4th to 6th -- Instruments and Books, Tuning

Students in grades 4 to 6 need to bring instruments and books (Smart Violin in 4, Strings Extraordinaire in 5 & 6) to school tomorrow, Thursday.

Tuning Hopefully weather will cooperate and keep moisture in the air. Some 4th graders have been under the impression that a private teacher has said it is OK for a student to turn the pegs at the end of the violin. We have had some broken strings, bent bridges, and loss of class time. I have clarified with some of the private teachers--to my knowledge, teachers are consistent in stating the following:

Beginning violinists should refrain from trying to tune their violins using the pegs at the scroll.

Many teachers wait a number of years before teaching tuning in this way (because of the possible damage to the instrument).

I have observed some students in grades 5 & 6 successfully and responsibly tune their own or other student's instruments using pegs. This is fine, and I am glad to see students help one another. During the tuning fiasco of dry weather, I had some reports of students deliberately marring their tuning to delay class. Because this was not a problem when weather allowed most instruments to stay in tune (and would be really obvious when most instruments are in tune), I expect this potentially disrespectful behavior to vanish. It also signals that I should move the pace in class quicker and make sure the material is challenging (which means some students may need to practice more at home). Please contact me if you have concerns.

4th Grade

We will review Smart Violin from the start, now reading notes and using solfeggio techniques (do-re-mi and soforth; this will help us make sense of transposing songs from A major to D major). Students familiar with note reading and the songs in the first pages may find it best to work on complementary, appropriately challenging material with a private teacher (as some teachers already do). It is my intention to move through Smart Violin with steady progress throughout the coming months. For some students, this may be challenging; I have received permission from the publisher and am in the process of making a low-tech recording of every song in the book to assist students who may be struggling.

5th & 6th Grade

We will have new seating for the January 28 assembly. We will rotate seating for each assembly; our strings program is for all students, not by audition, and I am therefore resisting creating a hierarchy of seating; rather, I want students to sit in new combinations to work on their listening in an ensemble. Cellos and violas will sit in the middle with violins on either side; this will make it easier for the audience to hear the distinct melodie of the bass and alto registers, and will mean students (violins in particular) will have to work hard to listen to one another.

We will review--briskly--pre-Christmas material in Strings Extraordinaire and focus on Choral, Processional, Gavotte in D, and King William's March (pages 8 to 12), likely playing some to or all of these at the January assembly.

7th & 8th Grade

Our guitarists will back up the 4th grade and 5th & 6th at the January assembly, as well as one of the Spanish classes.

We will do a number of exercises to refresh our memory of chords.

I encourage students/parents to look through Rise Up Singing to recommend songs for us to work on (other recommendations are fine as well).