On Friday, my students finished their first 2 weeks of playing instruments. They have been FLYING in their progress and I've been enjoying helping them learn and grow musically. I started to think of all of the concepts they have learned and are practicing to refine so far. It's quite a list!
1. Bow holds on straws
2. Bow holds on pencils
3. Bows holds on bows
5. Instrument care
6. Instrument parts
7. Rest position
8. Instrument set up
9. Ready position
10. Play position
11. Pizzicato
12. Rock n rolls: bow placement
13. Bow weight, bow speed
14. Open strings
15. Arco open strings
16. Left hand placement
17. Placing 1st and 2nd finger
18. Drawing note heads, music staff
19. Note reading open D and A
20. Tune: Burnt Cross Buns
21. Tune: Mary Had A Sad Little Lamb
22. Tune: Sourwood Mountain - open strings with slaps on strings
I posted some pics and videos on Instagram to celebrate their progress and I felt like some people didn't believe my beginners were really learning/mastering all these skills ...that it wasn't possible. These are the skills I have covered with my classes so far and we practice them each day. Are all of my beginners doing each of these things to the level of 'professional' mastery? Not always. But you should see the videos. Are they making amazing progress? YES! I'm watching them hold their bows and I am proud to see most students with great form. They are plucking their strings with good position because we practice it that way. They are bowing on their strings with sometimes straight bows...sometimes scratchy...they are figuring it out. We are constantly learning and refining. When I take pics and videos of my class, I'm excited when I see their results! My students are motivated to learn correctly because I have taught them that it matters.
When I make lesson plans, I use google slides to create my lesson flow and provide students with all the information, videos, content, and visuals. I would like to share the slides I used for my first 2 weeks of playing. I thought it would be useful for teachers to see how each lesson was laid out and what students practiced each day in rehearsals. This does not mean my first 10 days of playing will look like everyone else's first 10 days. I tend to have fast paced rehearsals with a lot of action/playing. We all teach in different circumstances, different age groups, varying schedules. All of these things affect how much we can teach in each rehearsal. I hope this provides some ideas for others as we work to teach our beginners to learn effectively.