Just a reminder to in-person students that I will be back in the studio next week and we will resume our lessons in-person!

Jaron 
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (1 octave, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), G Major scale (2 octaves, and practice ascending scale replacing open strings with fourth finger – make sure not to do both 0 and 4), and Etude (practice playing through without stopping and with a consistent tempo and remember to read the notes on the staff in addition to the numbers).

Olivia 
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: Review 2-octave Major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering patterns for each scale, and focus on B and B-flat Major – make sure to stretch fourth finger for B Major), Go the Distance (practice full run-throughs and watch out for your hand sliding up the neck of the violin), Spring (first and second pages with focus on the second page, especially the chromatic phrase), and see if there’s anything you’d like to add to our Zero to Hero arrangement, especially for the speaking parts!

Amaia
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (1 octave, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), and Perpetual Motion (play fourth finger exercises 0-1-2-3-4-3-2-1-0 on each string, stretch and exercise pinky finger to build muscles and flexibility in that finger, and practice playing through without stopping and with a faster tempo – remember that “Allegro”tempo marking means a little fast).

Isabella  – missed you today!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: Practice holding violin under chin with hands and no hands (in both plucking and bowing position, and make sure to maintain posture while playing exercises instead of just first few seconds of playing), review bow hold and window washer exercises, practice bowing down-up-down-up on each string, play A-string, D-string, and G-string bowing exercises on the second page of the packet, and practice drawing treble clefs and E, A, D, and G notes on a staff.

Grace – congratulations on finishing Long Long Ago!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 2-octave Major and minor scales (focus on F Major scale and shift to fifth position – remember that the higher you go, the smaller the spaces between your fingers are), and Waltz (play through slowly and get familiar with the notes, and remove bowings and just focus on pitches if the bowings are too overwhelming).

Hendry 
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, D, E-flat, E, F, and G Major scales (2 octaves, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and stretching fourth finger in E Major), D minor scale (2 octaves – natural, melodic, harmonic, review fingering positions for natural scale for the Gavotte), Gavotte (watch out for shift to third position in second section and remember that the treble clef phrase is the same as the first phrase in alto clef – you can do treble clef exercises on musictheory.net if you wish) and Catharsis (focus on playing second page with faster and consistent tempo and prepare for final duet play-through next time).

Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!