperature.
5. She showed her “notes” to Mr S at the end of the lesson. She told us that she had written the letters of the notes that he taught her. She gave the page to him so that he could remember what the notes were and he put the paper on his music stand, an important place.
6. Nora went back to look into the lesson studio (she stood very quietly outside of the door) when she heard the girl in the next lesson playing an excerpt from the Nutcracker Suite. We anticipate that this will be her listening piece for most of December in preparation for going to the Ballet with her cousins.
7. We are on a health kick and have substituted a purchase of fruit instead of the cookie for Nora’s after lesson treat. The large cup of grapes proved very enticing so all went well with this change in routine, at least for today.
5. It was a chilly day at the park, but there were a few other brave souls on the equipment. Nora got to do lots of running climbing and swinging.
6. Hair: Nora pulled the clips and bands out of her hair as she got into the car to drive to her lesson. She allowed Mima to redo her hair before the lesson and managed not to chew on her hair during her lesson. When there was more “down time” as in group class, Nora’s hair sucking behavior was at it’s most troublesome.
a. Nora got a haircut after the lesson today and her back hair is now too short to get into her mouth. Mom is counting in the fact that the front hair will remain in the hair band, at least for school, lessons and performances.
b. She was cooperative and held her travel blankie throughout the procedure. We went out and bought a wooden dreidle after the haircut and plaed several rounds when we got home.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Violin Lesson Friday 11/9/2007 Lesson 16 Week 8
Practice List Friday 11/9/2007 Lesson 16 Week 8
Practice List
Notes:
1) Nora stayed sitting/standing on her foot chart (directed by Mr S) as she named the songs and twinkle variations that Mr S played on her violin. After what appeared to be a warm up period where she was slow to answer and unsure, she then seemed to begin listening in earnest and her answers became faster and more reliable. He explained to her that she would get his direction to stand after she correctly named a song, but it was several songs past this point when she began answering with more confidence. There was no direction from Mr S nor was there an obvious difference in the procedure, it just appeared that about half way through this activity, Nora started fully participating! She answered most queries by listening and she did not actually watch/look at Mr S play the variations (though one would think that this could have helped her (?). At one point, after listening to “O Come Little Children” all the way through to the end and not saying the name, she sort of said to herself (looking down and not actually at Mr S) well, that has to be “O Come Little Children” because it is the only one with the ‘up bow, you can hear the up bow”. Mr S has not told her about the “up bow” but she certainly could have heard about it in group class observation, or even from Mima who is trying to remember the names of these songs by any manner available to her! Nora identified “Lightly Row” by sort of singing/humming it to herself as he played it, and this is often her way of figuring out this particular song. She listened to “Song of the Wind twice before saying the name. The first time he played “Allegro” she guessed that it was “May Song” and then “Song of the Wind”, before getting it correct. When he played it for her toward the end of this session she got it immediately. She incorrectly labeled “Washington” as “Huckleberry” and we do need to continue to review this one especially. He played “Perpetual Motion” and she named it correctly immediately after he gave to give her a hint that it was her new one. Then at the very end of this activity, as he said out loud that he thought perhaps he had missed one, Nora immediately, without hesitation, said that it was “Stop Big Bow”; and she was right! He added NEW: AlleGR’etto, and AN’dantino and said that it would help us to tell these two somewhat similar pieces apart if we pronounce them with different syllables accented. He also noted for us that AlleGR’etto starts on the open D string note, and AN’dantino begins with F# (on the D string …..made by, Mima noticed, placing the 2nd finger down on the D string).
2) At the end of the lesson we reminded him that Nora had a special listening piece and she did a great job (nice clear voice and not too fast) of telling him that Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance Number 1 in G minor played by (she had a pause here) ……………. Itzhak (said with quite a bit of enthusiasm as she found this name particularly interesting) Perlman on the violin. I have no idea about her eye contact as he did not mention it, and my seat is directly behind her so that her focus is on Mr S and not me. But eye contact will be important for her poem on Tuesday.
3) Mom talked to Nora over the last 3 days about following directions and cooperating with her teacher Mr S at her lesson and today Nora did a fine job of both. Mima had just the faintest concern when Nora stayed seated and hesitated before following his first direction to stand on her green feet so that they could do pitch singing. After that Nora was very compliant for the entire lesson. While we are on the subject of behavior and distractions, her hair, in 3 bands done by mom, worked great and it remained a non-issue at the lesson. The scoop neck T-shirt seemed fine as well, but, the too long sleeves found their way into her mouth on several occasions during the pitch singing exercise, and the shirt was changed before group class in the evening. She had taken all the bands out by that late hour so Mima redid 2 bands and the hair was OK in the group class as well.
4) Mr S played pitches on her violin and Nora was asked to sing what she heard. He commented that the hand signing seemed to really help her with her pitch learning. Nora correctly did A E F# and then she sang an A when it should have been an E. She then did one C# OK and confused another with F#. She is getting more comfortable with these notes/pitches and he added D and B. We are to do these as singing and hand signs before we add the note cards.
5) He then did the 3rd finger tapping with Nora and at one point she was using her 2nd finger to do the tapping and it took her quite a while to change to the 3rd finger. This was a genuinely difficult task and she seemed to be giving it all her effort. He also asked her to make sure that the finger tapped right on her red tape. This exercise begins with the swing (includes the knees forward) movement.
6) Last they did the F# Dessert Exercise that will be the beginning of MHD twinkle, though Nora has not realized this yet, and that is fine. Nora seems to be concentrating so hard for this and you can hear her hum/grunt along with her playing. He reminded us that when her 1st finger F# comes off the string her hand should remain in place and not open away from the fingerboard.
7) Still Important: The swing should bring the hand forward so that the 3rd finger just drops down to touch on the A string (her knuckle should not collapse downward. For the Tapping, he showed how he touches the back of Nora’s hand lightly under the base of the third finger knuckle joint to help cue that the movement comes from the tendons in the hand and not just the distal joints of the 3rd finger. The touch on the string is so light that it may not depress the string enough to actually make a note that would sound. …. Until Tue lesson when he said he would give us the rest of this sequence.
8) He demonstrated for Nora what he will be teaching us in the Tuesday lesson. After the E, Left hand “Swing”, “open back” “drop D” and then she will “Reach Bow” moving the bow from the E string to the A string, before actually playing MHD for the new note D cue is “play”.
9) There will be no Friday lessons for the next two weeks so he is giving us plenty to keep us busy. He said that he has found that sometimes children can process and learn 3 new things at once more easily than they can master just one new thing.
10) Nora told Mima that she did not get a chance to “write in her notebook” at the end of the lesson, and so we went back into the studio as quiet observers of the beginning of the next lesson. Nora sat quietly on the “red observer chair” and wrote in her notebook, stopping to give her full attention to the lesson when the 9-year-old girl played “May Song” beautifully with perfect intonation and a lovely bow arm. The violinist’s objective on this piece seemed to be that she was supposed to go to the frog of the bow on 100% of the opportunities. She accomplished this on her 2nd try and Nora watched very attentively for the entire “performance”. The girl stated her listening piece (a fairly complex recitation that included an orchestra and a conductor in addition to the violin soloist, Nadja Solerno Sonnenberg). She also gave a recitation of the first half of a long poem. We are indeed fortunate that Nora is able to just concentrate on one or the other for her twice-weekly lessons.
11) When Nora returned from group class this evening, it was quite late, and it was even later when we finished dinner. Imagine our surprise when she announced that she wanted to practice right then and there with her mommy. And so they did! And it seemed that something was different in this, a very rare self initiated practice. Instead of just cooperating with what the adult was telling her to do, it seemed like Nora was trying to understand and learn what she needed to do in order to play the violin. Her concentration seemed different, more acute, and she made that new soft humming sound as she struggled to get her mind and body to perform all the small and large sequences that go into playing this instrument.
Further Explanations:
12) Steps in “dessert” A E F# E. Mima should give clear and rhythmic requests/instructions to Nora (some instructions use a variety of words meaning the same thing (“my turn” “your turn” has several variations)
13) Do 5 times a day Swing (far enough so that the 3rd finger can just drop down to touch the A string with no additional movement), “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string NEW : tap 3rd finger on red tape on A string but not hard, just lightly touch. Pressure may not be enough to depress string and that is OK. :
• Only left hand, no bow needed
• “Open Back” : the first finger reaches back and a little down, left hand fingers fan open led by 1st finger movement back and down
• drop 3rd finger “D” to lightly touch the red tape on the A string (no squeeze)
14) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Two Variables for the game at this point
• Head back (Nora fixed her own head spontaneously a few times in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
15) New Story Format: for Listening Piece Recitation worked well: “Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance Number 1 in G Minor, and it was performed by Itzhak Perlman on the violin.”
16) Dessert: F# on the E string (“set E”, “reach to A” “Drop to E” “touch F#”, “pop off” “swing”)
a) A E F# E
b) On last E
• left side of hand leads (arm and elbow) (“swing”) slightly and body changes balance point so that knees come slightly forward
• Decrease tension, balance point is important
c) KEY: Listen for tone
17) For weekly Poem recitation Tuesday, 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. Learn new poem for Tuesday.
18) Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) Friday (see new format above)
Group Class
Group Class Information:
Note, Hand Position, Movement
A , bottom of chin , sit down
E, top head, hairline, stand up
F#, above head, jump
D, forehead/eyebrow, touch shoulder
C#, nose, touch waist
B, lips, touch toes
19) During group class this evening, Nora was the caboose on a 3-person “train” (children behind each other holding onto the shoulders of the child ahead). The class of 3 moved around the room to find the hidden violin bow led by Mr S playing twinkle variations with dynamics. Nora did not like being the caboose of this train, but the “engine” was 5 years old and understood much better how to follow the clues of the dynamics to find the hidden bow. When Mr S hid Nora’s bow and the engine was the one to find and touch her bow first, Nora was visibly upset and near tears. Amazingly, she took few deep breaths, pulled herself together and got back on her green feet for the next activity. We did hear on the car ride home how unfair she felt that this had been. Never the less, it was good for her to be able to join back in the group activity, even after suffering what she felt was a trauma to her sensibilities.
20) In the 5:30 evening group class, L and Nora (the only members present who had violins with them played some of their twinkle rhythms on the E string and A string following Mr S playing the “Listen Please” model on his own full sized violin. This was the very first time in class (private or group) that Nora played a rhythm on her violin without first having Mr S or a parent model it by moving her bow on her violin just before she did the “your turn” phase of this exercise. Nora had a bit of difficulty waiting for Mr S to play or complete the “Listen Please” portion of this new drill, and sometimes she started playing her part when he was still modeling. Nora did several of the sequences nicely on her own, though Mima kept her hands pretty close to the action. Sometimes Nora’s bow direction was confused (up for down) and sometimes she started bowing a rhythm different from the one that was modeled. Generally she and L kept together well for a first try at this task. An observer noted that L did this activity more independently, without the very close parent supervision and support that was given to Nora. Mima will have to monitor the situation to make sure that she is giving Nora enough freedom to learn in these types of situations. It is not easy for a parent/grandparent to judge how much help to provide, especially in a new activity. At one point L did loose control of her violin, and it fell to the floor (it was fine and suffered no damage).
Practice List
- Identification: NEW: AlleGR’etto, AN’dantino, Perpetual Motion. (Twinkle Variations, esp. Washington & Twinkle Slow) Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, Aunt Rhody, O’ Come Little Children, May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro)
- Pitch Training: A, E, F# C# NEW: Add D and B, singing, hand signs and movements (and last add note cards if we feel she is ready)
- Violin sets for count of 10 seconds and work to more
- Shoulder bowing of Twinkle Variations while singing along “Listen Please” “Your Turn” (may hold left arm across chest/waist to prevent twist)
- Playing dessert (A E F# E, left side of hand leads left arm “swing”, and simultaneous body balance shift knees forward) KEY: at this point her 3rd finger should be in position to drop down on A string NEW variables: use whole yellow tape playground up to the new stopper band and make a nice sound. KEY: F# pop off is just 1st finger moving off, not fingers and hand opening away from fingerboard.
- Keep green feet, head back on chin rest, bow on one lane of road, soft left knee, no twisting
- Do 5 times a day: Left hand “Swing” includes the body balance shift with simultaneous knees forward, 1st finger “Open Back”, “Drop D” 3rd finger drops on A string and “ Tap D” : tap 3rd finger lightly a few times on A. Do as separate practice exercise. Use “knees forward” not “bend” as cue.
- Playing MHD, HB, SBB, Wash, My name on E string KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions, playground amount of bow & listen for tone
- Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: “set E” “reach A” and A “drop E” KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn”
- “Fix it” or “Move on” Game: Object is to get all “Move Ons” as she plays dessert A E F# E (again not mentioned; we can work up to this challenge over time)
- Listening Piece Story for Friday
- Poem for Tuesday *still needs eye contact as primary objective
- Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = A E F# E D C# B A
- Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then tip up
- Finger tapping thumb to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th finger
- Turn head to follow hand (not body and eyes should not move)
- Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
- Vocabulary: Dynamics
Notes:
1) Nora stayed sitting/standing on her foot chart (directed by Mr S) as she named the songs and twinkle variations that Mr S played on her violin. After what appeared to be a warm up period where she was slow to answer and unsure, she then seemed to begin listening in earnest and her answers became faster and more reliable. He explained to her that she would get his direction to stand after she correctly named a song, but it was several songs past this point when she began answering with more confidence. There was no direction from Mr S nor was there an obvious difference in the procedure, it just appeared that about half way through this activity, Nora started fully participating! She answered most queries by listening and she did not actually watch/look at Mr S play the variations (though one would think that this could have helped her (?). At one point, after listening to “O Come Little Children” all the way through to the end and not saying the name, she sort of said to herself (looking down and not actually at Mr S) well, that has to be “O Come Little Children” because it is the only one with the ‘up bow, you can hear the up bow”. Mr S has not told her about the “up bow” but she certainly could have heard about it in group class observation, or even from Mima who is trying to remember the names of these songs by any manner available to her! Nora identified “Lightly Row” by sort of singing/humming it to herself as he played it, and this is often her way of figuring out this particular song. She listened to “Song of the Wind twice before saying the name. The first time he played “Allegro” she guessed that it was “May Song” and then “Song of the Wind”, before getting it correct. When he played it for her toward the end of this session she got it immediately. She incorrectly labeled “Washington” as “Huckleberry” and we do need to continue to review this one especially. He played “Perpetual Motion” and she named it correctly immediately after he gave to give her a hint that it was her new one. Then at the very end of this activity, as he said out loud that he thought perhaps he had missed one, Nora immediately, without hesitation, said that it was “Stop Big Bow”; and she was right! He added NEW: AlleGR’etto, and AN’dantino and said that it would help us to tell these two somewhat similar pieces apart if we pronounce them with different syllables accented. He also noted for us that AlleGR’etto starts on the open D string note, and AN’dantino begins with F# (on the D string …..made by, Mima noticed, placing the 2nd finger down on the D string).
2) At the end of the lesson we reminded him that Nora had a special listening piece and she did a great job (nice clear voice and not too fast) of telling him that Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance Number 1 in G minor played by (she had a pause here) ……………. Itzhak (said with quite a bit of enthusiasm as she found this name particularly interesting) Perlman on the violin. I have no idea about her eye contact as he did not mention it, and my seat is directly behind her so that her focus is on Mr S and not me. But eye contact will be important for her poem on Tuesday.
3) Mom talked to Nora over the last 3 days about following directions and cooperating with her teacher Mr S at her lesson and today Nora did a fine job of both. Mima had just the faintest concern when Nora stayed seated and hesitated before following his first direction to stand on her green feet so that they could do pitch singing. After that Nora was very compliant for the entire lesson. While we are on the subject of behavior and distractions, her hair, in 3 bands done by mom, worked great and it remained a non-issue at the lesson. The scoop neck T-shirt seemed fine as well, but, the too long sleeves found their way into her mouth on several occasions during the pitch singing exercise, and the shirt was changed before group class in the evening. She had taken all the bands out by that late hour so Mima redid 2 bands and the hair was OK in the group class as well.
4) Mr S played pitches on her violin and Nora was asked to sing what she heard. He commented that the hand signing seemed to really help her with her pitch learning. Nora correctly did A E F# and then she sang an A when it should have been an E. She then did one C# OK and confused another with F#. She is getting more comfortable with these notes/pitches and he added D and B. We are to do these as singing and hand signs before we add the note cards.
5) He then did the 3rd finger tapping with Nora and at one point she was using her 2nd finger to do the tapping and it took her quite a while to change to the 3rd finger. This was a genuinely difficult task and she seemed to be giving it all her effort. He also asked her to make sure that the finger tapped right on her red tape. This exercise begins with the swing (includes the knees forward) movement.
6) Last they did the F# Dessert Exercise that will be the beginning of MHD twinkle, though Nora has not realized this yet, and that is fine. Nora seems to be concentrating so hard for this and you can hear her hum/grunt along with her playing. He reminded us that when her 1st finger F# comes off the string her hand should remain in place and not open away from the fingerboard.
7) Still Important: The swing should bring the hand forward so that the 3rd finger just drops down to touch on the A string (her knuckle should not collapse downward. For the Tapping, he showed how he touches the back of Nora’s hand lightly under the base of the third finger knuckle joint to help cue that the movement comes from the tendons in the hand and not just the distal joints of the 3rd finger. The touch on the string is so light that it may not depress the string enough to actually make a note that would sound. …. Until Tue lesson when he said he would give us the rest of this sequence.
8) He demonstrated for Nora what he will be teaching us in the Tuesday lesson. After the E, Left hand “Swing”, “open back” “drop D” and then she will “Reach Bow” moving the bow from the E string to the A string, before actually playing MHD for the new note D cue is “play”.
9) There will be no Friday lessons for the next two weeks so he is giving us plenty to keep us busy. He said that he has found that sometimes children can process and learn 3 new things at once more easily than they can master just one new thing.
10) Nora told Mima that she did not get a chance to “write in her notebook” at the end of the lesson, and so we went back into the studio as quiet observers of the beginning of the next lesson. Nora sat quietly on the “red observer chair” and wrote in her notebook, stopping to give her full attention to the lesson when the 9-year-old girl played “May Song” beautifully with perfect intonation and a lovely bow arm. The violinist’s objective on this piece seemed to be that she was supposed to go to the frog of the bow on 100% of the opportunities. She accomplished this on her 2nd try and Nora watched very attentively for the entire “performance”. The girl stated her listening piece (a fairly complex recitation that included an orchestra and a conductor in addition to the violin soloist, Nadja Solerno Sonnenberg). She also gave a recitation of the first half of a long poem. We are indeed fortunate that Nora is able to just concentrate on one or the other for her twice-weekly lessons.
11) When Nora returned from group class this evening, it was quite late, and it was even later when we finished dinner. Imagine our surprise when she announced that she wanted to practice right then and there with her mommy. And so they did! And it seemed that something was different in this, a very rare self initiated practice. Instead of just cooperating with what the adult was telling her to do, it seemed like Nora was trying to understand and learn what she needed to do in order to play the violin. Her concentration seemed different, more acute, and she made that new soft humming sound as she struggled to get her mind and body to perform all the small and large sequences that go into playing this instrument.
Further Explanations:
12) Steps in “dessert” A E F# E. Mima should give clear and rhythmic requests/instructions to Nora (some instructions use a variety of words meaning the same thing (“my turn” “your turn” has several variations)
- “Green Feet”
- “Soft Knees”
- “Soft Bow Hand”
- “TURN HEAD”
- “DROP HEAD”
- (Mima can swing Nora’s left arm to make sure it is soft and relaxed)
- “Thumb Pillow”
- “Tickle Spot”
- “Set E”
- “Reach A”
- “my turn”
- “your turn”)
- drop E
- “my turn” “your turn”)
- touch F#
- “”my turn” – “your turn”
- “pop off”
- “my turn”– “your turn”
- “swing”
13) Do 5 times a day Swing (far enough so that the 3rd finger can just drop down to touch the A string with no additional movement), “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string NEW : tap 3rd finger on red tape on A string but not hard, just lightly touch. Pressure may not be enough to depress string and that is OK. :
• Only left hand, no bow needed
• “Open Back” : the first finger reaches back and a little down, left hand fingers fan open led by 1st finger movement back and down
• drop 3rd finger “D” to lightly touch the red tape on the A string (no squeeze)
14) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Two Variables for the game at this point
• Head back (Nora fixed her own head spontaneously a few times in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
15) New Story Format: for Listening Piece Recitation worked well: “Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance Number 1 in G Minor, and it was performed by Itzhak Perlman on the violin.”
16) Dessert: F# on the E string (“set E”, “reach to A” “Drop to E” “touch F#”, “pop off” “swing”)
a) A E F# E
b) On last E
• left side of hand leads (arm and elbow) (“swing”) slightly and body changes balance point so that knees come slightly forward
• Decrease tension, balance point is important
c) KEY: Listen for tone
17) For weekly Poem recitation Tuesday, 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. Learn new poem for Tuesday.
18) Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) Friday (see new format above)
Group Class
- Standing in line, waiting, hand violin crossed, thank you
- Notes A E F# D C# B (see below)
- DYNAMICS
- Bow Poem with tip up, good following and rhythm
- Follow directions quickly: touch ____
- Notes: hand motions and body positions review
- Crossed arm violin hand off and “thank you”
- Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
- Moving and stopping quickly as music plays
- ID Violin parts
- Pizzicato versus Arco
- Harmonic, Double Stop, Triple Stop, Quadruple Stop
- Say ____ exactly when he points to you
- Song identification (stand up/sit down, raise hand)
- Game to find hidden bow using dynamics as Mr S plays twinkle variation louder as the children get closer to the hidden bow and softer as they get farther away.
Group Class Information:
Note, Hand Position, Movement
A , bottom of chin , sit down
E, top head, hairline, stand up
F#, above head, jump
D, forehead/eyebrow, touch shoulder
C#, nose, touch waist
B, lips, touch toes
19) During group class this evening, Nora was the caboose on a 3-person “train” (children behind each other holding onto the shoulders of the child ahead). The class of 3 moved around the room to find the hidden violin bow led by Mr S playing twinkle variations with dynamics. Nora did not like being the caboose of this train, but the “engine” was 5 years old and understood much better how to follow the clues of the dynamics to find the hidden bow. When Mr S hid Nora’s bow and the engine was the one to find and touch her bow first, Nora was visibly upset and near tears. Amazingly, she took few deep breaths, pulled herself together and got back on her green feet for the next activity. We did hear on the car ride home how unfair she felt that this had been. Never the less, it was good for her to be able to join back in the group activity, even after suffering what she felt was a trauma to her sensibilities.
20) In the 5:30 evening group class, L and Nora (the only members present who had violins with them played some of their twinkle rhythms on the E string and A string following Mr S playing the “Listen Please” model on his own full sized violin. This was the very first time in class (private or group) that Nora played a rhythm on her violin without first having Mr S or a parent model it by moving her bow on her violin just before she did the “your turn” phase of this exercise. Nora had a bit of difficulty waiting for Mr S to play or complete the “Listen Please” portion of this new drill, and sometimes she started playing her part when he was still modeling. Nora did several of the sequences nicely on her own, though Mima kept her hands pretty close to the action. Sometimes Nora’s bow direction was confused (up for down) and sometimes she started bowing a rhythm different from the one that was modeled. Generally she and L kept together well for a first try at this task. An observer noted that L did this activity more independently, without the very close parent supervision and support that was given to Nora. Mima will have to monitor the situation to make sure that she is giving Nora enough freedom to learn in these types of situations. It is not easy for a parent/grandparent to judge how much help to provide, especially in a new activity. At one point L did loose control of her violin, and it fell to the floor (it was fine and suffered no damage).
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Violin Lesson Tuesday 11/6/2007 Lesson 15 Week 8
Practice List Tuesday 11/6/2007 Lesson 15 Week 8
Practice List
1. Identification: NEW: Perpetual Motion. (Twinkle Variations, Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, Aunt Rhody, O’ Come Little Children, May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro)
2. Singing and Hand Signing A, E, F# and C# memory game without cards
3. Violin sets for count of 10 seconds
4. Shoulder bowing of Twinkle Variations while singing along “Listen Please” “Your Turn” (may hold left arm across chest/waist to prevent twist)
5. Playing dessert (A E F# E, left side of hand leads left arm swing and then bend knees) NEW variables: use whole yellow tape playground and make a nice sound. “You can do this for pennies.” “make it sound pretty”
6. Keep green feet, head back on chin rest, bow on one lane of road, soft left knee, no twisting
7. Do 5 times a day: Left hand Swing, 1st finger “Open Back, 3rd finger drops on A string and NEW “ Tap D” : tap 3rd finger lightly a few times on A. Do as separate practice exercise. (see #13 explanation)
8. Playing MHD, HB, SBB, Wash, My name on E string KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions & listen for tone
9. Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: “set E” “reach to” A and A “drop to” E KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn” (this is the “pebble game” for 5
10. “Fix it” or “Move on” Game: Object is to get all “Move Ons” as she plays dessert A E F# E (not mentioned this week)
11. Listening Piece Story for Friday
12. Poem for Tuesday *still needs eye contact as primary objective
13. Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = A E F# E D C# B A
14. Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then tip up
15. Finger tapping thumb to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th finger
16. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
Notes:
1) NEW:Mr S began lesson by asking us not to put any type of turtleneck shirt on Nora for lesson days and group class sessions.
2) Nora stayed standing on her foot chart and named the songs and twinkle variations (mostly all correct) that Mr S played on her violin. She took a long time on Long Long Ago, but got it, and she twice missed Lightly Row (she said O Come Little Children as a first response) and she got Allegro after first thinking it was Song of the Wind. He added: Perpetual Motion, a piece that is not like any of the others and thus he does not think she will have a hard time learning it.
3) Nora gave her Poem (she forgot the title and author), but his main concern was that she still does not give him eye contact as she recites the poem.
4) Mr S had a hard time getting Nora to cooperate for the violin sets at the very beginning of the lesson (they were going to do the F# dessert). After he gave her a warning that it would be a shame to have to end the lesson early, she immediately responded and began following directions with more care. After the lesson he told Mima that I should be ready for him to unceremoniously end one of her lessons (what he terms a “million dollar lesson”) if she does not follow directions and cooperate. He does not want this to be “acrimonious”, but rather a learning experience so that she learns to quickly do what is asked to the best of her ability. He said that he may never have to do this, but he wanted me to be prepared just in case it happens.
5) NEW: Nora turns her head to follow his hand. He did an exercise with her for her to turn her head (not her eyes) without turning her shoulders or twisting her body. Just her head should turn as she follows his hand.
6) He did the pitch memory game giving her lots of running and failry complex movement sequences and some cognitive (counting type) tasks as well. Put the duck on the piano bench and jump 3 times, run and touch the door, give Mima a hug and return and sing C#. She did this enthusiastically and her pitches are improving though C# remains difficult.
7) He did an activity where she had to follow his directions quickly (red feet, green feet, touch V, touch X) and she did this one fast and just fine.
8) When he did violin dessert F# exercise 5 times, Nora did stay on her green feet, but she went up on tip toes a couple of times and this can cause loss of balance. He paced her carefully letting her know her status “that was two, here comes three”, “just two more left”.
9) Mr S had Mima do the swing, open back and drop 3rd finger and tap exercise so that I could get a feel for how it is done. The swing should bring the hand forward so that the 3rd finger just drops down to touch on the A string. For the Tapping, he showed how he touches the back of Nora’s hand lightly under the base of the third finger knuckle joint to help cue that the movement comes from the tendons in the hand and not just the distal joints of the 3rd finger. The touch on the string is so light that it does not depress the string enough to actually make a note that would sound.
10) We noticed that Nora’s bow hand fingers were mirroring the drop of the 3rd finger during her left hand exercise. Nothing was said to Nora about it and this is fine, and one reason for separating the violin and the bow hand at this point. Mr S spoke about exercises that he has used with other students to help with independent finger action and showed a few to Mima.
a) He said that right now we should be sure to do the finger to thumb tapping exercises with Nora. At first she can do the same fingers on both hands and later we can progress to using different fingers, for example a first finger tap with the right hand and a 3rd finger tap with her left hand.
b) He also showed a thumb game (not for now). The student holds hands out with thumbs bent to begin. The game consists of the each thumb being either bent or straight up and the thumb position must be changed (up/down) each time he points to a thumb, right thumb and left thumb. He began by pointing to both thumbs at the same time but the game got more difficult as he pointed to the right and left at different times, or at the same time, but after they were in opposite starting positions positions.
11) Steps in “dessert” A E F# E. Mima should give clear and rhythmic requests/instructions to Nora (some instructions use a variety of words meaning the same thing (“my turn” “your turn” has several variations)
• “Green Feet”
• “Soft Knees”
• “Soft Bow Hand”
• “TURN HEAD”
• “DROP HEAD”
• (Mima can swing Nora’s left arm to make sure it is soft and relaxed)
• “Thumb Pillow”
• “Tickle Spot”
• “Set E”
• “Reach A”
• “my turn”
• “your turn”)
• drop E
• “my turn” “your turn”)
• touch F#
• “”my turn” – “your turn”
• “pop off”
• “my turn”– “your turn”
• “swing and bend”
12) Road for the bow has just one lane
• Stay in one place, do not let bow slide the lanes for the other (imaginary) cars.
• Stay in “your yard” the bow playground
• Keep your eyeballs in the bow
• Play just one string
13) 4 year old posture no twisting toward left (10 seconds no twist)
• Soft left knee
• Relaxed right shoulder
• Head properly back on chin rest
14) Do 5 times a day Swing (far enough so that the 3rd finger can just drop down to touch the A string with no additional movement), “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string NEW : tap 3rd finger on red tape on A string but not hard, just lightly touch. Pressure may not be enough to depress string and that is OK. :
• Only left hand, no bow needed
• “Open Back” : the first finger reaches back and a little down, left hand fingers fan open led by 1st finger movement back and down
• drop 3rd finger “D” to lightly touch the red tape on the A string (no squeeze)
15) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Two Variables for the game at this point
• Head back (Mr S said he noticed that this was better in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
16) New Format: for Listening Piece Recitation will be more like a story: “Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance Number 1 in G Minor, and it was performed by Itzhak Perlman on the violin.”
17) Dessert: F# on the E string (“touch E, reach to A” “Drop to E” “touch F#”, “pop off” “swing” left arm and “bend” knees)
a) A E F# E
b) On last E
• left side of hand leads (arm and elbow) (“swing”) slightly and knees bend a bit deeper
• Decrease tension, balance point is important
c) KEY: Listen for tone
18) For weekly Poem recitation Tuesday, 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. Learn new poem for Tuesday.
19) Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) Friday (see new format above)
Group Class
1. Standing in line, waiting, hand violin crossed, thank you
2. Notes A E F# D C# B (see below)
3. Bow Poem with tip up, good following and rhythm
4. Follow directions quickly: touch ____
5. Notes: hand motions and body positions review
6. Crossed arm violin hand off and “thank you”
7. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
8. Moving and stopping quickly as music plays
9. ID Violin parts
10. Pizzicato versus Arco
11. Harmonic, Double Stop, Triple Stop, Quadruple Stop
12. Say ____ exactly when he points to you
13. Song identification (stand up/sit down, raise hand)
Group Class Information for this Friday:
Note, Hand Position, Movement
A , bottom of chin , sit down
E, top head, hairline, stand up
F#, above head, jump
D, forehead/eyebrow, touch shoulder
C#, nose, touch waist
B, lips, touch toes
Note from Mima to Mom Lisa the Monday before our Tue Lesson
We had another really good practice this afternoon!
I used goldfish (her new idea) accumulating in a dish during the practice (up on the high book shelf so that it was away from the practice zone) and we had a piece of birthday cake with a frosting LEAF after. I also used pennies under her green feet for some of the practice items.
I tried to be very clear about what we were doing in each session and gave her some choices. It has not worked in the past, but today it did work ... maybe I am learning to be clearer.
Nora understands that we are doing 3 short practices today and that you will be doing the evening practice. (Later note: this was a very short and good practice with good attention and good following directions, despite the fact that just prior to holding the violin, Nora pulled out both of her hair bands (and mom and Mima ignored this). Nora did one “open back and drop 3rd finger D” and one “ MHD dessert A E F# E swing and bend”. We are trying to end while it is still going well!
Nora really helped me (Mima) this afternoon. She told me that she gets confused when I say "touch E" meaning that she should place the bow on the E string before it reaches/rocks over to the A string to begin the F# dessert exercise. She said it is confusing because when she hears the word “touch” she puts her first finger down for the "touch F#" and it makes a mistake on the A string. Moreover, you may recall that getting that open A first note has been hard because the first finger was often on the strings! Now we know that it is because we used the word “touch” as an instruction for the left hand first finger F# and later as an instruction for the bow position. Because Nora was really concentrating in the practice today, and because she is so articulate, I believe that we can make the F# practice easier for her. (Note from Tue Lesson: Mr S says to use the words “set E” for the instruction to put the bow on the E string.)
Now, when I say “great practice”, I mean that it went smoothly in terms of Nora’s behavior and cooperation. Her overall posture was better; however, there are still violin skill issues. But, I am not as concerned about that stuff (head on rest, no twisting body, bow in one lane of the road, as these things will become easier over time. Everything should be easier if she can feel accomplishment (and hopefully some joy) from some good practices.
I don’t expect that it will be hard to move away from these “treat rewards” as Nora gets a better idea of what we are doing in the practice sessions. I am pretty sure that I am really supposed to be using mostly “pebbles” and sometimes “pennies”, but maybe this will be a “don’t ask and don’t tell” situation.
Practice List
1. Identification: NEW: Perpetual Motion. (Twinkle Variations, Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, Aunt Rhody, O’ Come Little Children, May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro)
2. Singing and Hand Signing A, E, F# and C# memory game without cards
3. Violin sets for count of 10 seconds
4. Shoulder bowing of Twinkle Variations while singing along “Listen Please” “Your Turn” (may hold left arm across chest/waist to prevent twist)
5. Playing dessert (A E F# E, left side of hand leads left arm swing and then bend knees) NEW variables: use whole yellow tape playground and make a nice sound. “You can do this for pennies.” “make it sound pretty”
6. Keep green feet, head back on chin rest, bow on one lane of road, soft left knee, no twisting
7. Do 5 times a day: Left hand Swing, 1st finger “Open Back, 3rd finger drops on A string and NEW “ Tap D” : tap 3rd finger lightly a few times on A. Do as separate practice exercise. (see #13 explanation)
8. Playing MHD, HB, SBB, Wash, My name on E string KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions & listen for tone
9. Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: “set E” “reach to” A and A “drop to” E KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn” (this is the “pebble game” for 5
10. “Fix it” or “Move on” Game: Object is to get all “Move Ons” as she plays dessert A E F# E (not mentioned this week)
11. Listening Piece Story for Friday
12. Poem for Tuesday *still needs eye contact as primary objective
13. Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = A E F# E D C# B A
14. Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then tip up
15. Finger tapping thumb to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th finger
16. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
Notes:
1) NEW:Mr S began lesson by asking us not to put any type of turtleneck shirt on Nora for lesson days and group class sessions.
2) Nora stayed standing on her foot chart and named the songs and twinkle variations (mostly all correct) that Mr S played on her violin. She took a long time on Long Long Ago, but got it, and she twice missed Lightly Row (she said O Come Little Children as a first response) and she got Allegro after first thinking it was Song of the Wind. He added: Perpetual Motion, a piece that is not like any of the others and thus he does not think she will have a hard time learning it.
3) Nora gave her Poem (she forgot the title and author), but his main concern was that she still does not give him eye contact as she recites the poem.
4) Mr S had a hard time getting Nora to cooperate for the violin sets at the very beginning of the lesson (they were going to do the F# dessert). After he gave her a warning that it would be a shame to have to end the lesson early, she immediately responded and began following directions with more care. After the lesson he told Mima that I should be ready for him to unceremoniously end one of her lessons (what he terms a “million dollar lesson”) if she does not follow directions and cooperate. He does not want this to be “acrimonious”, but rather a learning experience so that she learns to quickly do what is asked to the best of her ability. He said that he may never have to do this, but he wanted me to be prepared just in case it happens.
5) NEW: Nora turns her head to follow his hand. He did an exercise with her for her to turn her head (not her eyes) without turning her shoulders or twisting her body. Just her head should turn as she follows his hand.
6) He did the pitch memory game giving her lots of running and failry complex movement sequences and some cognitive (counting type) tasks as well. Put the duck on the piano bench and jump 3 times, run and touch the door, give Mima a hug and return and sing C#. She did this enthusiastically and her pitches are improving though C# remains difficult.
7) He did an activity where she had to follow his directions quickly (red feet, green feet, touch V, touch X) and she did this one fast and just fine.
8) When he did violin dessert F# exercise 5 times, Nora did stay on her green feet, but she went up on tip toes a couple of times and this can cause loss of balance. He paced her carefully letting her know her status “that was two, here comes three”, “just two more left”.
9) Mr S had Mima do the swing, open back and drop 3rd finger and tap exercise so that I could get a feel for how it is done. The swing should bring the hand forward so that the 3rd finger just drops down to touch on the A string. For the Tapping, he showed how he touches the back of Nora’s hand lightly under the base of the third finger knuckle joint to help cue that the movement comes from the tendons in the hand and not just the distal joints of the 3rd finger. The touch on the string is so light that it does not depress the string enough to actually make a note that would sound.
10) We noticed that Nora’s bow hand fingers were mirroring the drop of the 3rd finger during her left hand exercise. Nothing was said to Nora about it and this is fine, and one reason for separating the violin and the bow hand at this point. Mr S spoke about exercises that he has used with other students to help with independent finger action and showed a few to Mima.
a) He said that right now we should be sure to do the finger to thumb tapping exercises with Nora. At first she can do the same fingers on both hands and later we can progress to using different fingers, for example a first finger tap with the right hand and a 3rd finger tap with her left hand.
b) He also showed a thumb game (not for now). The student holds hands out with thumbs bent to begin. The game consists of the each thumb being either bent or straight up and the thumb position must be changed (up/down) each time he points to a thumb, right thumb and left thumb. He began by pointing to both thumbs at the same time but the game got more difficult as he pointed to the right and left at different times, or at the same time, but after they were in opposite starting positions positions.
11) Steps in “dessert” A E F# E. Mima should give clear and rhythmic requests/instructions to Nora (some instructions use a variety of words meaning the same thing (“my turn” “your turn” has several variations)
• “Green Feet”
• “Soft Knees”
• “Soft Bow Hand”
• “TURN HEAD”
• “DROP HEAD”
• (Mima can swing Nora’s left arm to make sure it is soft and relaxed)
• “Thumb Pillow”
• “Tickle Spot”
• “Set E”
• “Reach A”
• “my turn”
• “your turn”)
• drop E
• “my turn” “your turn”)
• touch F#
• “”my turn” – “your turn”
• “pop off”
• “my turn”– “your turn”
• “swing and bend”
12) Road for the bow has just one lane
• Stay in one place, do not let bow slide the lanes for the other (imaginary) cars.
• Stay in “your yard” the bow playground
• Keep your eyeballs in the bow
• Play just one string
13) 4 year old posture no twisting toward left (10 seconds no twist)
• Soft left knee
• Relaxed right shoulder
• Head properly back on chin rest
14) Do 5 times a day Swing (far enough so that the 3rd finger can just drop down to touch the A string with no additional movement), “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string NEW : tap 3rd finger on red tape on A string but not hard, just lightly touch. Pressure may not be enough to depress string and that is OK. :
• Only left hand, no bow needed
• “Open Back” : the first finger reaches back and a little down, left hand fingers fan open led by 1st finger movement back and down
• drop 3rd finger “D” to lightly touch the red tape on the A string (no squeeze)
15) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Two Variables for the game at this point
• Head back (Mr S said he noticed that this was better in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
16) New Format: for Listening Piece Recitation will be more like a story: “Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance Number 1 in G Minor, and it was performed by Itzhak Perlman on the violin.”
17) Dessert: F# on the E string (“touch E, reach to A” “Drop to E” “touch F#”, “pop off” “swing” left arm and “bend” knees)
a) A E F# E
b) On last E
• left side of hand leads (arm and elbow) (“swing”) slightly and knees bend a bit deeper
• Decrease tension, balance point is important
c) KEY: Listen for tone
18) For weekly Poem recitation Tuesday, 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. Learn new poem for Tuesday.
19) Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) Friday (see new format above)
Group Class
1. Standing in line, waiting, hand violin crossed, thank you
2. Notes A E F# D C# B (see below)
3. Bow Poem with tip up, good following and rhythm
4. Follow directions quickly: touch ____
5. Notes: hand motions and body positions review
6. Crossed arm violin hand off and “thank you”
7. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
8. Moving and stopping quickly as music plays
9. ID Violin parts
10. Pizzicato versus Arco
11. Harmonic, Double Stop, Triple Stop, Quadruple Stop
12. Say ____ exactly when he points to you
13. Song identification (stand up/sit down, raise hand)
Group Class Information for this Friday:
Note, Hand Position, Movement
A , bottom of chin , sit down
E, top head, hairline, stand up
F#, above head, jump
D, forehead/eyebrow, touch shoulder
C#, nose, touch waist
B, lips, touch toes
Note from Mima to Mom Lisa the Monday before our Tue Lesson
We had another really good practice this afternoon!
I used goldfish (her new idea) accumulating in a dish during the practice (up on the high book shelf so that it was away from the practice zone) and we had a piece of birthday cake with a frosting LEAF after. I also used pennies under her green feet for some of the practice items.
I tried to be very clear about what we were doing in each session and gave her some choices. It has not worked in the past, but today it did work ... maybe I am learning to be clearer.
Nora understands that we are doing 3 short practices today and that you will be doing the evening practice. (Later note: this was a very short and good practice with good attention and good following directions, despite the fact that just prior to holding the violin, Nora pulled out both of her hair bands (and mom and Mima ignored this). Nora did one “open back and drop 3rd finger D” and one “ MHD dessert A E F# E swing and bend”. We are trying to end while it is still going well!
Nora really helped me (Mima) this afternoon. She told me that she gets confused when I say "touch E" meaning that she should place the bow on the E string before it reaches/rocks over to the A string to begin the F# dessert exercise. She said it is confusing because when she hears the word “touch” she puts her first finger down for the "touch F#" and it makes a mistake on the A string. Moreover, you may recall that getting that open A first note has been hard because the first finger was often on the strings! Now we know that it is because we used the word “touch” as an instruction for the left hand first finger F# and later as an instruction for the bow position. Because Nora was really concentrating in the practice today, and because she is so articulate, I believe that we can make the F# practice easier for her. (Note from Tue Lesson: Mr S says to use the words “set E” for the instruction to put the bow on the E string.)
Now, when I say “great practice”, I mean that it went smoothly in terms of Nora’s behavior and cooperation. Her overall posture was better; however, there are still violin skill issues. But, I am not as concerned about that stuff (head on rest, no twisting body, bow in one lane of the road, as these things will become easier over time. Everything should be easier if she can feel accomplishment (and hopefully some joy) from some good practices.
I don’t expect that it will be hard to move away from these “treat rewards” as Nora gets a better idea of what we are doing in the practice sessions. I am pretty sure that I am really supposed to be using mostly “pebbles” and sometimes “pennies”, but maybe this will be a “don’t ask and don’t tell” situation.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Violin Lesson Friday 11/2/2007 Lesson 14 Week 7
Practice List Friday 11/2/2007 Lesson 14 Week 7
Nora learning left hand's swing, open [fingers fan] back, drop 3rd finger on the A string to make the note D:
Practice List (things to concentrate on, new things added or explained today)
Practice List
1. Identification of Twinkle Variations, Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, Aunt Rhody, O’ Come Little Children, May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro.
2. Singing and Hand Signing A, E, F# and C# using note cards and memory game
3. Violin sets for count of 10 seconds
4. Shoulder bowing of Twinkle Variations while singing along “Listen Please” “Your Turn” (may hold left arm across chest/waist to prevent twist)
5. Playing dessert (A E F# E, left side of hand leads left arm swing and then bend knees) and listen for tone - “A Listen” “A Play” “E Listen” “E Play”
6. Keep green feet, head back on chin rest, bow on one lane of road, soft left knee, no twisting
7. Do 5 times a day Left hand Swing, “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string as separate practice exercise
8. Playing MHD, HB, SBB, Wash, My name on E string KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions & listen for tone
9. Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: E “reach to” A and A “drop to” E KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn” (this is the “pebble game” for 5
10. “Fix it” or “Move on” Game: Object is to get all “Move Ons” as she plays dessert A E F# E
11. Listening Piece Story for Friday
12. Poem for Tuesday eye contact
13. Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = A E F# E D C# B A
14. Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then tip up
15. Finger tapping thumb to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th finger
16. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
Group Class
1. Standing in line, waiting, hand violin crossed, thank you
2. Notes A E F# D C# B (see below)
3. Bow Poem with tip up, good following and rhythm
4. Follow directions quickly: touch ____
5. Notes: hand motions and body positions review
6. Crossed arm violin hand off and “thank you”
7. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
8. Moving and stopping quickly as music plays
9. ID Violin parts
10. Pizzicato versus Arco
11. Harmonic, Double Stop, Triple Stop, Quadruple Stop
12. Say ____ exactly when he points to you
13. Song identification (stand up/sit down, raise hand)
Group Class Information for this Friday:
Note Hand Position Movement
A bottom of chin sit down
E top head, hairline stand up
F# above head jump
D forehead/eyebrow touch shoulder
C# nose touch waist
B lips touch toes
Practice Notes:
1) Steps in “dessert” A E F# E. Mima should give clear and rhythmic requests/instructions to Nora
• “Green Feet”
• “Soft Knees”
• “Soft Bow Hand”
• “TURN HEAD”
• “DROP HEAD”
• (Mima can swing Nora’s left arm to make sure it is soft and relaxed)
• “Thumb Pillow”
• “Tickle Spot”
• “Place bow on E”
• “Reach A”
• “listen please”
• “ A Play” (changed from “your turn”)
• drop E
• “listen please” – “E Play” (changed from “your turn”)
• touch F#
• “listen please” – “F# play”
• “pop off”
• “listen please” (E) – “E Play”
• “swing and bend”
2) Road for the bow has just one lane
• Stay in one place, do not let bow slide the lanes for the other (imaginary) cars.
• Stay in “your yard” the bow playground
• Keep your eyeballs in the bow
• Play just one string
3) 4 year old posture no twisting toward left (10 seconds no twist)
• Soft left knee
• Relaxed right shoulder
• Head properly back on chin rest
4) NEW: Do 5 times a day Swing, “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string as separate practice exercise
a) Only left hand, no bow needed
b) (this segment will eventually come after the pop off F#)
c) It is the next part of the “swing” preparation when the left hand leads the arm swing and the knees bend)
d) “Swing”
e) “Open Back” : the first finger reaches back and a little down, left hand fingers fan open led by 1st finger movement back and down
f) drop 3rd finger “D” to touch the new tape on the A string (no squeeze)
This prepares hand for proper vibrato position later. Mr. S did this with her in the lesson and she did beautifully under his guidance (see movie clip).
5) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Two Variables for the game at this point
• Head back (Mr S said he noticed that this was better in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
6) New Format: for Listening Piece Recitation will be more like a story: “Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance in D Minor , and it was performed by Sarah Chang on the violin.”
7) ( strategies & key ideas) from Previous Lessons:
8) Dessert: F# on the E string (“touch E, reach to A” “Drop to E” “touch F#”, “pop off” “swing” left arm and “bend” knees)
a) A E F# E
b) On last E
• left side of hand leads (arm and elbow) (“swing”) slightly and knees bend a bit deeper
• Decrease tension, balance point is important
c) KEY: Listen for tone
9) For weekly Poem recitation Tuesday, 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. Learn new poem for Tuesday.
10) Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) Friday (see new format above)
Explanations and Notes:
1. Nora really worked beautifully with Mr S today, following his directions and really trying to do what he asked. Sometimes when he works with Nora it seems so “easy” and Nora seems to be able to follow his words and especially his touch guidance. (At home it can be a very different story as Mima and Mom try out these very new tasks in a much less skilled manner.)
2. Nora identified all Twinkle variations except “Washington Washington.” Mima must admit that she does tend to forget this variation and it does not help that it is not on the Suzuki recording. Mommy always includes it in her practices, and we will need to make sure we are doing this one enough. Nora identified “Song of the Wind” and “O’ Come Little Children”. Aunt Rhody, Lightly Row, Long Log Ago, and Allegro were not correct. She did eventually get “May Song” and it was our “Mystery” Song for this week. I guess all the “May Song” singing while Trick or Treating with mom and dad paid off. But we all need to give Nora more chances to name or have the songs named for her, in addition to just listening to the songs.
3. Next Nora did her note cards with Mr S, getting many of the A’s E’s and F#’s on pitch (sometimes accompanied by hand signs) . She had an easier time matching a source pitch (sometimes using what I think he said was her “Ethel Merman” voice). Some of the time she was still confusing F# and C# both in the notation on the card and in pitch.
4. Nora seemed a bit confused when she got in front of Mr S and was ready to give a poem (what poem?), but then she switched gears and began to tell him about her Special Listening Piece. This week she had no trouble saying the composer, Johannes Brahms . Last week she was getting confused and saying “Minuet Brahms” sometimes. She had some trouble starting the presentation and could not recall the word “Hungarian” until he prompted her. After the prompt she gave the information quite well, but without eye contact. He did not mention the eye contact, because, unlike when she did her poem, she was still having some difficulty with smooth information recall.
5. Nora did the new skill, the “Open and Back” movement of the left first finger and hand in preparation for dropping the 3rd finger on the A string to make the note D, very smoothly as Mr S guided her carefully. The movie clip shows this new movement, and in this case, a picture is definitely worth 1000 words. Mr S also placed a red tape in her violin to show where her 3rd finger should be placed to make sure her “D” is in tune.
6. Notes on Practicing: Nora had no school today so we had a very nice practice at about 10:15 AM. “Very nice” in this instance means that Nora agreed to do the practice, stayed in the room for the practice, stayed mostly on her green feet, and did not flop to the floor as Mima tried to get her ready for a violin set. She was more willing to participate in the games, for example, she gave some of her earned pennies to her Piggy Bank and some to her Unicef collection box. Mima recalls that the last time there was no school on Friday, and we had an unhurried mid morning practice, it also went exceptionally well. Understandably, practicing after a full morning of school and practicing in the evening is more difficult. Mom notes that 11 AM practice on Saturday has also been a good time. Nora is not an early morning child, and she barely gets her regular morning routine finished in order to get to school on time. Of course, we do listen to the Suzuki Book One recording in the morning and at other times and we try to identify the songs that we have been assigned. In a quick exchange with the grandma in the lesson before Nora’s, she asked how things were going with Nora and I told her that practicing has become very challenging, very difficult. She said that they are having similar issues at their house and that Mr S’s suggestion to let the child have more choices has helped. Later, Mr S told me that Nora is “just where she should be.” He pointed out that Nora’s head really was in the desired backward position for more of the lesson this week, and she is doing the A, E and F# pitches more consistently. He says that Nora is just where he would expect her to be on her individual path to violin playing. He explained that as new things are added we should expect that sometimes, some of the older (but newly learned) skills would become unstable for a time, until the entire set of skills solidifies. We have had difficulty motivating Nora to practice, especially to practice the violin playing assignments, and even desirable rewards (Halloween candy for example) do not work. Mr S’s ever-changing strategies help as Nora seems to enjoy a game for the first time (and maybe once or twice more) before loosing interest. Nora will suggest that we do bow sets or even shoulder bowing rather than tackle the harder newer assignments. The silver lining, is that something that was once hard for her, shoulder bowing, is now perceived by her as something she can do at least reasonably well. And it is understandable that Nora does not want to be asked to do the things that she finds particularly difficult.
7. Mima asked Mr S to please watch her work with Nora in this lesson so that he could give Mima pointers (corrections) to make the practice easier and more comfortable, and hopefully eventually, more enjoyable for Nora. And Mima learned that she should give Nora clear concise verbal requests, starting with remembering to say “green feet” and making sure that Nora is really ON her green feet properly, and also giving her clear instructions for head placement, “turn head”, “drop head.” At one point, Nora started some of her usual antics, and Mr S told Nora that she was not making this easy for Mima. After that, Nora did cooperate for the last trial with Mima so that Mr S could help Mima to cut down on the excess verbalizations and just concentrate on the main instructions. (As with everything else I am writing, this is my, Mima’s, interpretation of what I think Mr S said.) I worked with Nora while sitting directly in front of her in his teaching chair. When asked how I usually do this, I told him that I sit in a low child’s chair so that I can be close to Nora at her height, and comfortable without hurting my knees or back. He commented that this sounded like a good idea. This low chair seating approach was taken from Mima’s years of work as an occupational therapist working with children in tiny chairs, small wheel chairs and on mats.
8. In our eagerness to help Mima give better instruction to Nora, we all forgot the “thank you bow” this week (and Nora had practiced it too!)
9. The Penny Game for Green Feet did help with staying on task this week and the Pitch Memory game (giving Nora directions to run and jump etc. between trials) was a great success. It is getting the practice started that seems to be one of our biggest hurdles.
10. On the weekend mom usually goes over some of the group class skills. Nora, for example will benefit from doing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger to thumb finger taps this week. The fact that Nora observed Mr S teaching group classes for a year and a half has been beneficial to Nora in terms of her understanding of what is being presented.
Additional Notes for Mom:
11. Nora’s new hairdo with 3 bands really did keep most of her hair back and out of the way and there was just one small time when she managed to sneak a lock of hair into her mouth. She left her hair in the “do” for the whole time she played at the playground and only tool it out after we got home.
12. Nora picked a chocolate rice crispy square from the store ignoring the lovely half price Halloween Cookies, because, of course, she had already chosen and eaten those after previous lessons. She seems quite intent on finding a new item each week. We went right to the Park to enjoy the cool and sunny day and Nora really did a lot of full out running , climbing, jumping, swinging and playing. We had a quick picnic at a table in the park before heading home in Mima’s newly vacuumed car. Pooh stories again for the car ride home and she is now getting quite specific in her requests for particular chapters.
13. Mr S had a cold, so we wished him well and took his advice to wash our hands before we left the studio house.
14. Nora was so eager to get to the lesson that she was running on the stairs down to and up from the lesson house. Mima will need to be firmer about safety in this regard as this has not been an issue since the first two lessons.
Nora learning left hand's swing, open [fingers fan] back, drop 3rd finger on the A string to make the note D:
Practice List (things to concentrate on, new things added or explained today)
Practice List
1. Identification of Twinkle Variations, Lightly Row, Song of the Wind, Aunt Rhody, O’ Come Little Children, May Song, Long Long Ago, Allegro.
2. Singing and Hand Signing A, E, F# and C# using note cards and memory game
3. Violin sets for count of 10 seconds
4. Shoulder bowing of Twinkle Variations while singing along “Listen Please” “Your Turn” (may hold left arm across chest/waist to prevent twist)
5. Playing dessert (A E F# E, left side of hand leads left arm swing and then bend knees) and listen for tone - “A Listen” “A Play” “E Listen” “E Play”
6. Keep green feet, head back on chin rest, bow on one lane of road, soft left knee, no twisting
7. Do 5 times a day Left hand Swing, “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string as separate practice exercise
8. Playing MHD, HB, SBB, Wash, My name on E string KEY: work for increased number of consecutive repetitions & listen for tone
9. Playing MHD on E string and A string with string crossing: E “reach to” A and A “drop to” E KEY: 5 consecutive repetitions with eyes down on road and head back (keeping violin up) “listen please” “your turn” (this is the “pebble game” for 5
10. “Fix it” or “Move on” Game: Object is to get all “Move Ons” as she plays dessert A E F# E
11. Listening Piece Story for Friday
12. Poem for Tuesday eye contact
13. Sing and clap variation rhythm (first part of twinkle “the bread”) while keeping total eye contact Bread = A E F# E D C# B A
14. Bow sets with “bumpy thumb” then tip up
15. Finger tapping thumb to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th finger
16. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
Group Class
1. Standing in line, waiting, hand violin crossed, thank you
2. Notes A E F# D C# B (see below)
3. Bow Poem with tip up, good following and rhythm
4. Follow directions quickly: touch ____
5. Notes: hand motions and body positions review
6. Crossed arm violin hand off and “thank you”
7. Getting violin into rest position and thank you bow with words “thank you for teaching me Mr S”
8. Moving and stopping quickly as music plays
9. ID Violin parts
10. Pizzicato versus Arco
11. Harmonic, Double Stop, Triple Stop, Quadruple Stop
12. Say ____ exactly when he points to you
13. Song identification (stand up/sit down, raise hand)
Group Class Information for this Friday:
Note Hand Position Movement
A bottom of chin sit down
E top head, hairline stand up
F# above head jump
D forehead/eyebrow touch shoulder
C# nose touch waist
B lips touch toes
Practice Notes:
1) Steps in “dessert” A E F# E. Mima should give clear and rhythmic requests/instructions to Nora
• “Green Feet”
• “Soft Knees”
• “Soft Bow Hand”
• “TURN HEAD”
• “DROP HEAD”
• (Mima can swing Nora’s left arm to make sure it is soft and relaxed)
• “Thumb Pillow”
• “Tickle Spot”
• “Place bow on E”
• “Reach A”
• “listen please”
• “ A Play” (changed from “your turn”)
• drop E
• “listen please” – “E Play” (changed from “your turn”)
• touch F#
• “listen please” – “F# play”
• “pop off”
• “listen please” (E) – “E Play”
• “swing and bend”
2) Road for the bow has just one lane
• Stay in one place, do not let bow slide the lanes for the other (imaginary) cars.
• Stay in “your yard” the bow playground
• Keep your eyeballs in the bow
• Play just one string
3) 4 year old posture no twisting toward left (10 seconds no twist)
• Soft left knee
• Relaxed right shoulder
• Head properly back on chin rest
4) NEW: Do 5 times a day Swing, “Open Back” 1st finger movement opening hand backward and 3rd finger dropping on A string as separate practice exercise
a) Only left hand, no bow needed
b) (this segment will eventually come after the pop off F#)
c) It is the next part of the “swing” preparation when the left hand leads the arm swing and the knees bend)
d) “Swing”
e) “Open Back” : the first finger reaches back and a little down, left hand fingers fan open led by 1st finger movement back and down
f) drop 3rd finger “D” to touch the new tape on the A string (no squeeze)
This prepares hand for proper vibrato position later. Mr. S did this with her in the lesson and she did beautifully under his guidance (see movie clip).
5) “Fix it” or “Move on” Game. The object is to get all “Move Ons” (not done in lesson and still quite new for us)
a) Two Variables for the game at this point
• Head back (Mr S said he noticed that this was better in today’s lesson)
• No twisting shoulders and trunk
b) After each MHD (on the dessert, or another playing practice exercise) the parent tells Nora
• “Fix it” and she needs to check and change her own head and twisted shoulders
• “Move On” means her head was back in proper place and she was not twisted left, so parent “goes on” to the give “listen please” for the next note of the dessert or exercise
6) New Format: for Listening Piece Recitation will be more like a story: “Johannes Brahms composed Hungarian Dance in D Minor , and it was performed by Sarah Chang on the violin.”
7) ( strategies & key ideas) from Previous Lessons:
8) Dessert: F# on the E string (“touch E, reach to A” “Drop to E” “touch F#”, “pop off” “swing” left arm and “bend” knees)
a) A E F# E
b) On last E
• left side of hand leads (arm and elbow) (“swing”) slightly and knees bend a bit deeper
• Decrease tension, balance point is important
c) KEY: Listen for tone
9) For weekly Poem recitation Tuesday, 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. Learn new poem for Tuesday.
10) Weekly Music listening presentation (piece, composer, musician * and working up to accompanist or orchestra) Friday (see new format above)
Explanations and Notes:
1. Nora really worked beautifully with Mr S today, following his directions and really trying to do what he asked. Sometimes when he works with Nora it seems so “easy” and Nora seems to be able to follow his words and especially his touch guidance. (At home it can be a very different story as Mima and Mom try out these very new tasks in a much less skilled manner.)
2. Nora identified all Twinkle variations except “Washington Washington.” Mima must admit that she does tend to forget this variation and it does not help that it is not on the Suzuki recording. Mommy always includes it in her practices, and we will need to make sure we are doing this one enough. Nora identified “Song of the Wind” and “O’ Come Little Children”. Aunt Rhody, Lightly Row, Long Log Ago, and Allegro were not correct. She did eventually get “May Song” and it was our “Mystery” Song for this week. I guess all the “May Song” singing while Trick or Treating with mom and dad paid off. But we all need to give Nora more chances to name or have the songs named for her, in addition to just listening to the songs.
3. Next Nora did her note cards with Mr S, getting many of the A’s E’s and F#’s on pitch (sometimes accompanied by hand signs) . She had an easier time matching a source pitch (sometimes using what I think he said was her “Ethel Merman” voice). Some of the time she was still confusing F# and C# both in the notation on the card and in pitch.
4. Nora seemed a bit confused when she got in front of Mr S and was ready to give a poem (what poem?), but then she switched gears and began to tell him about her Special Listening Piece. This week she had no trouble saying the composer, Johannes Brahms . Last week she was getting confused and saying “Minuet Brahms” sometimes. She had some trouble starting the presentation and could not recall the word “Hungarian” until he prompted her. After the prompt she gave the information quite well, but without eye contact. He did not mention the eye contact, because, unlike when she did her poem, she was still having some difficulty with smooth information recall.
5. Nora did the new skill, the “Open and Back” movement of the left first finger and hand in preparation for dropping the 3rd finger on the A string to make the note D, very smoothly as Mr S guided her carefully. The movie clip shows this new movement, and in this case, a picture is definitely worth 1000 words. Mr S also placed a red tape in her violin to show where her 3rd finger should be placed to make sure her “D” is in tune.
6. Notes on Practicing: Nora had no school today so we had a very nice practice at about 10:15 AM. “Very nice” in this instance means that Nora agreed to do the practice, stayed in the room for the practice, stayed mostly on her green feet, and did not flop to the floor as Mima tried to get her ready for a violin set. She was more willing to participate in the games, for example, she gave some of her earned pennies to her Piggy Bank and some to her Unicef collection box. Mima recalls that the last time there was no school on Friday, and we had an unhurried mid morning practice, it also went exceptionally well. Understandably, practicing after a full morning of school and practicing in the evening is more difficult. Mom notes that 11 AM practice on Saturday has also been a good time. Nora is not an early morning child, and she barely gets her regular morning routine finished in order to get to school on time. Of course, we do listen to the Suzuki Book One recording in the morning and at other times and we try to identify the songs that we have been assigned. In a quick exchange with the grandma in the lesson before Nora’s, she asked how things were going with Nora and I told her that practicing has become very challenging, very difficult. She said that they are having similar issues at their house and that Mr S’s suggestion to let the child have more choices has helped. Later, Mr S told me that Nora is “just where she should be.” He pointed out that Nora’s head really was in the desired backward position for more of the lesson this week, and she is doing the A, E and F# pitches more consistently. He says that Nora is just where he would expect her to be on her individual path to violin playing. He explained that as new things are added we should expect that sometimes, some of the older (but newly learned) skills would become unstable for a time, until the entire set of skills solidifies. We have had difficulty motivating Nora to practice, especially to practice the violin playing assignments, and even desirable rewards (Halloween candy for example) do not work. Mr S’s ever-changing strategies help as Nora seems to enjoy a game for the first time (and maybe once or twice more) before loosing interest. Nora will suggest that we do bow sets or even shoulder bowing rather than tackle the harder newer assignments. The silver lining, is that something that was once hard for her, shoulder bowing, is now perceived by her as something she can do at least reasonably well. And it is understandable that Nora does not want to be asked to do the things that she finds particularly difficult.
7. Mima asked Mr S to please watch her work with Nora in this lesson so that he could give Mima pointers (corrections) to make the practice easier and more comfortable, and hopefully eventually, more enjoyable for Nora. And Mima learned that she should give Nora clear concise verbal requests, starting with remembering to say “green feet” and making sure that Nora is really ON her green feet properly, and also giving her clear instructions for head placement, “turn head”, “drop head.” At one point, Nora started some of her usual antics, and Mr S told Nora that she was not making this easy for Mima. After that, Nora did cooperate for the last trial with Mima so that Mr S could help Mima to cut down on the excess verbalizations and just concentrate on the main instructions. (As with everything else I am writing, this is my, Mima’s, interpretation of what I think Mr S said.) I worked with Nora while sitting directly in front of her in his teaching chair. When asked how I usually do this, I told him that I sit in a low child’s chair so that I can be close to Nora at her height, and comfortable without hurting my knees or back. He commented that this sounded like a good idea. This low chair seating approach was taken from Mima’s years of work as an occupational therapist working with children in tiny chairs, small wheel chairs and on mats.
8. In our eagerness to help Mima give better instruction to Nora, we all forgot the “thank you bow” this week (and Nora had practiced it too!)
9. The Penny Game for Green Feet did help with staying on task this week and the Pitch Memory game (giving Nora directions to run and jump etc. between trials) was a great success. It is getting the practice started that seems to be one of our biggest hurdles.
10. On the weekend mom usually goes over some of the group class skills. Nora, for example will benefit from doing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger to thumb finger taps this week. The fact that Nora observed Mr S teaching group classes for a year and a half has been beneficial to Nora in terms of her understanding of what is being presented.
Additional Notes for Mom:
11. Nora’s new hairdo with 3 bands really did keep most of her hair back and out of the way and there was just one small time when she managed to sneak a lock of hair into her mouth. She left her hair in the “do” for the whole time she played at the playground and only tool it out after we got home.
12. Nora picked a chocolate rice crispy square from the store ignoring the lovely half price Halloween Cookies, because, of course, she had already chosen and eaten those after previous lessons. She seems quite intent on finding a new item each week. We went right to the Park to enjoy the cool and sunny day and Nora really did a lot of full out running , climbing, jumping, swinging and playing. We had a quick picnic at a table in the park before heading home in Mima’s newly vacuumed car. Pooh stories again for the car ride home and she is now getting quite specific in her requests for particular chapters.
13. Mr S had a cold, so we wished him well and took his advice to wash our hands before we left the studio house.
14. Nora was so eager to get to the lesson that she was running on the stairs down to and up from the lesson house. Mima will need to be firmer about safety in this regard as this has not been an issue since the first two lessons.
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