Monday, January 10, 2011

WHAT WE DID TODAY: MONDAY; JANUARY 10, 2011

GENERAL MUSIC PERIODS 2,3,6
OBJECTIVE: Violin Left Pizzicato/Open String Note Reading
1. NO QUOTE instead: Finished Composer Report on Tchaikovsky
.....a. Completed the last 3 sections of the report and turned in
2. VIOLIN LEFT PIZZICATO
.....a. Reviewed left hand pizzicato (Italian word for "plucking") and how using this technique will help in the set-up of the 
         left arm position for the violin hold and also the angle at which the violin is played.
.....b. Procedure
..........1)Left thumb placed at curve of the neck forming a backwards "C"
..........2)Left 1st finger pad touches each open string by feel (try not to use the eyes)
..........3)Then, left 1st finger pad silently performs a "spring-like" action 4x up and down on each open string
..........4)Adding to the last step, the left 1st finger pad pushes down onto the string and then pulls the string out to perform                     the pizzicato
..........5)Before restarting the next pizzicato the finger pad briefly feels the string before pushing down and pulling the string 
             again
.....c. Students performed the left hand pizzicato on each string, plucking 4x using:
..........1)1st finger (pointer)
..........2)2nd finger (middle)
..........3)3rd finger (ring)
..........4)4th finger (pinky)
3. OPEN STRING LEFT HAND PIZZICATO SONGS and OPEN STRING NOTE READING
.....a. Procedure
...........1)Examine the song chart with the open string notes on them
...........2)There are colors given (one for each open string note)
...........3)Comparing the visual image to what we know about the violin strings, find:
..............a)The highest note on the chart and use that image to determine which violin string it represents (highest note 
                  represents the highest string, the lowest note represents the lowest string, etc.
..............b)Using the same process identify all 4 notes with the strings they represent
...........4)Note reading was reviewed then students asked to say the note names as they were pointed to
...........5)Added to the above direction student were to say the note names as they plucked (left hand pizzicato) the                                    appropriate matching string
...........6)This step was redone adding music
.....b. Song we played
1)"BATMAN"
THIS LESSON IS TO CONTINUE TOMORROW

BEGINNING VIOLIN PERIOD 5
OBJECTIVE: Note reading the song "TWINKLE"/Connecting the violin to the keyboard
1. Took out the completed "Twinkle" worksheets and went to the keyboards to play the song by reading the notes
2. I checked the students separately for understanding; this took the whole class period

ADVANCED VIOLIN PERIOD 4:
OBJECTIVE: SUBDIVISION RHYTHM READING

1. TUNE
2. "A Year Without Rain"
.....a. Everyone counted and clapped to the difficult sycopated rhythms using the process of subdivision of the beat. (This is 
         difficult and is going to take some more rehearsal time to perfect.)
.....b. Everyone reviewed harmony parts
.....c. We started to work on the melody parts (a small section at a time)
3. BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
....a. Entire group played song with both harmony and melody parts