Violin Lesson Friday December 21, 2007

A. Mr S Congratulated Nora on:
1. Bow hand hold becoming very natural for her
2. Keeping violin up the whole time and playing without wiggles
3. Using open door arm
4. Playing in playground tape better than before

B. Key element of lesson:
Assignment 10 finger soft pops using each finger each day (he did them on A string) 10 x 3rd, 2nd, 1st finger. Left hand only without the bow!
Explanation:
1. Just lightly touch (never press) and pop off, no squeezing. Touch and get off the string.
2. Soft finger pops back (rather than straight up) and moves from the base of the finger, the lowest joint closest to the hand.
3. She should try not to press her finger too hard on the string, just the natural weight of the finger, better to have a wispy sound at this point.
4. Touch is a happy word, press is not, “don't hurt the string” be gentle.
5. He said that one may also add the thumb moving away from the neck as an additional exercise.

C. He asked her to play the entire Twinkle MHD sandwich on her own for him (first time) and said that this should be a very rare treat at home.
1. She self corrected several notes that did not get a good sound and let him help her on a few.
2. When he tried to help her at one point she reminded him that he said she would be playing this independently, and she struggled through the entire song, faltering on the last few notes of the jelly. She forged ahead all on her own and regained confidence with the last bread. He helped her with an occasional verbal cue such as "E", and this was her very first time to play the entire song!

D. Other points of the lesson for her Sandwich practice.
1. He said that she should work more on her SWING (open back) drop D
2. When she finishes a “sandwich” she should raise bow hand up above her head while she keeps the violin up under her chin. He did not do the second step of the red feet rest position bow this week.

3. Play with shoulders “square” not a twisted trunk. (Left knee soft)
a. Pretend that there is a string from Nora's belly button to her practice parent in the chair in front of her.
b. Keep her nose, scroll toe alignment
i. While her belly faces forward
ii. It may help to practice in the same location in our house so that Nora is facing and looking toward the same part of the room in each practice. (after the holiday travels)

E. She told him her listening piece: Peter Tchaikovsky composed the Nutcracker Suite conducted by Michael “Thomas Tilson” played by the “harmonic” orchestra. She did this even as she saw Daddy walking by the window of her lesson room.

F. Behavior: He asked her to go back to the couch and walk to her green feet on the foot chart (instead of crawling, a first)! and she did this. We used hand sanitizer (a first!) quickly after she put her hand to her nose, and Mima will have to remember to use the regular and not the moisturizer variety, as it dries much more quickly. She prepared her violin nicely for the lesson in the waiting room and watched quietly from the observer chair for the last few minutes of L's lesson as Mr S was writing things down in the notebook for her father. Eventually Nora did get off the chair in her eagerness to give him his box of holiday violin cookies, but it was not a problem. She worked quietly in her notebook at the end of the lesson as Mr S showed Daddy and Mima how to do left hand light individual finger taps on a chair seat. He also had Mima and Keary hold the little violin to get a "feel" of what Nora was needing to learn. On the first finger touch Mima also had a too strong finger tap, and Mr S showed how Mima and Nora should be softly moving the individual fingers.