STRINGSCHOOL Note for parents

STRINGSCHOOL  Note for parents   

The Holy Family String Project began with a number of introductory sessions covering violin hold , pizzicato on open strings  and a basic beginners bow hold.  In the course of the lessons we have been introduced to some aspects of music literacy including staff notation, terminology and some well known pieces from the repertoire . Given the pressure on the timetable of outdoor events and end of term activity, the last session in the introductory module will take place in September when it is intended the project will continue until May 2012. The classes have made a good start and have been a pleasure to teach.  You can review the activity on www.holyfamilystrings.blogspot.com where I have posted reports, photos and useful videos.   

The Holy Family String Project is an inclusive programme in line with the classroom music curriculum where all members of the class take part in an introduction to playing an instrument and is believed to be one of a few such projects around the country.

You can contact me with any queries on cdstringschool@gmail.com .  

 Project  Dedicated Website  www.holyfamilystrings.blogspot.com  

Here are some other useful websites

www.classicsforkids.com

www.violinist.com
www.coisnahabhna.ie

I look forward to seeing all my students again in September

Scary tremelo and playing with Vivaldi 10th June

Scary tremelo and playing with Vivaldi

There was a lot to pack in in our session today.    Everyone remembered the names of the strings and our two string Foxtrot tune.  Next we moved on to the bow hold with the pencil  before finally holding the bow .  We did some shadow bowing to Wintertime in Russia  and finally we learned how to do a shivery tremelo with our violins on the strings  and played along with some Vivaldi . There was a season in the name of the piece we played along to .  Can you remember which one ?

Bow hold

Right Hand /Thumb bent .

Fingers between knuckles

Music Words

Piano –soft

Forte- Loud

Tremelo – moving your bow very quickly over a string 

Listening piece Presto  from Summer   Vivaldi

Mr Darmody leads the way

Accordion group

Accordion practice

Beginner Bow Hold

Foxtrot and Beginning Bow Hold

Alan gets ready to lead

 

 Lots of good work this week . We moved on to our first two note tune . Foxtrot uses D and A, the two middle strings.  Here are the notes

Foxtrot 

DDD _ AAA_ DDD_ AAA_            

DDD_ DDD_ AAA_ AADsh

Here is our programme today

Vivaldi in G                       pizzicato on open G
 Twinkle                            pizz.       on open D
Toreadors March              pizzicato on open A

Foxtrot                              using D and A

New Words today  piano  soft 
                              forte  -loud

Bow Hold with a pencil  
Make a ring with thumb and middle finger Right Hand .
Slide the pencil in  making the rabbits' ears,
Bend your thumb

New Notes D and A

Today   there was Spanish flavour to the classes . We learned :

1 How many notes there are in the musical alphabet. Can you remember the number ?Answer at the end of the post.

2 We learned how to play pizzicato on the next two strings  D and A

3 We had a roll call clapping our names . Most names had how many sounds?

4 Everybody is really good at rest and playing position. There was a shoulder policeman in each class . What was his job?

We played pizzicato on G to Vivaldi in G ,  pizz. on D to Twinkle Twinkle and finally  to the Toreadors March.  Where would you find a Toreador? 

New Words: TEMPO    or speed
                     Fingerboard    Long black piece of wood under the strings.

Ms Vaughan's class heard me play a duet Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps with Aileen Sexton .   Hopefully we will have a visit from her again soon.

Some people made really good leaders. Lets see if I remember . Naomi, Seosamh and Ada were leaders today.


Getting the hang of it



What word would you use to descibe the  Tempo of the Toreadors March?

Ans 7 letters  A B C D E F G

Beginnings - Week 1

The first violin classes took place this morning Thursday  12th May. The room was cleared of desks and relaced with 25 mats , one for everybody including the teachers with a violin on each .

Pizz perfect!

 

Martin with blue violin


 We learned how to hold our violins comfortably in playing and rest position, how to stand while playing and very important how to bow to our audience.

The 'Roadies'

All together Pizzicato

We warmed up with some finger exercises. Next we learned the name of the  lowest string (G)  and how to play pizzicato to a steady beat  of our favourite song from Mary Poppins.

Finally we were introduced to other members of the bowed string family , Cello and Double Bass . 

NEW WORDS  PIZZICATO                           PITCH

'This Way'