August 23, 2023 Homework Preludio
WELCOME PRELUDIO!
From Mrs. Erika:
For these first few weeks, daily practice will look very much the same as we try to establish good habits, build muscle, and develop coordination. For our younger students, it is especially important that we go in small steps and do not start making things harder until the previous steps are becoming more doable for them.
Ideally, even when things are going well, I would recommend that most of the practice session be focused on “reviewing and refining” previous concepts. As they get better, we will raise our standards for violin hold, bow hold, bow use, and anything else we add.
Therefore, we are having much of the same practice as last week, and adding on a couple of things (mainly the bow hold work).
Review Posture and Violin Hold:
Students should be able to balance a small toy or eraser on their violin since it will be flat.
Check:
1) Good violin feet (make a V and small step out )
2)Hips over feet
3) Relaxed shoulders
4) head looking left
5) Jaw on chin rest, putting the weight of the head on the chin rest
6)Violin is flat or close to it
7) If your student already know how to put down fingers, make sure the wrist is straight and fingers curved
Posture Tests/Games:
See if the student can hold their violin without their hands
See if they can balance an eraser/small toy on the violin while listening to Twinkle variations
See if they can balance a stuffed animal on their head while they hold their violin/listen to Twinkle
Bow Hold Work:
It is very important that the parent help the student with the bow hold t avoid them developing tension.
1)Draw the dots that I showed you in class on the students hand (or look at the picture attached)
2)Make sure their hand is relaxed while you help shape their fingers
3) Slide the bow in their relaxed hand until you reach the frog (you can make it fun by pretending it is a train moving along tracks)
4) We want to “hide the dots” on the bow (this is where the fingers should touch). For now we are putting the thumbs on the outside of the frog until they can learn to keep it bent. Once they have been keeping it bent consistently without reminders, we will move it to the “advanced” bow hold where we place it inside the frog.
5) Check that thumb is bent (creating a circle with the middle finger) and the pinky is bent and on top of the stick
6) Assist them with moving the bow into a vertical position.
7) Try to keep them holding it correctly as long as possible. In class we sang a song, and played a game where we tried to stick erasers/small toys through the circle make with their thumb.
Rocket Song:
“Up like a rocket
Down like the rain
back and forth like a choo-choo train
Round and round like a great big sun
put your bow in your hand
tap your pinky and your thumb
Repeat first part.
Handshake Bowing:
right hand: starting from top. Handshake to the rhythm of “Mississippi hot dog”
Make sure their elbow is loose and relaxed, that is what we are developing with this activity.
Practice Bowing
Bow the Mississippi Hot Dog rhythm on left shoulder by itself, then bow on shoulder along with the first Twinkle Variation recording
Extra Credit:
More advanced players may then try playing open A with the Mississippi Hot Dog Rhythm with the recordings only after they have done the previous activities.
Students who already know it may also start playing Twinkle with putting fingers down.
Resources For Preludio:
The following link has many pictures of a correct bow hold from many angles for your reference.
Suzuki Recordings:
Bow Hand Dot Photos: Attached below
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Below is your theory homework for the week:
Theory homework: THSO Theory Book One – cover and page 3