TANGO!

Hi again Fiddlers!

I've got the last of the fiddle recordings for you. Thanks to Kirby and Maggie for recording it for me! Since the recording is just to help with practice, it doesn't have the piano part. When we perform it, our pianist will be filling in some of the gaps with some cool piano parts.
You can download the audio file at http://public.me.com/laurayeh. Just go to the file that says "Fiddle Tunes Spring 2010."
See you at our next fiddle class on Saturday, February 27th at 3pm. Kids that play the tango will be in a separate class with Kirby for the whole class. Everyone else will be with me (Laura) downstairs in the Parish Hall.

See you then!

Theory/reading classes this Saturday

Hi Guys,
We'll be having the theory/reading classes again this Saturday, February 20th at 2pm and 3pm. We'll be at St. Timothy's as usual. See you then!

Festival Attendance Policy

Hello Everyone,
We've had some questions about attendance policy requirements for students wanting to take part in the spring Festival on May 9th as well as who would be taking part in the festival.

First of all, the festival is for Suzuki students (we will have a play-in which is a traditional Suzuki group performance), viola students who attend viola studio class, students in the fiddle group, and hopefully students who take part in the violin studio classes will also have a performance.

To participate, students must regularly attend their classes, and must attend the dress rehearsal on May 8th. For fiddle students this means that they cannot miss more than 3 of the 6 scheduled classes and must attend the dress rehearsal.

Please feel to contact me (Laura) if you have any questions. Thanks and Happy Valentine's Day!

Yet another summer Suzuki institute

Here's another Suzuki institute this summer. It's at Stephen's Point, Wisconson and has a good reputation.

For details check out the website at http://www.uwsp.edu/cofac/suzuki/

Theory this Saturday

Hi everyone!
Just a quick reminder that this coming Saturday, the 13th we'll have theory classes at 2pm and 3pm at St. Timothy's church.

Fiddle

Hi Guys!
I've finally got some sound recordings up for our tunes. I haven't gotten tango recording up yet since it's a two part piece, but will have it shortly. Everything else we are performing this semester is there though. I did it all on my iphone, so hopefully the quality is decent enough. I've posted the audio files on my idisk account at http://public.me.com/laurayeh where you can download them. If you need me to make you a CD copy, please let me know.

Thanks also for bearing with me Saturday since I'd left the papers we needed at the school. We'll be working all semester on how to read chord charts, so don't worry if you're a little confused now. By May we'll have worked on it enough that it'll be easy! Our next fiddle rehearsal will be February 27th. We'll divide into two groups. Students who play the tango will rehearse upstairs and the rest of us will be down in the Parish hall. Be prepared to work on Mason's Apron, Redwing, and Finnish Polka.

Theory/reading class assignments

Hi theory/reading kids and parents!

Thanks for coming to the class Saturday. I had a blast! You guys are all fantastic! I have just a couple of important items:

1. In theory class A (2pm class) when I taught the hand signals for solfege I did the hand signal for "Fa" upsidedown. (whoops!) The thumb should point down, not up. Those of you in the 3pm class, I got it right that hour so no worries there. I found a chart for the hand signals on this website to help you all practice this week:
http://www.kodaly.org.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=21&Itemid=74

You just have to go down to where it says "hand sign diagram" to open the pdf document.

2. Did everyone who owns their own materials have everything? Nothing missing? I am missing a purple "C" card and am wondering if anyone ended up with an extra purple "C." I'm also considering labeling with my initials all my cards so it's easy to tell which are mine. Those of you interested in this, let me know. I have a labeling gun and could bring it next time for before or after class.

3. Homework assignments:

2pm class:
-Practice making 3rds. Remember that it is every other card. (ACEGBDF ACEGBDF....) If this is still a bit confusing, try it in your lesson with your teacher this week.
-Practice your solfege (do through So) and hand signs. You can play snake, what's missing (we played that on Saturday) or Fine. You'll need to have the solfege and hand signs memorized for the next class. Sing as much as possible when doing solfege.

3pm class
-practice making 3rds by playing 3rds fine or making a 3rds snake. Can you start from a letter besides A? Can you go up and down through your letters/notes? How fast can you say your thirds? Lightening fast?
-Practice finding the open strings on the staff. You also have an open string reading assignment that I have given to the teachers to play with you this week in the lesson. Be sure to ask them for it!
-Practice your solfege (Do through D0) this week with hand signs. You can do solfege fine and make a solfege snake if you'd like. Be sure to sing the solfege and memorize the hand signs. (See above for a link to the chart). If you are feeling really ambitious, you could try making 3rds with solfege even though that isn't something we've tried in class yet!
-Write a rhythm on a card and practice passing with a family member to a steady beat. Try something repetitive like Puur-ple or huckleberry.

We will have our next theory classes on Saturday, February 13. Can't wait!