COMPOSER: BACH: "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring"
OBJECTIVE: Treble Clef Note Reading on the Recorder/Recorder Holiday Songs
1. QUOTE AUTHOR: Ludwig van Beethoven
.....a. Term used in the quote to define: Virtue: a trait or quality deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. .....a. Deafness of Beethoven; he was slowly loosing his hearing and was to become completely deaf near the latter years of his life.
..........1)He wrote his last symphony #9 ("Choral"), which has the famous "Ode to Joy" melody, when he was deaf and never heard it performed.
.....c. Beethoven was depressed and the more he became depressed the more beautiful his music became.
2. SOLFEGE/CHECK QUOTES: Period 3 did this only due to computer problems during periods 2, 6
.....a. Using solfege (and corresponding hand signals) in different sound patterns: Sol-Mi; Sol-Mi-La; Do-Re-Mi; Mi, Re, Do
.....b. Students were asked by the teacher if their quotes were done (as we have done before) only each student was asked the question in a different sound pattern (taken from the list above) and was then asked to respond using the same pattern as the teacher
3. RECORDER
.....a. Warm-Up/Echo Technique
...........1)Used notes from "B" down to low "C" on the instrument
...........2)Used note in preparation for songs that would be played at the lesson
.....b. Holiday Song: JOLLY OLD ST. NICHOLAS
...........1)Note reading treble clef notes by reviewing "G" clef [line 2 of the musical staff (2nd line from the bottom) is the note "G"] By knowing these simple rules all the notes on the staff can be identified:
..............a)Need to know the name of any single note located on the staff ("G" clef tells you that line 2 is a G)
..............b)Need to know the musical alphabet forward and backwards
..............c)Need to understand the concept of moving by "step" (a note on a line moving to the very next space on note on a space moving to the very next line)
..............d)Need to know what direction the second note is moving from the first note (if the second note is 1 step higher than the first note then the musical alphabet name of the note is also one letter higher from the first note and vice versa)
............2)After placing the note names down we then transfered the note names to the recorder fingers and wrote the
fingering down
............3) We then reviewed the directions (repeat signs/first and second ending symbols) and the rhythms of quarters, eighths in pairs, and quarter rests
............4)With a piano accompaniment and teacher pointing the class played the song, then we had some student to become the pointers to lead the class.
............5)Next week students will be given a music sheet, like the poster we worked on today, and asked to write down the note names in preparation for them to play this same song we just played on the recorder on the keyboard
.....c. JINGLE BELLS
............1)Same procedure as "JOLLY" except we added some more lower notes
............2)Learned about low C on the recorder being middle C on the keyboard
............3)For memorizing purposes I said that middle C looks like the planet Saturn because it looks like it has a ring around it (actually the "ring"is an added line added below the musical staff called a "leger" line
............4)Period 2 and 3 finished this section; period 6 ran out of time to write the notes down so we will finish this next
week but we sight read through the song
4. ALLEY CAT: LEFT-RIGHT SONG
.....a. Period 2 had some time left so we reviewed the left-right directions only this time with out colors indicating which notes were to be played by which hand (stems on notes going u to the right played by the right hand and stems going down to the left played by the right hand)
******Due to computer problems today's quote was again excused. I have been given a loaner computer until mine is fixed. Thanks for all the patience.
BEGINNING VIOLIN PERIOD 5:
OBJECTIVE: PREPARATION FOR HOLIDAY PERFORMANCE/DOUBLE STOPPING 1. TUNE
2. DO-RE-MI-FA/FA-MI-RE-DO ( 0 1 23 32 1 0 ) each string
......a. Explained about 3rd finger and in this fingering pattern 2nd and 3rd fingers touch or "feel the skin" of each other ("tip to tip")
.....b. Explained that the 3rd finger down on the higher of two cosequiative strings is the same note (an octave higher) of the lower open string note of the 2 strings
.........1)3rd finger on "D" is "G"
.........2)3rd finger on "A" is "D"
.........3)3rd finger on "E" is "A"
.....c. Sympathetic vibrations of open strings will cause a ringing sound when the 3rd finger is placed down properly
.........1)Listening for that will help to know if note is in tune
.........2)Teacher demonstrated
3. HOLIDAY PROGRAM SONG: HAVA NAGILA
.....a. Worked on articulation by playing a passage with one person, than adding another so that both players sounded like one, then we added a 3rd, etc. until all students were listening to one another and playing like one huge violin instead of 17 violins
.....b. Showed what proper articulation looks like on a diagram and how proper articulation can be used to cover up mistakes so the audience does not notice them
Coming Up: More holiday songs putting fingers down on strings
ADVANCED VIOLIN PERIOD 4:
OBJECTIVE: Preparation for: Holiday Program December 9th
1. TUNE
2. MUSIC STANDS WERE SET-UP
3. GREENSLEEVES
.....a. Listen to the accompaniment with string harmony part
.....b. Everyone plays harmony part together (later to separate into melody and harmony parts)
...........1)Playing the harmony part is important even for those who will be playing the melody because harmony helps
the ear with intonation, the counting is different, and also because it is good for everyone in the group to know how their part fits together with the the others.
...........2)Started to work on certain difficult parts with violins on melodic parts
...........3)Added violins in melody while others played harmony
4. Coventry Carol
.....a. Played with beginning violins during HR
.....b. We sight read this
5. Preparation for the Harvest Festival Performance
......a. There are 10 practice sessions (days left) before the concert
......b. We will be performing on the outside stage in the early part of the festival
......c. When we are finished we can put our instruments away in the room and enjoy rest of the festivities
......d. More information to follow when I get it.