Monthly Archives: January 2011

I have recently been playing Kayser Etude Number 10 (International Music Company No. 3078) to work on two very difficult techniques. With the left hand, this Kayser etude explores using chords. In the right hand, there are two different styles of arpeggiation of the chords that facilitate flexible right hand fingers.

Practice suggestions included with this piece include blocking the chord as half notes and slurring four notes. I find that the four note slurs are more difficult than the written bowing in the first three measures. With the slurring of four notes, the right hand must be flexible in order to achieve satisfactory tone on this etude. The chords should be practiced with ghost notes in order to loosen the left hand from the tension than can develop from playing chords. Chords should also be played with a release of weight after the initial note has spoken to allow time to move to the next chord. Bowing chords all down bow will give the player extra time to change chords.

I suggest the bowing be played on open strings. Various parts of the bow can be used for this, start at the frog to achieve solid finger motions and move it out toward the middle for use of more grandiose right hand finger flexibility. Keep the bow moving closer to the bridge for big sound as you crescendo and through forte passages. The figure eight pattern should utilize all “sides” of the string to allow for very smooth changes of strings.

In order to focus on tuning of chords, you should allow the left hand fingers to be picked up and placed by putting weight down (not diagonally) on the fingerboard. Pulling the finger diagonally with force the chord out of tune. Each finger of the chord should be placed at exactly the correct place on the fingerboard.

You can look to the Internet Music Library Project to find a Schirmer edition of the 36 Studies by Kayser.

As a supplement to music reading, I like to use the Applebaum series called “Beautiful Music for two String Instruments.” It is available for violin, viola, cello or bass. Any combination of instruments can be used. The books also have piano accompaniment available. The duets sound very good with the upper strings on melody and the lower strings on the harmony lines. I find the second parts especially useful for the kind of parts cellists play.

The pieces have the key signature written at top of the piece. A number of different key signatures help students practice a variety of key signatures, however, it stays away from very difficult keys for the instruments.

I did find it disappointing that there are a number of errors in the viola and cello books. I plan to contact Alfred Publishing Company to let them know. I don’t know if they would be able to make corrections, but there are actually wrong notes in the newest edition of the viola and cello parts. I will post an update if I get a response.

My favorite of all the pieces is the Mazas piece at the beginning of the third book. It is significantly more complex than duets in the previous books.

For my series of pieces I will analyze for technique and assignment of supporting etude materials, I chose the Donkey Doodle by Kroll. The piece is a very fun piece. I like the “Hee Hawing” of the Donkey that you hear. Techniques used in the piece include:

1. Bowing in lower half of the bow – This technique can be worked by assigning any number of etudes and playing them in the lower half.  Wohlfahrt Foundation Studies Book 1 No. 14 should be helpful with this.
2. Bow strokes using the collé motion of the fingers – This technique can be practiced with any etude, such as the one listed above, to be practiced in the lower half.
3. String crossings for the donkey sound effects can be practiced with Wohlfahrt Foundations Studies Book 1, Number 26. This etude works sinking the weight of the bow after a string crossing that often leaps strings. It focuses on adding weight on an up bow.
4. Fingers “hopping” a fifth – I have not yet found a supporting etude for this, but I think that refreshing the students’ memory on pieces like Minuet 3 by Bach where the third finger must hop across the fifth is important to make sure this technique is in place.
5. Grace notes can be practiced using a few different methods. They are approached both from below and from above. Sally O’Reilly’s book Fiddle Magic has an exercise called Leap Frog (Group II, Number 6). It however, does not approach the grace note from above. To practice this, maybe you could have the student play up and down a scale making every other note a grace note to the next.
6. Sixteenth note “trills” can be practiced with the exercise called “Shivering” in O’Reilly’s book (Group X, Number 1).

Organizing an ensemble of students is a burdensome, but rewarding, task. Ensembles allow students to create music in a group. Making sure that students have musical involvement outside of their individual private lesson is very important to keep them motivated in playing.

Here are the basic steps to organizing your students in an ensemble:

1. Decide upon a purpose for the ensemble. Is this ensemble just to play together, or will a performance occur at the end of the set of rehearsals? If it is just for educational purposes, maybe you should question whether or not a performance could benefit the ensemble even more. My vote is that the group will always be working toward a performance in the future. Each ensemble experience should be planned around this fact.
2. Decide upon the level of the students. Will the class be for  your Twinklers or for your Symphonic ensemble? Each requires a high level of commitment from the director, but larger scale ensembles require additional preparation time before the lessons.
3. Find a location. This can sometimes be the hardest part as an independent Suzuki teacher. Consider pairing with another teacher or forming an organization to host your group classes. Churches and other organizations that generally donate facilities generally prefer working with established organizations. Sometimes your location may need to change depending on where you are hosting them. Be flexible, but make sure your groups needs are met. If you are using a church that is donating space, consider giving a donation to the church for the use of the facility and to further music programs there.
4. Establish a schedule. Regular schedules are helpful in getting people to events. Your ensemble class may have low attendance to begin, but eventually, people will get used to a regularly scheduled event and make time for it. After you make your schedule, do as the postal service does and always deliver. Cancellations make participants doubt whether you really have what it takes to be a good director.
5. Communicate. In today’s world, an e-mail newsletter goes a long way. Don’t forget about putting a hard copy of the schedule in your participants’ hands. The refrigerator is still the go to place to put schedules, so give them a hard copy to stick to the “fridge.”
6. Plan your class or ensemble. Well planned meetings are best. If you don’t make time to plan what will happen during the class, you may not be able to come up with ideas in the heat of the moment. Make necessary copies and keep your paperwork organized.
7. Keep it real. Make achievable goals for your group. Don’t expect too much, too soon. Start with baby steps, then maybe one day you can attack that symphonic literature.

Playing scales on your violin is like eating your vegetables. I guess you could get by with having fewer scales, but in order to really have strength and a well-nourished technique, you have to play scales and arpeggios. For years, I have been searching for first position violin scales that train the ear and the left hand for different key signatures.

In my opinion, Flesch violin scales are too advanced for students learning basic fingerboard geography. One octave, one string scales or three octave scales should be saved for a later date. Besides. Initionally, students need some help playing in the keys with copious amounts of flats or sharps in the lower positions.

The first exercises in the Hrimaly scales have recently taken my interest, but I don’t like how they go above and below the scale. When training students to play scales, going above and below the scale just confuses the ear.

Then I found Sevcik’s Opus. 1, Exercise No. 12. Thank you, Sevcik, for being the completest you were. Here, in this line of my blog in 2011, I thank you for all of the work you did for violin pedagogy. Exercise No. 12 starts in C Major, moves to the melodic relative minor, then proceeds to go through every key in the circle of fifths. These scales stay in first position, so almost every student can play some of the scales. The chords are somewhat challenging, but could be simplified if necessary depending on the student. These scales work for a variety of reasons. I really enjoy the fact that they teach the melodic minor. Two octaves are played if they can be done in first position.

As I have been teaching more and more from Suzuki Volumes 1 and 2 for Violin, I realize some incongruities with symbols used for the bow lift. As a former wind player, I am well aware that a breath mark is used at the end of phrases. Recent Suzuki volumes do not use the comma (above the staff) to symbolize a breath, but instead, to symbolize a luftpause where the music takes a slight breath. I understand this use, but prefer to still use the comma to be used as a bow lift. I painstakingly write in a comma and the words “lift” and “set” in Song of the Wind, Long Long Ago, Allegro, and Gossec Gavotte. It’s somewhat confusing when we get to a piece that uses the comma to denote a pause and not a lift. I think teachers should place the marking inside parenthesis (‘) to denote that it is intended to be a pause for students.

This wikipedia article, titled “Breath mark” reinforces my interpretation of the symbol to mean a bow lift.

I don’t think this use in the Suzuki books are by any means grounds to seek further revisions, I however, would just like to make my belief known in these areas so my students (and parents) never become confused about what should be done in their music. Truly, they should learn that when you have a down bow followed by a down bow, you might need to lift, but I feel it should be made clear to students in the beginning when a lift should be made in order to train this necessary function of string playing. Maybe the void of bow lifts in the Suzuki Volumes is meant to be filled by the teacher’s own handwriting. If there was a marking, I would emphasize it. Suzuki volumes should be heavily marked in order for parent and student to know exactly what should happen.

In other musical manuscripts, including Samuel Applebaum’s “Beautiful Music for Two String Instruments,” I have seen the symbol for a caesura used to denote a bow lift. I find this use to be completely incorrect and tell my students that. This does not mean the music is not still playable, but the symbol used is incorrect. I think it should be the responsibility of the publisher to correct symbols used in their publications to express the most commonly interpreted meanings.

Another great example of a musical symbol being used incorrectly is in the book “Introducing the Positions” by Harvey Whistler. Instead of the carat (^) marking between notes, Whistler uses the bracket marking that most musicians interpret as whole step for his half steps in the book. Who is to blame for these inconsistencies? I guess we will never know. I just do my best to educate my students the choices they should make for notation. After all, part of my job as the teacher is to show them how to question the world around them when necessary.

reading is a very important skill to develop once students have facility in both hands on their instrument. I feel it should not be delayed as long as some teachers wait due to the fact that students become dependent upon sounding songs out to their own detriment as players. The following is my own reading sequence I have developed for teaching pitch reading. My sequence for developing rhythm reading is separate for pitch reading.

1. Penny Charts – I use a penny chart with the clef, five lines and two leger lines above and below the staff. Students learn the name of the clef and count the five lines and four spaces from bottom to top. They name the staff. Leger lines are explained later. On the second lesson of the staff students learn where open strings D and A are placed on the staff. On a third lesson, they learn how you alternate lines as spaces as you go up the musical alphabet. On a fourth lesson, students are able to tell the letters of the D Major Scale on the penny chart. If I am feeling adventuresome, I have students move the penny around to Lightly Row or Twinke or D Major Thirds. On future lessons, they learn where G and E strings are on the staff (G and C for viola and cello).
2. I Can Read Music – After a few lessons with the Penny Charts, I move to the book “I Can Read Music” by Joanne Martin. The series separates pitch reading from rhythm reading. I use the left sides from the beginning and try to go all the way through the book with each student. It becomes time consuming to do all of the exercises if students are doing a good job, but it is still important.
3. Essential Elements 2000 – This book hits all of the bases of music reading. It covers most basic music symbols and terms including pizzicato, arco, ties, slurs, hooked bows, DC al Fine, dynamics and tempo markings. I use this book just in case there is something I have forgotten.
4. Christmas Kaleidoscope – For any student who is becoming fluent at reading music, getting this book as a Christmas gift jump starts them to reading more quickly. Parents will be in awe of how well their children are reading at the end of the holiday season.
5. Beautiful Music for Two String Instruments – Once students have a basic understanding, these duets give them an opportunity to read short pieces in both melody and harmony parts. The bass lines are very good for beginning cellos.
6. Wohlffart Foundation Studies (violin or viola) – These etudes reinforce reading skills. It is impossible to get through this book and have difficulty reading by the end of it.

The use of finger patterns to teach string instruments has been very beneficial to string students for a number of years. Recently, I acquired a copy of “Bornorff’s Finger Patterns” for violin. The book was published by Carl Fischer in 1948. Apparently, the book was also available for viola, cello and bass. Bornorff used five finger patterns. I would like to see the cello book to see how they corresponded with finger patterns I have been taught for cello.

I have adapted my own finger patterns for teaching, based on the Bornorff model. Although I don’t use the precise method of teaching the finger patterns in the Bornorff book, I do use finger patterns to help students locate the half step between fingers.These can be used on all strings. Below are listed the patterns for violin and viola. (The ^ symbol indicates a half step between fingers. No symbol indicates a whole step between fingers.)

Finger Pattern 1: 0  1  2^3  4 (Major)

Finger Pattern 2: 0  1^2  3  4 (Minor)

Finger Pattern 3: 0  1  2  3^4 (High 3)

Finger Pattern 4: 0  1  2  3  4 (Whole Tone)

Finger Pattern 5: 0^1  2  3  4 (Lowered pattern 4)

Finger Pattern 6: 0^1  2  3^4 (Lowered pattern 3)

Finger Pattern 7: 0^1  2^3  4 (Lowered pattern 1)

Finger Pattern 8: 0^1^2  3  4 (Lowered Pattern 2)

Once my students are familiar with the idea of finger patterns (and possibly only the first four) , I have them do an exercise I like to call walking. It goes through each finger pattern with quarter notes both up and down to gain finger dexterity.

Walking: 0 1 2 3 | 4 3 2 1 | 0 1 2 3 | 4 3 2 1 | 0 1 2 3 | 4 3 2 1 | 0 1 2 1 | 0 –  0 – ||

Running: The same as walking except tempo is doubled.