New Dates and Policies Here!

STRING THINGS SUZUKI STUDIO

2019-20 POLICIES AND TUITION

Fall Semester –Aug 12, 2019 through the end of the semester on December 20, 2019.

·       No lessons – Oct 21-25:  Nov. 5-8

·       30 minute private lessons, group classes and performances $450 for semester or $100 per month for 5 months, August through December

·       45 minute private lessons, group classes and performances $700 for semester or $150 per month for 5 months, August through December

·       1 hour private lessons, group classes and performances - $950 for semester

Or $200 per month for 5 months, August through December

Spring Semester –January 6, 2020 through May 30, 2020

·       No lessons Jan 20 – 24: Feb. 17-21: May 4 - 8

·        Private 30 minute lessons, group classes plus 1 recital -  $450 for semester or $100 per month for 5 months, Jan. through May

·       Private 45 minute lessons, group classes, plus 1 recital - $700 for semester or $150 per month for 5 months, Jan through May

·       Private 1 hour lessons and group classes plus one recital - $950

For semester or $200 per month for 5 months Jan through May

(Tuition is based on all classes for the semester and includes lesson fees, group classes*, and performances, NOT a certain number of lessons per month)

Missed classes and makeups are at the teacher’s discretion. Make- up lessons will not be given for less than 24 hour notice, unless the teacher grants exceptions for true emergencies or illnesses. There will be two scheduled ‘make-up master class days’ during the year which will be used for make-up times, with appointments determined by the teacher. If a make-up lesson is missed, the lesson is forfeited and may not be rescheduled again.

*Group Class and Performance dates will be posted in August at  www.stringthingssuzuki.blogspot.com

The first group Class will be at 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3303 N. Belcher Road. We will have a short parent meeting afterward while the children have some fruit or snacks.

Sept. 6 and Aug 20: Oct. 4 and 11, Nov 4 and 11 will be the other groups this semester

WHY REVIEW ?!!??

To continue what I posted about Possibilites and Practice tips for repetition, let's talk about Reviewing for Mastery and Fluency.

I read an article from Laurie Niles on www.violinist.com about this and think it's very important to know what we are actually aiming for by reviewing pieces we 'already know'.

Here is what Laurie said:

"Knowing" a piece is actually just the starting point - then comes the real work. After knowing a piece, the next goal is to master the piece. And in mastering many pieces, you grow your level of fluency on the instrument.

So what exactly is mastery, and what is fluency?

Mastery is when the physical skills of playing something become a series of easy motions, executed without mistakes. Fingers land in the correct spots at the correct times, and shifts occur seamlessly. There are no lingering questions over bow direction, and articulations are clear and decisive. In most cases, the music, when mastered, is also memorized.

Fluency a step beyond mastery. Musical fluency - similar to fluency in a language - is when the music flows freely and easily, expressing something meaningful to the listener. Any troubles related to producing the music are behind you, freeing you to shape the music in the moment, as you connect with your listener.

Think about how you developed fluency in your own language. Or better yet, think about a struggle for fluency in a foreign language. Fluency is developed by using the language a lot, by saying phrases over and over. In the beginning, just saying the words can be difficult. As you get past that, you start forming phrases, clumsily at first. Over time your phrases make more sense. You start to understand not just the general meaning of the words you speak, but all the subtleties of putting them together in different ways, to suit different situations and meanings.

And what fosters this process? Repetition.

It's the same in music. The more we play a piece of music, the more adept we grow with our performance and expression."

When you are practicing a brand new piece, you cannot concentrate on the fluency part of playing music. You are thinking about things like bowings, fingerings, notes, etc. You aren't able to do all those technical things that you do to learn a piece and still make beautiful music that includes the phrasinng, emotion, dynamics, vibrato, and gorgeous tone that fluency brings.

SO, learn those 'fluency' types of things by playing pieces that you can play seamlessly, and then add the important musical things like phrasing and shaping the music to have the meaning it needs to communicate with the listener's heart.

Every time you review a piece, pick something to work on that is going to bring out that meaning better.

1. Bow distribution (You can draw this on a blackboard or paper, see my former blog post on this
2. Vibrato
3. Dynamics (Forte, piano, crescendo, diminuendo)
4. Style (Legato, stacatto, spiccato, martele, etc)
5. Tone Color (the purity of tone)
6. Message? what are you trying to communicate with this song?
7. any new techniques that your teacher is working on that can be practiced on a Review Song

I hope that this list is just a starter, you can add more things to the list as you find things you want to add.

Possibilities!

There are many different ways to learn, and many different styles of practicing. Today I am sharing two that I like to use in lessons.

Lately my favorite way to practice passages that are fast is the seven famous rhythms that I learned from Ivan Galamian's book Principles of Violin Playing. This works best on a section of notes that are all the same length, like sixteenth notes.
Basically you play the notes in the passage with different lengths so that you are giving your fingers and your brain time to think between some notes, and practice moving quickly between others, then mixing up the pattern until your brain and fingers are ready to play all the notes quickly. Here is a drawing of the rhythms using  __ for  a long (eighth) note, and - for a short (sixeenth) note:

1  __ - __  - __ - __ -

2  - __ - __ - __ - __

3  __  __ - - __ __ - -

4  - - __ __  - - __ __

5   __ - - - __ - - -

6  - - - __  - - - __

7   - - - - - - - -  (this is the  original written fast grouping)


Today, I found this great video for how to 'draw' bow distribution. I think this will be a fun thing to use both in private lessons and at group class. We could draw the bowing for different Suzuki Songs and guess the tune! We could try different bow distribution drawings to experiment with a song or passage we are playing that day at group. All kinds of interesting things can come from learning this technique.

Of course, there are also fun ways to memorize pieces. One I like is the game where we write our notes on a dry erase or chalkboard, then play the passage.Each time we play it, we erase one of the notes, until there are no written notes left and the passage is memorized!

Another way to repeat difficult passages is with the Penny Game. Choose a number like 5, 10 or more, depending on the age of the child, and the difficulty of the passage. Then you need two cups, one for the student, and one for the parent or teacher. Each time the passage is played without mistakes, or with whatever technique you are trying to improve, the student gets a penny (or a Cheerio or M&M, or bead - whatever you use to count) in their cup. If there is a mistake or failed attempt, the teacher or parent gets the penny in her cup. The game continues until someone has all 10 pennies. SO... let's say the 10 pennies are all in the cups, and the student has 7 and the parent has 3, then the student keeps playing the passage until he wins the parent's 3 pennies back from the parent, which might take more than 3 tries! This is a fun way to get lots of practice repetitions in!

An Abacus is a good counting tool for practice repetions or counting practices. We are making them at group class this fall with pipe cleaners and beads. I will let the students pick a color of pipe cleaner, then pick a large button to tie on each end. Then they will pick 10 colored beads for middle of the pipe cleaner for counting. The kids really enjoy this! I will post our pictures when we make them!

Violin Bowing Tip: Drawing the Map