Jia-Senior Thesis

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.

I started teaching on Wednesday and continued Friday. I helped with recommendations for a Bach string quartet (Aria), specifically with the violin 1 and violin 2 parts regarding intonation, dynamics, and rhythm. I gained a student through Wesley Rankin (lessons on Monday) and am helping lead their music club. The time I spent in orchestra helped me get into the mindset of identifying problems. Although I saw a lot that could be improved, the challenge was limiting it to things that could be quickly improved because of the upcoming competition date.

Followed up with Wesley Rankin community center. In the meantime, found resources on music education to build on a comprehensive curriculum using https://www.musicedmagic.com/, https://www.thoughtco.com/music-education-4132854. This blog discusses the use of technology in music https://midnightmusic.com.au/blog/. Music theory curriculum: https://www.musictheory.net/lessons

Teaching the left hand: Focus on the contact points: on the right side, hold the neck right above the base knuckle joint of first finger. On the left side, hold by the pad of the thumb. Thumb should be relaxed and straight, there should be a U-shape under the neck between thumb and first finger, there should be no squeezing. Wrist should be straight, fingers always curved. The challenge is in placement; learning the correct placement of the notes without markers takes time. Intonation is tricky because there is no visible marking of where to press. I could have students sing the scale on each string using a tuner, then have them match the note on the violin. Students should place all fingers down at once to secure the position. https://teachsuzukiviolin.com/the-violinists-left-hand/ Imagery helps in performance anxiety: A way to prevent memory slips and redirect focus onto music is to create a story or imagery that is associated with the piece. Noa Kageyama's blog has articles...