Getting Up To Date

My apologies for leaving this blog to languish lately!  Here's what your student should be developing.  If mastery has not been achieved on any given song, please spend some extra time learning it.  I am happy to give extra help if needed.

C:
Twinkles
Lightly Row
Cuckoo
Scale
Song of the Wind
Doodle Dots
Russian Rumpus

D:
Twinkles
Lightly Row
Cuckoo
Scale
Song of the Wind
Glenorchy Grizzle

E:
Lightly Row
Song of the Wind
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
Glenorchy Grizzle

If you have questions about any of this, please do not hesitate to contact me!  christineauger@gmail.com

2/28/11 violin notes for each class

C and D CLASSES:
Refer to the image above (click on it to make it larger) to be reminded of what we covered in class today.

1.  TWINKLE VARIATIONS: all of the variations should be EASY for you to play.  Next week, I will ask you simple questions (like, "what is your name" or "do you have a sister?") while you are playing.  If you cannot answer a simple question while you are playing a variation, then it is not yet EASY enough for you and you need to practice it more.  You should practice each not-yet-easy variation at least 5 times a day.


2. CUCKOO:  The notes to Cuckoo are hidden inside Lightly Row (yellow boxes in the image above).


3. LIGHTLY ROW:  Every single day, you should:

• listen to Lightly Row on the CD (track 40)
• sing the notes names to Lightly Row while the CD is playing.  (Can you hear the four sections of the song?  Which ones are the same?  Which one is similar to the others but not the same?  Which one is completely different?)
• without the CD, play the notes to the song one little section at a time.  Go slowly.

E CLASS:  

1. Song of the Wind (track 46)
2. Snow and Wind on the A String (track 49)
3. Go Tell Aunt Rhody: Exercises in Musical Notation (no audio for this one)
4. Go Tell Aunt Rhody (track 51)

DETAILS ABOUT SONG OF THE WIND:
Continue practicing Song of the Wind until it feels truly EASY to play.  If it's not yet EASY, then you need to practice it more.  To give you some perspective, I'll note that Gretchen (age 5) practices Song of the Wind 5 times (with repeats) per day.  

Here is Song of the Wind from your book.  There was some confusion in class about what book I was talking about - this is the book that everyone has been using since September, called Step by Step 1A by Kirsten Wartberg.  If you do not have this book, you need it for this class.  I will not continue to post pages from the book online because it is a violation of copyright. 

DETAILS ABOUT "SNOW AND WIND" ON THE A STRING: 
Use lightning bows for this one - make your violin sound like the one on the CD.

DETAILS ABOUT GO TELL AUNT RHODY: EXERCISES IN MUSICAL NOTATION:
Go Tell Aunt Rhody: Exercises in Musical Notation:

DETAILS ABOUT GO TELL AUNT RHODY:
Every day, you should do the following:

1. listen to Go Tell Aunt Rhody (track 50 or 51)
2. play along with the CD, but only use open E.  Match the rhythms of the melody.
3. look carefully at the notes in the book for this song, and slowly try to play the song (without the CD)

FW Symphony does Green Eggs and Ham this Friday - $4/ticket

from http://www.fwsymphony.org/education/education_concerts.asp

Kinderconcerts Kinderconcerts are fun, interactive concerts designed to engage the interest of preschool children, ages three through six. Green Eggs and Ham Andrés Franco, Conductor February 18, 2011 at 9:45 and 11:15 a.m. McKinney Memorial Bible Church 4805 Arborlawn Dr. Fort Worth, Texas All tickets to the Kinderconcerts are $4 Back by popular demand, Robert Kapilow's Green Eggs and Ham brings Dr. Seuss's classic to life in this version for orchestra, narrator and soloist. Program subject to change. Reserve Tickets Online

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

_____________________________

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

_____________________________

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

_____________________________

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
  

_______________________________________________

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!)

__________________________________________________

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.