Topic outline
General
BEGINNINGSTRINGS!
Welcome beginners and parents! I'm so glad you are joining the string world of music!
The intent of this course is to give you some basics. I highly recommend you do this with a parent, so they help you too. As soon as you get your instrument, start these lessons. School lessons will start the second week of school. So have fun with your instrument and always feel free to contact me if you have questions!Topic 1
Lesson One:
How to Care for your instrument!
It is so important to know how to take care of a string instrument. They are delicate instruments and there are some very specific ways of taking care of them. Read "Maintaining Your Instrument" below, and then take the short quiz to see if you understand it. If you have any questions, you can click on "Questions so far", and I will get back to you.Topic 2
Proper posture for holding a cello!LESSON TWO
Click on the video below to see a demonstration on how to hold your cello. Once you think you have mastered it, show your parent. If you have a webcam or video camera, send me a video of you holding your cello. Don't forget to follow all the checkpoints!Topic 3
LESSON THREEParts of a celloHave your instrument ready to go, and click on the video below and see if you can find all the same parts on your own instrument.Topic 4
LESSON FOUR
NAMES OF THE CELLO STRINGS
C G D A
Click on the video below to play exercises to help reinforce these strings.Topic 5
LESSON FIVE
LEFT HAND POSITION & PIZZICATO!Plucking the string!
Have your cello ready to play along with the next video. When you are finished, send me a video (if you have a webcam on your computer). If you don't, show me at your first lesson.Topic 6
LESSON SIX
Bowing
These lessons are on bowing the cello. Start with the first step and follow along with your cello. Once you have completed all the steps below, send me a video demonstrating what you have learned.Topic 8
I want everyone to check out this site. We have it at school, and it's an excellent tool for practicing. It is not required, but highly recommended for "at home" practicing. There is a subscription cost of $30, but that is good for a year, and there are hundreds of songs for them to play, plus all the songs in their lesson book. Once again, it is not required, but a great tool for practicing.
Smart Music is an online resource that you can subscribe to, that is absolutely wonderful! There are so many things that the students can do, but one of the best ways to use this is to encourage practicing. Here are some of the ways you can use this:
- The students can play along with all their lesson books, plus hundreds of songs.
- They can play along with a full orchestra.
- By adding a microphone, the computer will tell them if they play wrong notes.
- It gives them immediate feedback on their playing!
- They can send me their scores by email!
- Etc. Etc.
Topic 9
Strand 1: Artistic Foundations
Standard 2: Demonstrate knowledge and use of the technical skills for the art form, integrating technology when applicable.