Next Week: Performance for Parents!

C Class will perform Twinkle Variation A
D Class will perform Twinkle Variation D
E Class will perform Lightly Row

WEEK BEFORE THANKSGIVING

Everyone: The Symphony of Toys is on Sunday, Nov. 28th. It's a free family-friendly symphony concert with a toy donation. Print out tickets here: http://www.newconservatory.org/sot/index.asp

C GROUP:

• Twinkle Variation A at different tempi - it should never feel fast to you. If it feels fast, you are not controlling your playing and you need to slow it down.
• Introduction of Variation B: the rests between the notes can be sung as "shh". So, the note pattern is as follows:

A A ssh A E E ssh E F F ssh F E E ssh
E D D ssh D C C ssh C B B ssh B A A ssh
A E E ssh E D D ssh D C C ssh C B B ssh
A E E ssh E D D ssh D C C ssh C B B ssh
B A A ssh A E E ssh E F F ssh F E E ssh
E D D ssh D C C ssh C B B ssh B A A ssh A!
Practice singing the notes (and the ssh) along with the CD. If you can sing it, you'll be able to play it.

• Down Wiggle, Up Wiggle variation: practice moving your bow straight up and down in the air while singing "down wiggle, up wiggle".
• Caterpillar Caterpillar variation: This one was pretty easy for you all today. Well done!

D GROUP:
Twinkle Variations:

1. taka taka stop stop
2. Doctor (ssh) Suzuki (ssh) said never (ssh) be lazy (ssh) just practice (ssh) and practice (ssh) till mama (ssh) goes crazy! (ssh)
3. DOWN wiggle, UP wiggle
4. pineapple pineapple
5. caterpillar caterpillar
6. Theme (regular Twinkle)

Cuckoo (track 38 on your CD)

E GROUP:

1. Twinkle Variations: make sure your bow is doing what you want it to do (always start a new note with a down-bow, for example).
2. Cuckoo: track 38 on your CD
3. Lightly Row: track 40 on your CD
4. Preparation for Song of the Wind: track 44 on your CD.

WEEK 8: Twinkles and more

C CLASS:
Today we experienced how we can communicate a message using volume - we played softly and loudly during the game of 'find the rosin' in order to tell a classmate where the rosin was. This was a lot of fun, and you all had a chance to improve your Twinkle variation in the process. Wonderful!

We started a new variation: "caterpillar caterpillar". In your book this is referred to as the fifth variation. We talked about creating a bouncing feeling with the bow hand. You can practice this more just by bouncing your right fist on your lap - the bold syllables are the ones where your hand is bouncing down: cat er pil lar cat er pil lar

D CLASS:


E CLASS:

Twinkle variations:

1. taka taka stop stop: start each new note with a down-bow, every time
2. Doctor... Suzuki...: short, fast bowstrokes
3. down wiggle up wiggle: make sure your bow is following the "down wiggle, up wiggle" pattern every time
4. pineapple pineapple: steady triplets please
5. caterpillar caterpillar: make sure you remain steady, without speeding up. Play along with your CD or a YouTube video for this.
6. Theme: long, lyrical bowstrokes.

Cuckoo:
Below is the pitch outline for Cuckoo. It is track 38 on your Step by Step CD (Lexus, click on that link to get to the Amazon page for the book/CD).

E C# rest rest
D B rest rest
then "taka taka stop stop" as you play:
A C# E C# then (quick!) back to the beginning.

Lightly Row:
Listen to track 40 on your CD repeatedly. You should be listening to this CD every single day, over and over. The more you listen, the easier it is to learn new songs. Find the page that corresponds to Lightly Row in your Step by Step book if you need to see what the notes are, but the best way to learn this is by using your ears instead of your eyes. The goal is to be able to play this without looking at the music, so keep that in mind!