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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.

In September, I got a cello so that I could get better at cello and teach students to play. After having a new bridge fitted and better strings put on my cello, there is a very pronounced wolf tone on the F# on the D string and on the F# on the G string.

Until having this problem on my own, I had never really even known what a wolf tone sounded like. It is a very shrill beating in the sound. On my particular instrument, it makes the bow bounce as I am playing the note. If you’re not familiar with the sound, click here for an audio sample.

There are a few options for fixing wolf tones. The cheapest way is to squeeze the cello with your knees to reduce the resonance during that particular tone. Unfortunately, if the note is played too quickly, you may forget to squeeze. I guess it would eventually become a technique that would become natural.

Another option is to get a wolf tone eliminator. Unfortunately, many of them simply mute the sound of the instrument. This seems undesirable, however, the tone is so bad that I would like to investigate a wolf tone eliminator because the sound is very harsh on the ears. I will keep you posted about what I find.

As a violinist, nothing is more beneficial than being able to play and teach viola when asked. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as you might think. Here is the process I recommend to assist you in getting better sound from your viola.

1. Plays several songs that you already know for memory on your violin on the viola. This will allow you to become accustomed to the larger spacing between the notes and hopefully assist you in pulling tone from the instrument. I find getting a clear and crisp sound especially hard on the viola. Once you have some good sounds coming out of the instrument, you can work on reading.

2. Resist using “tricks” to help you play the viola. It doesn’t work. You just have to know the clef and how to play the notes on the instrument. I would suggest working through a book such as Essential Elements or I Can Read Music, then go on to more advanced literature like the Suzuki Books 1 and 2. These present enough reading challenge for a violinist new to alto clef.

3. Work through an etude book that you don’t know as well. If you are playing Kayser or Kreutzer on the violin, don’t use those. Pick something simple like Foundation Studies by Wohlfahrt. It’s not going to hurt you to play through some etudes you are less familiar with. Eventually move on to something like “Introducing the Positions” by Whistler so you can read in position and get to know half position.

4. Pick a few repertoire pieces that you have always wanted to play but are usually played on viola. (Haven’t you always wanted to play that Bach Prelude?)

5. Play viola in a quartet or ensemble to really test your skills. Try not to sight read, you’ll probably find this difficult.