John
How it started
John came to me through referral from the Stony Brook Music Department last year around April. Some background information: hapa (Chinese-American?), 11 years old, 5th grade. His parents are both very intelligent people and are very supportive of John and his brother Mark, who takes cello lessons from a colleague of mine. Since John has only been playing for a year and was started in school, I decided to work with him as a beginner. The first couple of weeks were focused on the basics, bow hold and playing positions, and since he knows how to read notes, I let him learn Twinkle Twinkle in Suzuki !.
Background Information
Age: 11
Grade: 5
Length of study: 1 year
Start Date: April, 45 min at SUNY
Lesson Plans
4/16/05
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Theory: introduce G major arpeggio & D major (high 2) one (and two oct) |
4/23/05
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Scale: Keep G and D scale. Incorporate 4th finger on descent |
4/30/05
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Scale: Review G and D scale. Learn arpeggios. Bow exercises. |
Summer Off |
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10/22/05
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Scale: Review circle of fifths (C,G,D,A) with bowings. Work on continuity by practicing the whole sequence at least 5 times a day. |
10/26/05
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Scale: Played CGDA scales without stopping. Add arpeggios and various slurred bowings. |
11/2/05
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Scales: Circle of fifths with arpeggios. Good! |
11/9/05
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Scales: Circle of fifths and arpeggios. Drill for continuity! Learn F major. I'm so thankful for John. He's such a bright and interesting boy and even though he doesn't say much, he makes me feel like he's interested in learning and appreciates and tries to understand what I say. Our lessons are always interesting because he's always getting better, even if he's a little spacey or doubtful of himself. Pet Peeve No.1: He seems to "stutter" when he's unsure of himself, especially when starting a piece or knows his left/right hand coordination is off. Pet Peeve No.2: He is so unsure of himself that while he's playing, he always asks "was that right?". Pet Peeve No.3: He gets lost easily and can seem spacey (related to PP2). Lesson today went well, but not as great as last week. Is he practicing everyday?? How times does he practice each passage? I need to remember to give him the exercise on strengthening fingers and improving pitch accuracy. He has good ears, but needs to trust himself more. That should come with practicing the right way. |
11/16/05
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Scales: Reviews C, G, D, A with arpeggios. Learn F major and arpeggio. Today's lesson went smoothly as well. John did not practice as much as I would have liked him to but it was ok because I was happy to teach him the time signature of 6/8. I was surprised to encounter that concept so early in the Brown book but I'm never bored with rhythm, or with teaching it. I try to use clapping and saying ta-ta's in as many combinations as i can. And most of the time it works. I also try to show how LOGICAL rhythm is, as logical as doing a simple math problem. That's the way i learned rhythm and so far it has worked. I guess it helps if fractional math knowledge is solid. Although we ran out of time, I think John learned something new. We also worked on playing chromatic notes, in particular B-flat versus B-natural on the A string. I warned him about not letting the first finger pull the rest of the hand back, and to think that each finger is a separate "person", not "siamese twins". It is important to feel the size of the spacing change between the first and third fingers when one note has an accidental. I know i am moving fast with John. I also know that John tends to get bored easily, as most boys that age do. But I am glad that he is eager to learn new things so I try to mix things up and be more spontaneous with him. However, most of the time, i feel that 45 minutes is never long enough to hear all the repertoire. ** Note: Next lesson will be Mon 11/28 at 7pm. |
11/28/05
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Scales: Review. Add F major and arpeggio. Work on first finger extension. After a two week vacation, John seems to retain knowledge easily and it was nice to do a review/check-up on his rhythm. His F major intonation is pretty good, but he still scrunching his fingers together when he reaches back to play B-flat. I would like the fingers to be slightly separated and relaxed. Also to not shift the whole hand when extending first finger. Practice the various finger positions using chromatic scale fragments. |
12/7/05
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Scales: Keep reviewing scales everyday (C-G-D-A-F) His 6/8 meter rhythm was more secure, although he was having trouble with the hooked bowing (in Row Row Your Boat). We practice first in the air, imagining that we were painting a large wall. The wrist and arm movements should be similar and he tried applying that image to his playing. It somewhat worked. I think he's the kind of person who can absorb information, but needs to spend time alone "thinking" and sorting things out on his own. I trust that he will come back next week with a more solidified bowing. He seems to have more control over his memorization and he is understanding the songs, but he is still getting lost (due to nerves?). This time I gave him a couple tips for practicing memorization. For example, in the Minuet, break things down into 4-bar phrases. Practice each phrase until it is perfect/return to beginning whenever you make a mistake/try to not repeat the same mistakes or keep going. In other words, break the bad habits, or start new ones. Finally connect two or more phrases and practice the transitions. Keep in mind which notes connect to which ones. Try singing the song? Think of images when playing (Mario jumping and kicking gumbas)... I dunno! He was alittle sick this week but I still gave all I had to him. Hopefully he's not discouraged and will try harder this week. |
