Bow arm ideas

Months and months ago, Desiree asked:

I was just practing with Lizeth yesterday and I used the ribbon on her violin. I've noticed that she uses her shoulder and not just her elbow. Do you have any videos or visual ideas I have use to show her about the proper way to move the bow. Its especially hard since I don't play the violin myself.

I have put it off long enough, and since WonderGirl is home sick, I had time to beg her to be my model so I could SHOW what I mean.  Sometimes words just get in the way.  First, find a wall.

Have the student stand at a slight angle, with their right ride touching the wall and the other side at a 45ish degree away from the wall.

Their bow arm, from the shoulder to the elbow, should be touching the wall completely.  Then, have the student play open strings (A is best to start with), but their elbow and entire arm cannot come away from the wall.

They may try to pull the shoulder so the elbow swings away and bumps back into the wall, but gently touch/hold their arm just above the elbow to help their body understand.  Their elbow will begin to kick move the right way.  The next problem may be their bow is still sliding around the string - remind them that it is their wrist's job to help keep it straight.

It's not best to have them practice this way the entire lesson, but it's a great way to remind the body of how playing with a straight bow feels.  Come back to it from time to time as a refresher for older students too.

Also, as I've said before, I use a Bow Right with WonderGirl.  At first I was nervous that I was cheating, but I called my veteran violin teaching aunt and confessed to her, and she laughed and told me to use ANYthing that made it easier for WG to play and enjoy the violin.

I found a video someone made of a student playing with a Bow Right.  As you can see, it doesn't restrict them totally - they can still play with their elbow, but they tap into the device when they do and it reminds them to straighten out.



I grew up with devices my mom invented - from popsicle sticks to pencils rubber-banded to the violin in about the same way.  I've never been as good at makingthem, and since we use the Bow Right daily, it is easy to take on and off and store.  

Also - this is something I've never seen before -the video description says it's a Bow Right but it's not a generation I'm familiar with:



My sincere apologies to Desiree for my tardiness, and my thanks to WG for being my model despite feeling less than tip-top :)  If you have any other ideas, please share them with us in the comments!

A Two Grenadiers trick

I follow a super nifty blog by a Suzuki cello teacher who has some great stories about her teaching processes.  Today topped it all though!  To anyone who has ever tried to teach Schumann's The Two Grenadiers, you have GOT to try her "texting" approach!!  Click through to see what her student came up with! :)

Chin rest cozies

Holding a violin for the first time is so odd, isn't it?  It's cold, hard, and unnatural.  Once you play about 20 years it becomes second nature, but it takes a while to get there.  

When we were on our vacation last month, I enlisted my mom's help in making WonderGirl's violin more comfortable for her.  Lucky us, she had a huge stash of fleece squares!

She sewed up some chin rest cozies for us.  Since the fleece was stretchy, we didn't need velcro or anything fancy, it just stretched on and fit like a charm.  (I had her make a pattern for future reference.)

Once we figured it out, Mom whipped up three more.  We start our violin lessons choosing what chin rest cozy she'd like and it puts her in a proactive mood.

Happy chin, happy WonderGirl, happy mom!

Guest Post - How to teach your own child violin!

Sabrina and I, circa 1995-ish

We are in for a serious treat today - I talked my best friend Sabrina into writing a post for us about teaching your own kids violin!! Sabrina is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and mother to 5 positively adorable children.  She was kind enough to get married and start a family long before I did, so she could have lots of experience and advice for me when I'd need it most.  She's thoughtful like that :)  

Sabrina and fans, present day

We met in a local youth string orchestra in junior high, where we were stand partners in the 2nd violin section and unbeknown to her, mortal enemies.  Every time I showed up to rehearsal, she was sitting in my chair!  Eventually I got over it, we moved up to the youth symphony and have been thick as thieves ever since.  Oh, the stories I could tell you... like the time we both stopped the All-State Orchestra rehearsal by hysterically laughing about a knock knock joke about an orange*... but back to the matter at hand.  She is a mom to a whole gaggle of kids and is managing to teach them her violin know-how.  I'm swamped with just the two!  She's modest, sweet, and an inspiration, and since I'm about to turn up the heat on WonderGirl's violin time (I'm mucho nervous), I've been begging her for advice on how she has managed to do it successfully with multiple kids even!  Here we go!

When do I know my kid is ready for lessons?

I know when they're NOT ready for lessons.  I tried on two of my kids to start them on lessons before the age of 5 (hey - I was taking 'lessons' at 3...so why not?), and it was a disaster both times.  With my son, he really badly wanted to play the cello, so I figured he was ready for it.  Boy, was I wrong.  After about a month, he started to get really frustrated.  He wanted to be able to play a song, dangit!  If you start a little kid on piano, no matter how beginner they are, they can push on a piano key, and get a nice note as a result.  Not so on a violin or cello!  There are so many ways to do it wrong, that it takes quite a while just to figure out how to hold everything correctly to get a decent sound out of the instrument.  So after a month of working with my son, we had only gotten as far as playing "Pepperoni Pizza" on an open string.  And he was not happy about that!  He started becoming less cooperative during our practice time, goofing off and messing around.  When I asked him what the problem was, he told me he wanted to be able to play a real song.  ...So, I decided to put the whole thing on hold for a couple of years until he was a little more mature and could learn faster.  Boy, what a difference a couple of years made!  By the time we came back to it (he was in first grade then), he was able to catch on sooo much faster, and he got to play a song fast enough to satisfy his impatience.  Not only did he learn the songs quickly on violin, be he decided he still wanted to do cello, and taught himself all of the violin songs on the cello as well!

Obviously, not every kid is the same - there are going to be genius kids, and then kids like mine.  Some of them might be ready at 4 or 5 years old.  But in my family, I found that everyone was much happier when they could learn quickly and easily the concepts I taught them...by my waiting until about first grade to start lessons. 

How do you approach a lesson so they treat it seriously, but not serious enough that it's a negative experience?

Well, they have to practice before getting anything fun, like a movie night or dessert or game cube time (only on Saturdays) or something.  My kids are fairly cooperative, and they come to me and ask me what to work on, and I just tell them what to play.  Then I am flexible enough to know when they've had enough.  I don't watch the clock with my own kids - we usually are in such a hurry to get on to other things, that we just practice until dinner is ready or it's time to leave or whatever. 

I have one violin student who is a bit sensitive and takes things really seriously  - too seriously.  If she has worked really hard on a song, and then I find something she's not doing right and have her work on it for a long time, she will sometimes start getting frustrated.  When I first started teaching her, I didn't pick up on the frustration, and sometimes accidentally worked her to the point of tears (not that I'm mean or anything, she was just frustrated that she couldn't get it right after working at it for so long).  Now, I watch her body language.  When we are working on a tough song for a long time, I will notice when her little face starts looking sad, and I STOP.  I give her a high-five, tell her she's done a great job...and we move on to something that is easy for her to review.  

How do you structure their practicing? (ie, by task or by time passed)

So when we DO have time for practicing, we don't watch the clock.  We just work on a song or two, until they start whining that their back hurts or they are tired of the song or it's time to eat dinner.  Half of the time I am frantically trying to cook dinner while having a toddler sabotaging any efforts to accomplish anything...so the practicing isn't very structured.  It generally goes like this: "Hey Mom, what should I play?"  "Hmmm..how about you start by reviewing something?"  "Ok.  Hey Mom!  Andrew's eating cat food!"   ...after playing a song, "OK, let's work on your current piece for a while...better work on that measure a few times.  Can you play that part 8 times for me?"  "Mom, my back hurts, and I've been practicing longer than it took James to finish piano!"  "OK, can you just work on this one more time before you go?"  ...and then it's time for dinner before rushing off to cub scouts. 

Ideally, our practicing includes reviewing at least one song that they've already mastered (otherwise they forget those hard-learned songs!), then work on the current piece.  I try to get them to perfect at least one part of the song - even if it's just one measure.  They will play the trouble spot several times until I'm satisfied with the progress, then play through the whole song.  Then if we still have time, I like to have them do a page of sight reading music exercises.  That's usually about it. 

Why do you think it's worth the trouble for you?

Because it's so fun for the kids to play!  They don't love practicing (who does?), but they have SO much fun doing little performances.  The really cool thing is that somehow we have managed to end up with several friends of the kids who are also into violin and cello.  We did a performance at church for a Christmas party that involved a few of the kids' friends, and they felt like they were so cool.  It's the popular thing to do - who knew??  I have just been amazed at how many cousins are also playing - one of the kids' cousins is waaayyy awesome at violin (better than me), and he has played at family gatherings, and the kids are so inspired by it.  What a fun way to connect with other people, by having music to share with each other. 

I also believe that it helps their brain development in so many ways.  It takes a huge amount of coordination and concentration to be able to play, and music itself is quite mathematical.  What better way to learn about fractions than with musical notes?  And when we play together as a group, the kids have to learn how to follow everyone else and listen to each other and work as a group.  

Can you share anything neat that this has produced in your kids behavior or in their creative exploits?
 

One thing cool we have gotten to do is go and perform at my grandfather's retirement home.  It's been such a cool experience for my kids, and the elderly people LOVED it.  I couldn't believe how many of the residents came up to me after the performance and just had to tell me that they had a relative that plays violin or something.  It really has been such a great experience for the kids and the elderly.

A couple of months ago, James decided that it was time for Thomas (who was 4) to start learning how to hold a proper bowgrip.  So he just sat him down one day, got out a couple of bows, and spent a good 15 minutes just tutoring Thomas on how to hold a bow.  It doesn't get any better than that!

One morning, I came upstairs to get breakfast ready to send the kids out to school, and Michael was practicing the violin.  I thought that was pretty cool that he was on the ball and getting it done early.  Then I noticed Michael had an audience - he had a whole row of stuffed animals, all lined up to listen to his performance!!

Thanks a million, Sabrina!!!  And if any of you out there have experiences or advice you can share, we would LOVE to hear them!  E.mail me (or message me in the comments) and we'll get this show on the road!

* Q: Are you an orange?

   A: No.

Sunday inspiration: Why we do what we do

Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart. - Shinichi Suzuki

Sunday inspiration: Patiently Passionate/Passionately Patient

"Hi you!!" 

A few years ago,  I took the book 1 Suzuki* teacher training course, taught by Alice Joy Lewis.  She was one of the early pioneers who brought the method to the USA, and she actually took her son to Japan to study with Shinichi Suzuki when he was young (Brian Lewis is now a famous violinist and pedagogue).   She is just a joy to be around - literally, because she loves what she does and loves to share it.

She told us a story that embedded its way into my psyche and changed how I approached teaching children.  I'm going to paraphrase here, but picture a huge beaming smile on the face of the narrator.   It's from the period when she was living in Japan and studying from Suzuki in his studio.

One day, during the course of regular lessons, Mr. Suzuki turned to us [the observing teachers] and asked me with a twinkle in his eye - "Should we teach the children patiently?"  From the look on his face, I could tell it must be a trick question but I couldn't think of how - so I answered a slow "yes?"  He grinned.  "Do you eat steak patiently??"  

The answer spoke for itself - when it's something you enjoy, you don't approach it as a chore, but with passion!!  Patience, yes, we need that in BULK at our house, but the greatest gift we can give as teachers is an excitement for learning, for giving and for life.  I want them to want this for themselves - and the only way I know how to give them the best example I can.  And BOY do I want them to want music!!

What did your parents give you a lifelong passion for?  (Thanks mom for that violin thing! :)

*I snagged this from Wikipedia as a reference for whomever isn't familiar with Suzuki - I refer to it lots and lots:

The Suzuki method, also called Talent Education, mother-tongue method, or Suzuki movement)is an educational philosophy which strives to create "high ability" and beautiful character in its students through a nurturing environment. Its primary vehicle for achieving this is music education on a specific instrument (often violin or piano...). The 'nurture' involved in the movement is modeled on a concept of early childhood education that focuses on factors which Shinichi Suzuki observed in native language acquisition, such as immersion, encouragement, small steps, and an unforced timetable for learning material based on each person's developmental readiness to imitate examples, internalize principles, and contribute novel ideas.