We've been building our note reading skills all month and had a lot of fun at Studio group!
'Say then Play' scales to reinforce the relationship between the fingers and notes(pitch) on the fingerboard.
High/Low Space/Line Bingo: Identifying High or Low notes and Space or Line notes.
Notating a scale and adding note stems. Ask your child if they remember the rule!
*If the note is above the middle line the stem goes down, if the note is below the middle line the stem goes up. Extra points if they can put the stem on the correct side of the note!
Fingerboard Geography: Can you play two (different) D's on your violin?
Fine!: Spelling any scale in order (G maj. scale: GABCDEFG). The first one to say Fine! wins. The Italian musical termfine(pronounced fee'-nay) marks the end.
Musical Twister- who knew the twister mat could double as a fingerboard?!
Students learned about and were able to identify enharmonics (notes with the same pitch but different name)!
Do you use Apps in practicing? Maybe a tuner or metronome app?
I haven't tried very many but I think they could be very useful and engaging for students.
I like Intonia for scales, or for practicing 'chunks' (measures or small group of notes). It gives instant feed-back: blue if you're flat, red if you're sharp or white for in tune!
I love my iPhone and iPad, a little too much you could say. I’m a wee bit addicted, and I just love keeping track of everything in my life on my phone. I track my steps, my food, my goals, my journal, my finances, my to do list, everything on my phone, even my practicing.
Technology, when used very intentionally, can be so helpful and motivating to young students. That’s why I wanted to share my very favorite apps with you today, so you can try some with your kiddos and see what works.
My Favorite Music Education Apps for Helping Kids Practice…
1. TimeTag. This one isn’t necessarily fun (unless you love tracking stuff like I do), but I love to use TimeTag to track my practicing. Every piece, scale, or etude gets a tag (with its own color!) and then I can track how much time I spent on all of my different repertoire. It’s essentially a souped up timer app. I’ve been using it for years.
2.Piano Maestro. This note-reading app is so much fun. My students love it. It’s meant for piano, but you can totally use it for violin! (It’s awesome.)
3.SmartScales. This app plays backing tracks for your scales that are just so much fun. It’s much more entertaining to play your scale with a backtrack than with a metronome, and you can tune to the harmonies underneath. Win-win.
4. ABRSM Speedshifter. This app takes any music track stored on your device and then you can manipulate the speed without changing the pitch. This is great for helping your students play with the Suzuki recordings that are a little too fast for them.
5.Cadenza. This app plays the accompaniments to many classical and popular pieces (including a bunch from the Suzuki repertoire.) It actually follows along with your tempos. Pretty sweet.
To make this fun variation of Candyland, you will need a Candyland board game. On each square, write A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. On the pink candy spaces, draw a p (piano), f (forte), mf (mezzo forte), mp (mezzo piano), ff (fortissimo). Clickhere and print pages 1-5 (you only need the treble clef notes for violin). Click here for more notes (again, you only need the treble clef notes). Note: I made my own dynamic cards instead of the treble clef, bass clef and double bar line.
Draw a card from the pile, name the note, and move to the corresponding space. If you draw a card with double notes, you get to move double the spaces. For the piano keyboard notes clickhere.
Arrange the water glasses in a line and fill them up with varying amounts of water. Try to make the increments of water equal. For example, start with 1/8 cup of water in the first one, then fill each succeeding glass so that it has 1/8 cup of water more than the previous glass in line. Tap each glass with the plastic spoon and enjoy the sounds they make!
Experiment by changing the amount of water in each glass and hearing how the sounds change.
How to Play Mary Had a Little Lamb
At some point, your little one is going to tire of playing scales or random notes and move on to playing an actual tune. There’s nothing simpler than everyone’s first nursery rhyme, the 3-note Mary Had a Little Lamb. Here’s how to play it with water glasses:
You’ll need:
3 identical large glass tumblers or mason jars
1 plastic spoon
1 set of measuring cups
Water (How much water in total will you need? Ask your school-aged child to add up the fractions below! Then ask your preschooler to measure it out.)
Masking tape and a pen for labeling
Arrange the tumblers in a line and fill them up with the following amounts of water:
Tumbler 1: 1 3/4 cups
Tumbler 2: 1 1/2 cups
Tumbler 3: 1 1/4 cups
Label the tumblers 1, 2, and 3. Tap the glasses in the following order:
3-2-1-2-3-3-3
2-2-2
3-3-3
3-2-1-2-3-3-3
3-2-2-3-2-1
Fun Fact
Each glass makes a sound when you tap its side with a spoon (to avoid breakage, use a plastic spoon, not a wooden or a metal one) because the spoon causes a vibrating sound wave. The sound wave travels through the water in the glass and eventually reaches your ear. Each glass makes a different sound because the sound waves travel through the water at different speeds, causing vibrations at different frequencies. (Frequency refers to the number of times a sound wave vibrates per second).
The glasses with the most water produce the lowest sounds because the sound waves travel slowest (causing the lowest frequency vibrations) through all that water. The glasses with the least amount of water produce the highest sounds because sound waves travel fastest (causing the highest frequency vibrations). In fact, when the sound waves of one note vibrate at twice the frequency of another, the two notes are exactly one octave apart!
Intervals are the distances between two notes. Each interval will have a number - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. These numbers are the distance between two notes, based upon counting the lines and spaces on the staff. For example, if we count lines and spaces, starting from C and ending on G, we count: C,D,E,F,G = 1,2,3,4,5, Therefore, the interval from C to G is a fifth (5th).
Intervals can be called Major (M), minor (m), Perfect (P), Augmented (A), or diminished (d).
Here's a list of commonly used songs to help identify intervals: P1 (Unison: same pitch) m2 Jaws M2 Happy Birthday m3 Lullaby M3 Blue Danube Waltz P4 Here comes the Bride P5 Twinkle little Star/Star Wars m6 Theme from "Love Story" M6 My Bonnie m7 Somewhere (West side Story) M7 Maria (West Side Story) P8 (Octave) Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Go to the THEORY tab and practice the Interval (ear training w/o notes) #1 and #2. Don't worry if you don't hear them right away- intervals get easier with more practice! Then see if you can identify the intervals in each of these Christmas Carols. Sing or hum the italicized words and see if you hear the interval. The answers will be posted tomorrow! Christmas Interval Challenge (Ascending: low note to a high note)
White Christmas, “I’m-dreaming”
Silent Night,“Si-ii-lent”
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night, “While-Shep”
Rudolph, "Ru-dolph"
Greensleeves (What Child is This?), "What-child"
We Wish You a Merry Christmas, “We-wish”
Away in a Manger, “A-way”
My Favorite Things, "Rain-drops"
Jingle Bells, “Dash-ing”
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), “Chest-nuts”
Ultimate Challenge! (Descending: high note to a low note)
Group lessons 1) motivate students as they hear pieces they will be learning, 2) reinforce skills and concepts introduced in
private lessons, 3) provide opportunities to perform and practice proper concert etiquette, 4) develop fundamental skills of focusing, playing together as a group and following a leader 5)
introduce or reinforce note-reading, music history and other musical concepts. I personally have my students wait until they can play the Twinkle Variations before joining Suzuki Strings so they have a solid foundation to build on. Students still working on Twinkles-Song of the Wind should attend the Pre-Twinkle and Early Book 1 Class to reinforce their skills. If needed, we can make adjustments throughout the semester.
Suzuki Strings Group Classes begin Wed., Sept. 3rd at SUU in the Music Building, 432 W. 200 S, Cedar City.
Schedule: Rm 207 5:00-5:30 Pre-Twinkle and Early Book 1 Rm 207 5:30-6:15 Book 1 (to Andantino) Rm 207 6:20-7:00pm Cello Rm 104 (Downstairs) 5:30-6:15 Late Book 1 (Etude and up)
Rm 206 Orchestra 5:00-6:15pm ALL students, Bk 1 and up, rehearse with Orchestra until 5:30pm Rm 206 Adv. Violins and Viola 6:20-7:00pm (Bk3 and up) Make checks payable to Suzuki Strings. Payment is due at the beginning of each semester. Group Fee: $70 for one student, $80 for two students, $90 for three or more students. Suzuki Association of Utah (SAU) members get a $10 discount off the group fee.
Let me know if you have any questions on which class your child should attend.
I've added several theory games/exercises to supplement what we do at lessons. Check your practice chart to see what you should be working on each week.
