Jaron – great work with the note identification exercise today!
– Reminder: if you can, please purchase Suzuki Violin Book 1
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing a posture and bow hold check each time before playing), O Come Little Children (prepare for final play-through and make sure to keep starting each phrase with an up bow), and May Song (keep getting comfortable with the new notes and practice rhythm of first line with dotted quarter note (1.5)).

Olivia – great work sight-reading the second violin part of Avatar State!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave major and minor scales (especially A minor scales and try to memorise finger patterns), Avatar State (second violin part, just play through and get comfortable with the notes, especially with third-position shift at the end), and Mirror Duet (we’ll make sure to get to this next time, keep on focusing on the second section bowing and rhythms).

Amaia
– Reminder: when you have time, please tune your A string! I recommend calling a music store like Long & McQuade and seeing if you can drop off the violin to tune. If that doesn’t work, we can discuss other options. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: down-up-down-up bowing on open strings (make sure to stay in the middle of the bridge and fingerboard), 0-1-2-3-2-1-0 fingering pattern on all strings (make sure not to stretch second and third fingers too high and to keep squeezing second and third fingers together), and Twinkle (theme and variations A, B, C, and D – B is our new and most confusing variation so focus on this one and try singing “bacon and-” rhythms before playing).

Hendry
– Reminder: have your shoulder rest ready on your viola – it’ll make playing more comfortable, I promise!
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: D and G major scale (one octave), C major scale (two octaves, and make sure to do posture and bow hold check before playing each scale), Minuet 1 (remember down-up-up bow pattern in m.3 and stretch fourth pinky finger whenever it comes up), Question (make sure first two notes of introduction phrase are short and even, and focus on learning notes on second page), and Starting the Case (focus on first section and watch out for low first fingers and high third fingers for accidentals, and also triplet rhythms).

Grace
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: window washer bow hold exercise (to keep on building those hand and finger muscles and to make it more comfortable), 0-1-2-3-2-1-0 fingering pattern on each string (with focus on balancing the “see-saw” with your elbow to play singular strings), G, D, and A Major scales, and Twinkle (theme and variations A, C, and D – great work learning the new variations today!).

Thank you and happy playing!