East Vincent Elementary

ORCHESTRA NOTES

We offer 30 minute group rotating pull out lessons once per cycle. They typically have 3-4 students per lesson and rotate so they don’t miss the same class two weeks in a row. They are pulled out of their normal class schedule during the school day for lessons.

Some notes on our lessons:

Beginners should be practicing about 10 minutes/day for about 5-6 days a week.

2nd year students should be practicing about 15 minutes/day for 5-6 days a week.

3rd and 4th year students should be practicing about 20 minutes/day for 5-6 days a week.

I STRONGLY recommend your child playing along with the Orchestral Expressions CD that you have purchased. In case you don't have access to a CD player, here's a link to all the songs online:

Learning how to play the violin, viola, cello or bass is a combination of physical and mental skills. 

The physical portion includes learning to hold/draw the bow and holding the instrument. We teach using a combination of verbal and hands-on-hands modeling. Although we don't draw on the students hands to help them hold the bow, this video made by a Suzukli violin school is similiar to how we teach holding the bow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ZvuNP1658

Here's a common question: What size violin should I have for my child? 

http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/instruments/violin/violinsizingguide/

HOW TO HOLD A BOW BY PINKAS ZUKERMAN

I really like this video by the internationally famous violin player/teacher Pinkas Zukerman on how to hold the bow and the role of each finger on the bow.

Attendance Policy

We understand if students have more than four unexcused* absences from lessons prior to a concert, they will not be prepared for the concert and therefore will not be able to participate in their school’s orchestra or band for said concert.

*Excused absences from school will not affect lesson attendance and will not count as missed lessons

 Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Looking foward to an awesome year!