Practice Tips for the 1st Section of Bouree in Suzuki Book 2

       One of the beautiful aspects of Suzuki Book 2 is the greater variety of dynamics and moods in the pieces. You don't just want to play notes, you want to make music, be expressive and put passion in your playing. That's how you want to practice.

Of course, when you first start a piece of music you have to focus on the fingerings and bowings but don't just stop there.

In Bouree by George Friedrich Handel, there's a beautiful crescendo in the first section fits so well with the notes. Here are some quick tips to consider when you are working on a passage with a long crescendo:

1. More Bow.

Don't focus on the pressure of the bow, but the amount of bow.  It is easy to push the bow down harder, but that leads to squeaks and crunchy sounds. Put your attention on using more and more bow throughout that line.

2. Open Strings. 

Strip everything down in the passage so you can just focus on the the bow playing the crescendo. Play each open string in 4 bow stroke sets growing the amount of the bow every set.

Here's what I mean: play four times on an open string, stop, do it again with a little more bow, stop, again with more bow, etc. Make sense?

3. Stop Prepare. 

After playing on open strings it becomes easy to play a crescendo it's time to get back to our passage. The next step is to play the second line of the piece with stops in between every four notes, by stopping you will have time to prepare yourself to use more bow. Do this several times starting slow and gradually accelerando (speed up) until there are no more stops.

Check out my video that walks you through and demonstrates these tips here

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Two Year Olds Can Learn a Musical Instrument

 

I just finished with my two year old son our 5 minute violin lesson playing Twinkle rhythms together.  This was the longest lesson we had together and it was very rewarding.

Many parents wonder when to start music lessons with their children. They think, "When are they ready? When are they old enough? What do I have to know? What is required of as a parent?"

These are good questions to ask yourself as a parent as you think about music lessons for your children.

Here are some points to help you determine if your child is old enough and ready for lessons:

Why?

This is an obvious question but you need to answer it for yourself and your child so that you can find the right kind of lessons.

Fun and Exploration. 

For example, you may want to just do music for fun and exploration. You can fulfill this without private lessons. You can do this at home singing songs together, dancing to music, looking at books of instruments, listening to instruments online and going to free concerts. Another option is to enroll in early music education classes where they will explore music in a group setting.

This is a good way to start, because it brings the culture of music in your family.

Maybe your child is showing interest in an instrument, like the violin, and you want to fan the flame of their excitement for the instrument. You can look into Suzuki lessons with teachers that specialize in teaching the age of your child and agrees with that approach to lessons.

Education.

Other parents see music as fundamental to life, as music is everywhere, so they want their children to learn more about the beauty and importance of music. They all see the advantage that music lessons bring to other areas of life develop their fine motor skills, learn to read music, grow in patience, discipline, attention span, etc. There are teachers, like me, that approach music lessons in this way.


Are You Ready?

The "why?" of music lessons will also lead you to think how much you are willing to be involved with music lessons. Some parents think that they have to wait for their children to express interest in a musical instrument before pursuing lessons. But it is important to keep in mind that our children imitate us from infancy so they will value what we value.

So the real question is, "Are you excited about music being a part of your family's life?" When you are interested in music and share the interest with your children they will start being curious about music with you. Children tend be naturally curious, want to learn, ready to explore and are not as self-conscious as older children.

Why do you want music lessons for your children? Are you ready to make music a focus in your family?

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Tips for Happy Farmer, Suzuki Violin Book 1

It seemed like it would take forever, like we would never finish, but finally here we are. Two more songs and you will graduate Suzuki Violin Book 1. This is a big accomplishment for those of us that have started the journey of learning the violin. 

Happy Farmer was originally written by Robert Schumann for piano in his Album for the Young (Album fur die Jugend), Op. 68. The great german composer of the 1800s cared about beginning piano students to learn some beautiful music.

Here are some tips as you tackle this piece:

Key.

Happy Famer is in the key of G Major like Etude and all three Minuets by J.S. Bach. This means that we will be using a low 2nd finger on the A and E string, and high 2nd finger on D and G string. 

Structure.

You can think of the piece in 3 parts: part 1 (m.1–4), part 1 (m. 5–8), part 2 (m. 9–10), part 3 (m. 11–14), part 2 (m. 15–16), part 3 (m. 17-end). Understanding the structure will make it easier to learn and perform.

Skills/Terms.

Long-Short Hook Bow. In Minuet №1, Minuet №2, and Minuet №3 we learned that hook bows are played up-up or down-down with a stop between the notes. 

This bowing is indicated by a curved line over or under two or more notes with dots above or below them. 

Now we will play hook bow with a dotted-quarter-eighth-note combination. Remember that a dotted-quarter note gets 1.5 beats and the eighth note 1/2 a beat. For younger children these number of beats is still new and they may not understand very much how it applies to playing the notes. Don’t let that bother you, the important point for them to remember is that the dotted-quarter note is longer and the eighth note shorter. Also, put a stop between the notes like the other hook bow rhythm. As the child grows so will his understanding of counting the beats.

Allegro giocoso. We have learned that Allegro means “fast”, “lively”, “happy.” Now we add giocoso which means “playful”, “humorous”, and “with energy”.

Strategies.

1. Play long-short hook bows on open strings with different combinations.

2. Play the A, D and G scale with long-short hook bow slowly at first, then faster and faster.

3. Play through the piece with no hook bows or slurs, just focusing on the fingering and rhythm.

4. Isolate and play only the hook bow measures slowly until it is easy to play them. 

5. Play Twinkle, Perpetual Motion, and other songs that you like with long-short hook bow. 

6. Prepare for your Book 1 Recital by playing through all the pieces at different speeds adding dynamics and good tone.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment and any questions that you have and subscribe for more.