Catching Up, Moving Ahead!

TO EVERYONE:  Please note that I will not slow down the class to accomodate students who are not keeping up with their at-home practice, because that's just not fair to the majority of the class who are practicing diligently at home.  If you are not at the expected level, you need to be putting in more practice time at home.  Parents, please contact me if you need any suggestions or help with this.  christineauger@gmail.com

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C Class:

You should be able to do the following without any problems:

• Everything up to and including the Twinkle Variations (see earlier blog posts for videos and explanations)
• A Major Scale

The Twinkle Hamburger, the fingering for an A Major Scale, and the notes to Cuckoo

You should be working on: 

• Cuckoo
• Listening to Lightly Row
• Figuring out the notes to Lightly Row

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E Class:
You should be able to do the following without any problems:

• Twinkle Variations
• Lightly Row
• Song of the Wind
• A Major Scale
• Open E Rhody

You should be working on:

• Snow and Wind
• Figuring out the notes to Go Tell Aunt Rhody

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D Class:

You should be able to do the following without any problems:

• Twinkle Variations
• Lightly Row
• A Major Scale
• Preparation for Song of the Wind

You should be working on:

• Song of the Wind

January 24, 2011

Welcome back into the swing of things, violinists!

C1/D:
IN CLASS, THIS IS WHAT WE DID:

• reviewed Twinkle Variation A
• reviewed Cuckoo
• reviewed Lightly Row

AT HOME, YOU NEED TO PRACTICE:

• Twinkle Variations if you are still unclear about where/what the notes are (see previous posts for clarification and video examples)
• Lightly Row - this should be memorized. Try playing along with the CD without looking at the music. You should do this five times each day.
• start listening to track 43 on your CD
  

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C2/C3:
IN CLASS, THIS IS WHAT WE DID:

1. reviewed Twinkle Variation A (taka taka stop stop)
2. introduced the Major Scale in A

AT HOME, YOU NEED TO PRACTICE:

• all Twinkle Variations (see previous posts if you're rusty)
• the A Major Scale, taka-taka stop stop version (the first part of the CD track). Just listen to the rest of it on the CD and please do not try to play along. It goes pretty fast, and you need to be able to play it solidly and securely at a slow tempo first.
• The scale is found on pages 34-35 of your "Step by Step" book, and it is track 43 on your CD. (No, we are not skipping Cuckoo or Lightly Row!)

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E1/E2:
IN CLASS, THIS IS WHAT WE DID:

• reviewed all Twinkle Variations
• reviewed Cuckoo
• played through Lightly Row five times, at different tempi
• introduced and practiced the A Major Scale (taka taka stop stop version, mostly)
• practiced the Grasshopper Exercise
• played through Song of the Wind, with repeat

AT HOME YOU, NEED TO PRACTICE:

• Lightly Row - this should be memorized. Try playing along with the CD without looking at the music. You should do this five times each day.
  
• A Major Scale (pages 34-35 of your book, track 43 on your CD) but only the taka taka stop stop version. Just listen to the other two versions for now.
• Grasshopper Exercise (pages 36-37 of your book, track 44 on your CD)
• Song of the Wind (pages 36-37 of your book, track 46 on your CD. Listen to tracks 47 and 48 but don't play along with them yet please.)

Performance on Thursday

BRING YOUR VIOLIN TO MGA ON THURSDAY!

All of the MGA Violinists will be on the stage together. We will play through our songs in the order listed below. When/if we get to a song that you are not yet an expert at, you will stand and hold your violin in rest position while the others are playing.

Please have your violin out of it's case and ready to be tuned during lunchtime.

1. Twinkle Variation A (taka taka stop stop)
2. Twinkle Variation B (Doctor... Suzuki... said never... be lazy...)
3. Twinkle Variation C (DOWN wiggle, UP wiggle)
4. Twinkle Variation D (caterpillar caterpillar)
5. Twinkle Theme
6. Cuckoo
7. Lightly Row
8. Song of the Wind

Lightly Row

This is already in your book and on your CD (track 40), but here it is again the way I wrote it down today in class. Click on the image for a larger version.

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!