Category Lesson Notes
Book Two Is Phase Two
Teacher tells me she’s going to bring me a shopping list. Apparently the list will include supplemental instructional materials to Suzuki Book Two, providing “etudes” and such for me to work with (I learned a while back that etude just means exercise). Of course I love any excuse to buy violin stuff, so I’m looking […]
Handel’s Flute Sonata in G Major
A Bourree is a dance, similar to a Gavotte. Suzuki Book Two includes a song called Bourree by Handel, and sources it to “Flute Sonata, Opus 1 No. 5.” That struck me as odd because I already know that Handel is one of those composers who has his own numbering system, like Bach – generally […]
Bourree on Repeat
If Dr. Suzuki insisted on something besides practice practice practice, it was listen listen listen. I did not take that to heart in Book One; I never had the CD that demos the songs. But Book Two arrived with a CD, so I’ve been playing catch-up on the aural channel. I’ve created an iTunes playlist […]
Taking My Time
As a rule, when I play for Teacher it’s not my best. Something about her standing there causes my fingers to fail. I see it in my own karate and in my students too – it’s even worse if you pay a compliment – a calamity is guaranteed to ensue. Of course when I play […]
Getting Right to It
I have to change even more – I’ve written a couple of posts about the way I practice. When I started playing, my strategy was to play all of my songs through, making them all better, then working on the most recent one the most, at the end of my practice session. Well now I’ve […]
Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
I struggle with rhythm. If there’s one thing Teacher has to continually correct me on (aside from bow hold and left hand position), it’s making notes long enough. I don’t know why, but I always err in the direction of shortening notes. More often than not my mistake is playing an eighth rather than the […]
It’s Back!
A song from early in Book One has again become my new song – Long Long Ago, by T.H. Bayly. Dr. Suzuki modulated it downward for Book Two; it’s gone from A Major to G Major. So I’ll spend a week making that sound good enough, and then next week Teacher says we’ll get into […]
Bad Habits and Rulers
I love to teach – in teaching most anything, part of the equation is knowing when to give feedback – people can receive only so much; knowing what to say and when is crucial. Knowing when to identify a mistake, for example, and call it out is very important – sometimes the student knows what […]
Animus
Teacher and I have a mutual 10 year old friend; she’s how we came to know one another. Unfortunately, she’s been injured due to some whiplash-type trauma and unable to play the violin for a few months. As she’s been trying to get back into it, she’s been working with a physical therapist her parents […]
German-ness
My new song is from an opera called Der Freischütz, by Carl Maria von Weber, a German composer born in 1786. Wikipedia reports the opera, first performed in 1821, is widely considered to be the first major German Romantic opera. The Hunter’s Chorus, my song, is a popular piece to excerpt from the work. It’s […]
Ryan Libel 