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Patricia Baser

Camp, Day 2

June 24, 2007 at 2:17 AM

Today was day 1 of Book 1 training. Here are some of the things we did:

Basic Idea of the Day: the longer you can keep the 2 sides of the body apart the better. With a typical 4 year old: it's a few months before bow & fingers together; older students progress quicker

Bow set-up: use whole arm to produce sound
can relate sound to colors (like deep purple is deeper sound, pink is lighter); in Book 1 concentrate on denser sound-refine at a later date. Transmission of sound "colors" through contact of middle section of middle 2 fingers of right hand. thumb + middle fingers in charge of tone; index finger steers, pinky in control of tip.

Exercise to feel weight of bow arm without tension: student relaxes arm so full weight is supported by the teacher. Teacher shakes arm some, then drops.

Bow set-ups:
Monkey hanging on a branch & train exercises

straight thumb= shoulder tension; bent thumb direct energy up, not toward screw;

if bow hand is problematic-shake out/start fresh

Bow Games to help secure hold before transferring to the bow-
Stir the Soup, Elevator, Parade-follow the leader
Songs to do motions with a proper bow hold-Up like a rocket song, Wheels on the Bus

With first twinkle rhythm, teacher shakes students hand in rhythm student keeps upper arm fluid). Teacher drives, then student drives teachers arm.
Transfer motion to right hand on left arm
Then bow on shoulder (with cloth to protect clothes)

Always make sure to set bow hold at angle and not // to floor.

Later-practice consecutive down bows and up bows-elbow-hand-tip make circle together.

Also observed 2 mini lessons, both on Long Long Ago. Boy worked on deeper color, girl how to "sing" the melody in your head.

My day finished with observation of the opening "play-in" for violins. My favorite part was watching a 2 yr old bowing a cardboard violin to the first movement of Vivaldi a minor. Tomorrow is a similar schedule. And if you are wondering where your Mary Kay consultant is, she's at a convention being housed at my hotel.

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