Archive for November, 2009

Atrium: Lesson 1

This will be a quick recap on the first day of violin classes.  When 12:30 rolled around, we began bringing in the compact little cases into the Explorers room while the kids were having lunch.  The first group (3rd graders) had 6 kids, so we formed a semi-circle with their foot charts and cases placed in front of each corresponding one.  We started off with how to take care of instrument when we take it out of the cases and put the sponge on, rest position and playing position.  Then we dove into singing the Pachebel matrix and plucking Re and La on the fiddles as we sang.  We went through as many simple rhythms patterns we could think of while the recording played in the background and incorporated some dynamics too.  For the final activity, the kids drew on reflection sheets while listening to Pachelbel Canon in the background.  There was some really interesting documentation captured by Randy as you can see in the videos and pictures below.

Rest Position 2nd Graders Reflections Examples

Thoughts by David Finckel

I just stumbled upon a new website by David Finckel (cellist of Emerson Quartet) and his wife, Wu Han (pianist). He has a large collection of mini-cello lesson videos that tackle the general issues of playing and of life as a musician. Even though he’s a cellist, I feel that a lot of what he says can also apply to violin playing. I’ve embedded a video that compares good and great players in simple terms. For students who are trying to figure out what to practice or how much to practice or what goals to set, this video sums it up nicely.

Talk 23: Good and Great from David Finckel and Wu Han on Vimeo.