August 2010

Quick read/overview of Suzuki Violin method for prospective parents

August 26, 2010 13:34

I have designed and posted a website dedicated to giving prospective students and parents a quick overview of the Suzuki violin method. In this site, I have compared and contrasted traditional violin teaching methods with the Suzuki method. It's a five minute read and it can give parents a resource to quickly learn some of what's involved in the Suzuki method. The address is:

http://www.suzukichild.com

It is my hope that this can be a valuable resource to parents of young violinists, and parents considering violin lessons for their child. Hopefully this site presents an unbiased overview of these two violin learning approaches.

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A classical violinist can sound like a fiddler with the use of a bowing technique

August 26, 2010 07:25

I want to post this ongoing blog for players. The topics will be many and will change often. The first topic will be how a classical player can sound like a country fiddler, with the use of a basic fiddle bowing.

To illustrate this bowing, we'll be using an eight note pattern on the "A" string. Here are the notes: A, B, C#, D, E, D, C#, B. Start by slurring the first two notes, up bow. Now, on C# a quick, accented down bow. Stay in the middle of the bow. Next up bow, slur D, E (fourth finger) and D again. Now, a strong down bow on C#. The last note of the pattern, C# is an up bow that slurs into the first two notes of the group of 8 all over again. Keep repeating. Every time there is a down bow, accent it. Use 1/8 notes. Speed up to 16th notes. As you can see, after the first two-note slur, all the other slurs will be three notes. This is called by some players the Georgia Shuffle. Now, take a simple melody, and incorporate this bowing throughout. Let me know how it works for you please.

I hope I've explained this clearly. It's an important and fun fiddle type bowing.

(Disclaimer)

This bowing is only a starting point. It's just one technique of hundreds. The only real way to play traditional fiddle convincingly is to study and listen to how the master players do it!!!!

Thanks for you comments. Point well taken!

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