September 20, 2023 Homework Poco Players

Poco: Consistency is much more important than quantity.  If you can fit in 5-7 minutes of practice every single day you will see noticeable improvement. Put the activities that need the most work near the beginning of the practice (e.g. if the bow hold is hard for them, do that first or second to ensure they get to it before burning out). Sometimes you may not get to all the activities every day and that is ok, as long as they are doing something for violin every day. Continue listening to the recordings as well, we want the songs to be so ingrained that it feels second nature to play it. Definitely listen to the Twinkle variations, but feel free to listen to other Suzuki Book 1 pieces to mix it up!

-Continue practicing a good violin hold (emphasis on the chin tuck to keep the violin up without the hands). Try to keep it up for three twinkle variations.

-String Game (listening development) pluck a string and get them to same E,A,D, or G and/or do the movements we did in class.

-Ant Song: Continue working on this with the plucks on each string.

Each Each Each Each and Every

Ant Ant Ant Digging in the

Dirt Dirt Dirt All the way to

Greece Greece Greece

-Arm Scrubs: “Dirty Doggy Scrub Scrub”

-Continue working on bow holds. They are looking much better but still need refining. Remember the thumb should be on the metal and bent. Feel free to use the bow hold games we have done in the past as review!

-Shoulder Bowing: start from the “square” (bow arm makes a right angle at the elbow) with the bow on the shoulder. Weight can and should go into the shoulder through the bow. Remember to have a good bow hold the whole time!

My turn your turn: like we did in class. Bow on the violin. Make sure they have a good bow hold and violin hold still. start from the “square” like in the shoulder bowing, and help them move the bow by opening the arm.

I will move them by gently holding their arm up to the correct level to be on the string and moving the bow itself (holding it close to where their hand is). If anyone is ready for this step but confused by this please feel free to ask questions next class.