Big Questions 2

2a: Roles of curricula and repertoire, aural skills and reading

1. Should you as a teacher stick to one method book? Or should you branch out
and try different things for different students depending on their skill and
ability? How can you incorporate aural skills and reading in lessons? How can
you make aural skills relevant to students? How can you make sight-reading
more fun and less intimidating? Maybe fun sight-reading duets might do the
trick? How does solid aural skills effect the students violin playing?
2. In class we discussed the positives of taking material from many method
books such as Suzuki. OConnor, Rolland, and Fischer. Using several method
books in an organized manner with one student can ensure that no stone is left
unturned and they develop into well-rounded competent musicians.
Associated Boards of the Royal School of Music shows ways to incorporate
aural skills in their examinations as well as reading. Teachers can use these to
work with their students to get them up to a certain level.
3. I have been taking several things from method books and applying them in my
lessons. I dont just give my student copies from one book and work through.
I diagnose their current problems and try to find pieces that will strengthen
their weaknesses. I have been doing aural skills by doing call and response
and then making my students sing the note and then play it.

2b. Learning fingerboard geography and shifting

1. How can students develop a strong muscle memory of the fingerboard? How
can we as teachers facilitate this learning process? What struggles might a
student come across in learning finger board geography?
2. Laurie Scott and William Dick made up the terms of escalators and elevators,
relating to half steps and whole steps. This idea helps students develop a
strong feeling of the space between their fingers and how the notes sound.
Mark OConnor uses the piece Boogie Woogie to develop muscle memory for
the fingerboard.
3. In my lessons, we do escalators and elevators in call and response form. This
way the student has to hear the half steps and whole steps as well as play them
correctly.

2c Developing vibrato, double stops, and chords

1. How can you help a student make a seamless vibrato? What are some ways
you can make double stops and chords seem effortless? What mismappings
are frequent with students when it comes to vibrato? How can you develop
vibrato muscles from the start? How can you avoid creating tense chords and
double stops?
2. In the Fischer Basics, Fischer creates exercises for both vibrato and doublestops, It is important that the student is aware of how his arm works in order
to avoid any mismappings with vibrato. The Crock Magic Mystery and
Mayhem article has several good tips on how to play balanced chords.

Wassum and MacLeod have great ideas for teachers to use when developing
vibrato.
3. My student hasnt really gotten to double stops yet. However we have been
bowing 2 open strings at the same time and trying to get them as even as we
can. Weve been doing some vibrato exercise. I explained to him what it is
and how the hand functions during vibrato.

2d. Procedures for developing tone and strokes:

1. What exercises are important for a student to do to create a full beautiful tone?
How can we teach the different bowing techniques to students and apply then
in real life pieces? How c
2. Tone and the bow strokes are discussed in Fischer basics, where he provides
several exercises for developing right hand technique. The Crock Magic,
Mystery and Mayhem also go over the different bow strokes. Hershs Central
Issues for Secondary Strings also provides a solid foundation for bowing
technique.
3. So far my student has gotten to doing long bows and short bows. We are
working on arm motion and how to keep a consistent sound while drawing
longer bows. We are also working on creating a clear focused tone when
playing staccato.

2e. Developing velocity:

1. How can you develop fast finger action in your students? How can you create
good finger and bow coordination?
2. Fischer explains several exercises students can use to create fast fingers, as
does Hershs ASTA presentation. A discussion about rounded bow motion
and torque are also beneficial for the student to understand that bow motion is
rounded and doesnt just work on a flat plane.
3. My student and I had a short discussion about torque and the shapes that the
bow arm makes. I showed him the articles we looked at in class and we
worked on crossing open strings and trying to create circles with our bow arm.
We also have been doing some of the Fischer exercises I modified to work on
fast fingers.

2f. Finding the moment---sequencing, reviewing, motivating

1. How can we as teachers find those magic teaching moments and act on them
in lessons, even if the lesson doesnt go the way you planned? What role does
sequencing play in the development of a students technique? How can you
prevent students from becoming frustrated during lessons and motivate them
to do better?
2. In class we discussed the importance of grabbing on to those teachable
moments and letting them take us to wherever they go. These are the moments
when students start to become curious and are hungry for more knowledge.
We also discussed how to sequence lessons and work at the correct pace for
our students, making sure we dont go too fast or slow.

3. With my students, I try to go at a pace they are comfortable with and

encourage them to learn and absorb as much as they can. I try to take breaks
and talk and relax with my students during lessons and create a safe learning
environment where they can feel free to make errors and learn from them.