6th Beginner Lesson

We started on page 10, even though the homework is bowing pages 7-12. All students did well at playing the high D note of song 23 on page 10. As they played I went around checking sound, bow hold, and making sure everyone was doing nice long bows that were parallel to the bridge. Everyone is doing so well! I know we aren't perfect yet, but hey, that's the fun of it. We are going to sound great, as we continue to practice. I love the sound of all the strings vibrating together, with all the same length of bow strokes for the quarter notes.

We continued by bowing the rest of page 10 and 11, the notes on the A string with a few open D's included. I called up individuals to demonstrate and teach the rest of the class, so that we could all learn to improve by watching each other. What a fun group of students that are willing to share their developing skills with the class.

After that we did finger markings on songs for Christine and Natalie, pg. 12 songs 33 and 34. We had time to play at least 33 with the bow. Both songs are for homework as well as bowing all the songs pages 7-12.

You are also supposed to write about 8 measures that is a variation on one of the songs from pages 7-12. You may write more measures. It sounds best if you end the song on the note D, since we are in the musical scale of D. You need to have 4 quarter note beats per measure, and can include rests. Have fun with this! We can start playing these in class.

Finally we learned Jingle Bells on page 14 using only the upper half of the bow, starting in the middle of the bow. You can gradually increase the speed of this song as you learn it. See you after Thanksgiving. If you need any help feel free to call me. Have a fun holiday, play some music for your family!