Adult Orchestra March 3

I am so pleased, and I hope you are too, about how the whole orchestra sounds. I now have an idea of what the May 16, Sunday concert will look and sound like. Need to have pretty dresses or blouses and shoes, ties and nice pants for the guys.

Continue with your warm-ups on long bows, with scales, and rhythm patterns practice.

This is proposed concert order:
1. Video on water (2 min, if I can obtain it from ONEDROP.ORG called earth's beauty

2. Antartica and new piece Amadare (raindrops) for small group.

3. Cripple Creek, Dervish and Bouree to represent flowing of abundant water.

4. After noting how easy this piece is, we will add Desert Sands here to represent declining fresh and safe water supplies. I will re-hand out music next week.

5. Danny Boy to represent the idea of not fighting over water.

6. Anasazi to represent how much civilizations depend on fresh water.

7. Solos to represent the individual effort that is required to solve big philosophical and ethical problems.

I will send everyone an email and print this out too. Anne Nesse

Adult Class up to Feb. 24

Hurray! We are now playing all of Bouree! Also all of Danny Boy, Cripple Creek, Anasazi (in C Scale). Use middle to tip of bow for Cripple Creek and keep strokes firm and short to do fast sequences. Think scale patterns.

That reminds me. Be sure and warm up on slow and then fast G scale. This will help you in all the songs in G. Continue working on your improvisation on raindrop piece. Dervish practice to DC al Coda.

Middle School Orchestra Jan.27-Feb 10

We are currently practicing bowing with more firmness and straightened lower arms. We should all be able to play Chorus from Juda Maccabaeus in front of the class memorized, using full bows for quarter notes, dotted quarters and half notes. Remember to keep the low 2 finger on A and E strings, but still reach up high enough with 3rd finger. Do all the slurrs correctly.

We will also memorize Irishwasherwoman, but for the concert the harmony will not be memorized. The first 8 measures should be memorized by next week.

Canon in D we are practicing vibrato and using 4th finger on first part of song. Then slowing a little for measures 25-29 right now, until we learn the scale patterns. This part needs quite a bit of practice over and over, and probably needs fingering written in. Look at notes in groups of beats rather than individually.

We will start playing Afton Water the top melody next week so remember the G# when you practice that.

Happy Valentines and practicing!!!

Beginning Class Feb.2-11

We are now on our way to learning how to read music even better. By concentrating on rhythm and D and A string notes on pages 24 and 25 for two lessons I think your bowing is improving. Warm up with long bows on D and A strings.

We will have written tests of writing fingerings above notes at every lesson. So remember to bring your book every time.

We are now practicing Scale warm-up 87, Frere Jaques in round 88, Bile 'em Cabbage 89 memorized with harmony, Lightly Row 91 part A, Cello and viola will try part B next week, and Can-Can 92 pizzacato part A.

Practice at least 4 times per week about 1/2 to 1 hour.

Adult Class Feb. 10

Even with several missing we still are making great progress. I will let you know as soon as possible about May or early June concert.

Continue practicing C and G scales using full bows, short bows faster, and different bowing patterns. Isolate places in your music that are harder and concentrate on those. Start adding slurrs in the beginning and similar passages in Bouree. Go all the way to measure 32 in that piece. You may come as early as 5:30pm to get tested on that piece.

We are playing entire Anasazi piece with the dynamics of p (very soft) and mf (medium loud) using crescendos that gradually go up or down in volume. Use less bow for softer parts and more bow for louder parts. You did well on this piece.

We also learned new piece I wrote in C scale that is called Raindrops. It includes self composed section you play in any rhythm that starts slow using only 3 notes in any order (C,E,G= a C chord) gets a little faster and louder as the rain increases and then gradually slowes down only near the end. In the first part violins need to remember -1 on E string.

Cripple Creek we will take all the way to measure 35. Second violins need to practice 1/16 notes (4 notes in one beat).

Dervish we will go to measure 45 next week. New rhythm is 1/8 followed by two eighths tied=1/4 note, then followed by 1/8 note. A short, long, short sequence or 1, &2, &.

Practice Danny Boy with slurrs and we will for sure do this next week. More experienced group should practice wide vibrato for this piece.

Antartica students be sure and practice counting and harmonic shifts. Seconds need to practice 40 to end since you have prominent melody then.

Nice work all of you. I will call those who missed.

Adult Class Feb.3

We together are really making beautiful music!! I was so uplifted by this rehearsal.

Practice makes perfect though, and there is still much to be worked on in terms of dynamics, soft (piano), loud (forte), and learning to crescendo in Anasazi for example. We are now playing the whole of this piece, so practice all of it. Cellos need to practice the ending and should also be aware of dynamics.

We are now playing 2 octave scales in both C and G, which covers all of our music. Anasazi is the only one in C, low 2 on D and A strings (-1 on E for violins). The rest are in key of G, low 2 on A and E for violins, low 2 on A for for cellos/violas and fourth position shift to E, F#, G. We will continue practicing rhythm patterns, and remember to use your whole bow without moving your upper arm too much (for all instruments). Good to practice this in warm-up with scales using 2 beat half notes slowly. Later we will speed up scales when you know them better. All playing is in index finger, wrist movement, and lengthening lower arm.

The beginning adult class should practice as much as possible. I will be giving you each an individual test of first 16 measures of Bouree whenever you are ready, so practice that. Listen to the CD for tone and pitch but play it much slower like we do in class. Tests will be given after 8pm whenever you are ready.

Dervish continue practicing to measure 29. We will add more next week so you can mark fingerings if needed. Count 1& 2& as you play it to keep track of rests. You can practice all of Danny Boy because we will be playing it every class now. Hardest part is using all the bow in slurrs that are marked. Those who know vibrato should do it, so we all sound good.
I will give short vibrato instruction every week for experienced players but many of you need to wait till you have more experience with using full bows. Our fiddle tune Cripple Creek should be practiced at least to measure 24. If notes go by too fast just play first note in each beat. You will get it eventually. It may help to play pizz first then switch to very small bows to allow you to move from note to note more efficiently.

Small group playing Antartica keep working on making those harmonics ring true to pitch and come out louder using full bows.

Looking forward to next Wednesday...

Adult class Jan. 27

You are sounding so good when I put the two groups together. If anyone wants to try the fiddle tune the high school group played let me know. I will have music available for you. The 1/16 notes are fast but you could modify them and just play the first note in each beat. I also have a very easy fiddle tune that I was planning on adding after we got Anasazi and Dervish learned.
Keep practicing the C scale in two octaves because it is so important to all other scales. See previous post to look for hints. Also look at G scale notes for fingering for Dervish. Anasazi is in C scale. Practice to measure 16 in Bouree, measure 29 in Dervish, and measure 27 in Anasazi. That will put us almost half way through these songs and make the rest of the song much easier to do. Don't worry if you lose your place sometimes in class. IT WILL GET EASIER AS WE PLAY THESE SONGS MORE AND MORE! You can even write letter for string names sometimes until you get songs figured out.

Middle School Orchestra Jan. 13-20

Practice the two octave C scale remembering it's rules of close first and second finger on D and A strings. Play 4th finger instead of open strings going up the scale, shift to one finger on next higher string. On E string play -1 (near the nut of violin), 2nd finger, then transfer first finger up to III position (where 3rd finger would be) and play notes A, B, and C, (B and C are close together). This is the basis of all scales, so it is very important.

We will continue with rhythm exercises next class.

We worked a lot on the first line of Juda Maccabaeus so everyone should be able to play that memorized if possible, for the next class.

We played Pacabel's Canon in D (which means D scale, so you can play 2nd finger wide using F# and C#). Play 4th finger instead of open strings for half notes at the beginning. Using vibrato would be nice on these slow notes. Then on faster eighth and sixteenth notes play open A and E strings. Beats are tied together so tap your foot to each beat. You have to fit 4 sixteenths into each beat or one eighth and 2 sixteenths. Practice to measure 27.

We didn't get to the fiddle tune Afton Water. We will save that for later and I will bring Irish Washerwoman next week instead. It is fast and fun!

Happy practicing. Anne Nesse

Adult Class for Jan. 20

Continue practicing two octave C scale remembering it's rules, low 2 finger on D and A string (first two fingers very close). For violins only -1 on E string by the nut then 2, then first finger shifting to where 3 would be (called III position ), ending on 2nd and 3rd finger close. All other scales are based on this one and that is why it is so important. I will ask for volunteers to play this for the class when you feel you have it mastered it. Those in high school group can practice vibrato with this. I will teach this to others near end of this session.

Practice Dervish rhythm piece counting to 2 with subdivisions in each measure. It is in the G scale so use those fingerings from scale sheet. 1&2& is the way to count eighth note rhythms, but quarter notes you can just say one, two, and half notes do a slow bow of two counts. There is one place rhythm holds half note tied to eighth so you count 1,2 with 1&,2 in next measure. Taping the foot 1,2 helps. Practice to measure 21.

Anasazi and Dervish right now are just for my first beginning group while high school is practicing in the hallway. They may join us later on these songs. Anasazi is in C scale rules. Some of the low 2 fingerings are marked with a L2. This is so you don't forget and accidentally play f# or c#. Cellos have solo of 2 measures playing A then 2 up bow E's that are ties, but you stop bow without leaving a space (no staccato). There are slurrs for violins on 2 eighth notes with half note. First violins are on D string, 2nds on G string to start. Go only to measure 11. The rest of the song is very similar so once we learn this part the rest will follow.

High school I would like you to be able to play Danny Boy next week for the whole group at the beginning of class, after we do C scale and rhythm exercises. You will be practicing Antartica in the hallway also so you will be more ready to play it at the end class. I will add new music as you get this all perfected. Try two verses of Danny Boy, one in unison, the next with viola and cello playing the harmony.

Save Desert Sands, we will deal with that later.

Bouree (dance), we are learning together in unison, one line at a time for beginners. Assignment is at least the first line. If you can play to measure 16 keep practicing that. I will call for volunteers to demonstrate sections as you get them prepared. Beginners will find the CD useful, track 6. We will not play the dance that fast. The cellos need a slower speed anyway. Ours will be a slower more elegant dance.

Hope this helps. I am available Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays for scheduled private lessons, in the afternoons and evenings. And really anytime during the day except Friday AM.
Anne Nesse

Adult Class first class Jan. 13

We sounded so good last week. I know you forgot some things, but we will all get caught up soon. The two octave C scale we started out with will get easier as you see it demonstrated more. The 3rd position shift moves your thumb and first finger up to where your third finger would have been. You go from a -1 on E string to 2 a whole step up, then move first finger up to next step. You can hear when you are in the right place. We will go over this a lot, so don't worry if you didn't get it the first time.

Also don't worry too much about Danny Boy. You need to audition before you play that. It is mostly for my more advanced students who have joined us. When you do have it mastered you can play it with us. You need to observe the slurrs.

I would rather you work on Bouree to measure 16 with pizzacato. This song is often played by ear by young Suzuki students, so this is learned gradually also. After you learn it pizz, you can use shorter bows and try it that way. We have till May to learn this. It is like a test in reading and remembering rhythms. Playing it all together helps reinforce the sounds. You might have to put extra practice on the eighth note sections that are faster, but move in somewhat scalewise pattern. Look at several notes at once to see the patterns, rather than one note at a time.

Practice Dervish to rehearsal no. 21, counting and tapping foot two beats for each measure. We are learning counting. Practice Desert Sands to measure 11, and we will go on to measure 19 or 27 next week. This piece is in 4, so count and tap to four while playing.

I will use some of our time next week to ask for volunteers to bow certain sections you practiced, so that I can see how I can help individuals improve. My more advanced students will use the last half hour from 7:30-8pm to play the harder music, but you can observe. We will have a break with refreshments around 7pm. Amy volunteered to bring some snacks.

Happy Practicing....