I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and start to November!

Jaron – congratulations on finishing Perpetual Motion!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and try to create smaller gaps in between your fingers), and Allegretto (watch out for 1-3-2 fingering pattern and try to add in short and long rhythms).

Olivia – good luck on your playing test, you will do great!
– Reminder: we will be online on Zoom next week
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave Major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering pattern for each scale, and focus on E Major shift to fourth position with high third finger), Danse Macabre (practice shifts to second, third, and fourth position, watch out for accidentals, and try to keep up the rhythms), and see if there’s anything you’d like to add to our Zero to Hero arrangement!

Amaia
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), O Come Little Children (this is coming along very nicely! Just keep up adding the short and long rhythm patterns to the whole piece), and May Song (with focus on the second line and bow crossing).

Thea – congratulations on finishing your first lesson!
– Here is the Google drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13-qNAAapmHO1gFC9jwNAEtvyxOe4O30t
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (if you can, play in front of a mirror so you can keep an eye on your posture and bow), Gavotte (play through first few lines and re-familiarise yourself with the notes), and Concerning Hobbits (play through first two lines and re-familiarise yourself with the notes, take out grace notes first if you need to and then add them back in once you feel comfortable with the main notes).

Grace
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 2-octave Major scales (with focus on new scale E Major shifting to fourth position, and make sure to keep third finger high for G# and D#), and Gavotte (practice saving the bow during sixteenth note slurs and don’t be afraid to pizz harder at the end for more sound!).

Hendry – congratulations on finishing Waltz!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, D, E-flat, F, and G Major scales (2 octaves, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and paying attention to intonation and singing the scale beforehand), D minor scale (1 octave, natural and harmonic, watch out for raised C# in harmonic with large gap between fingers), Bouree (play through slowly and get familiar with the ntoes), and Catharsis (watch out for key signature changes and practice shift in the end section).

Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!