Nailed It! for ORCHESTRA

Have you ever seen the show 'Nailed It' on Netflix?  It's a show were non-professional bakers try to bake and decorate some pretty intricate cake designs.  The end result is often less than spectacular. 

I thought it would be fun to bring awareness to our progress in class by playing a similar game in orchestra.  Are students able to 'Nail it?' 

Here's how I did this in class today:

1.  To introduce the game, I showed SHORT clips from this video.  DISCLAIMER...this video has some language.  I was very careful about which clips I showed to my class.

2.  I told my class I would be checking them throughout the class period to determine if they could 'nail it' while playing their music.

3.  For beginners, I had to show their bow holds to their stand partners and let stand partners determine if they had 'nailed it.'

4.  Play D scale with the focus being - is the bow traveling in a straight line between the fingerboard and bride?  If they 'nailed it' - they tell me by showing me their bow holds.  You could have them just shout out 'nailed it' at the end of each exercise, but it was quieter and more controlled to have them 'tell' me by holding their bows above their heads.

5.  Play D scale while focusing on intonation.   Could they plan in tune which correct finger placement the whole time?

You get the idea.  We did variations with bowings, fingerpatterns, method book exercises, and excerpts from our concert music.  Students focused really well and were putting extra thought in their playing because they were really trying to complete each skill carefully.