Jia-Senior Thesis

Wesley rankin: I taught a complete beginner today, giving a total crash course on the violin. After going over the anatomy of the violin (strings, neck, fingerboard, pegs, bridge, etc.), I taught her how to support the violin on the shoulder, then demonstrated the proper hand position. Like most beginners, she had a tendency to prop the violin up with her wrist, which should be flat and straight. I emphasized the importance of developing a good foundation to not get held back. Starting from the beginning of essential strings vol 1, we did pizzicato of open strings first, then moved on to first, second, and third fingers. Although she had larger hands, it was still hard for her to do 4th finger, so I just told her it was necessary to keep it curved but did not do too much 4th finger. At the end, I did an introduction to the bow hold, demonstrating a relaxed hold with a curved thumb and fingers. I also reviewed how to read music, since she knew a little about music but didn't remembe...

Wesley rankin community center: We sightread Graduation March together, and I noticed improved sight-reading skills from before, as well as execution of eighth notes. It usually took a longer time for her to get the notes down and learn them, but I taught her to finger the notes first and visualize playing with more planning before attempting them, which helped. If there is a problematic spot, I go through it slowly, sometimes only focusing on one transition to break down the phrase. Through gradual repetition,  she learned the right notes. We also worked on extending the 4th finger, since she had trouble reaching. I taught her to bring the hand towards the neck in a more parallel position and to keep the fingers curved. Although it is very strenuous for beginners, who do not have strong enough finger muscle, it is crucial to build the strength by trying very hard to not collapse it. Music club: working on writing music, drawing the right length of notes, ledger lines, etc.

Music Club after school: I brought my violin with me and taught them how to pluck twinkle twinkle little star. I also went over the parts of the violin and asked them what kind of songs they would like me to play.  Since there was traffic, I could only stay for half of the usual time. I reviewed chord progressions separately for music theory.

Course requests input for sophomores and AP registration.

Week 3: private lessons with Cassandra I noticed she had trouble sight reading so we did exercises to make sight reading faster, such as playing a g major scale and naming the notes. I would also ask her to play a note on a certain string to break down sight reading. I went over accidentals (flats and sharps) and the difference in playing a c sharp as opposed to a c natural. I also went over slurs, ties in rhythm, and keeping a strict tempo. Every week we go over short pieces in the Essentials for Strings books, and I send her recordings of the pieces through email as a reference.

Community Center plans: I went to Wesley Rankin again for music club, but since I didn't bring my violin I had trouble getting the kids to listen to me. Next time I plan to bring the violin, ask kids what songs they like to listen to, learn how to play arrangements of those pieces for the next week. I also will bring blank sheet music scores for the kids to practice writing notes and possibly a bunch of pencils from robotics as prizes. I reviewed notes and rhythms, since they had mostly forgotten from last time. For the next class, I will play Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (the solo I've been working on) and play more to get their attention. I am looking at various simple musical instruments to give out to keep the class more hands on.

Week 1: reading notes, basic rhythms (half, quarter, eighth, whole notes). They learned the notes  pretty quickly, but had trouble processing the concept of rhythm (when I asked to clap twice as fast, they just clapped really fast, not two claps per beat. I explained how many notes per beat they should clap, but most of them only learned by imitating my clapping pattern, not by reading the notes.) Week 2: I should go over basic rhythms again and try to reemphasize the concept, and review notes. I also need to go over rests again, and introduce time signature. I am working on making a printout that covers each lesson's basic information in a simple format using noteflight and ms paint.