Scales Aren't Just a Fish Thing

Ebook Workbooks

What You Need to Do!

If you see what you need,

Buy it.

Use it!!

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Touch Your Head

Touch Your Nose

Touch Your Ears

Touch Your Toes

Stand up straight

Turn around

Stretch Your Fingers

Toward the ground

Great big smile

Little frown

Scratch your head

Just sit down

Touch Your Shoulders

Touch Your Knees

Wave Your Hands

Make a Breeze

Close Your Eyes

Bend Your Knees

Hop Just Once

Try to Sneeze

Won't Be Long

'Til We Start

Make the shape

of a heart

Scratch Your Nose

Close Your Eyes

My You Look

Very wise

Look Around

Do You See

Happy People

Just Like Me?

Time to Start

At Step 1

Violin is Ready

For some Fun!!!!

Start with learning the parts of the violin. Position and Preparation are two absolutely essential elements to playing even when you reach the level of a Vivaldi peace.

You need to know how to properly stand and hold the violin and bow.

Next, learn your strings, how they sound, their names.....In no time you will be playing a song with "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking".

Next, learn the structure of a song with the bread and cheese as you make a musical sandwich.

Finally, as you become ready to start to play tunes, work through the Twinkle Twinkle workbook.

Don't overlook the value of coloring in the notes. Take your time. Play the games. If you need help, email me.

Reader download:

Download Colored Music Reader

Parts of the Violin Games

Parts of the Violin Large Teacher Bits

Parts of the Bow Large Teacher Bits

Parts of the Violin Memory Game for NON-readers

Parts of the Violin Study Cards

Parts of the Violin Go Fish

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Preparation and Position workbook

Preparation and Position workbook.

Preparation and Position Movie

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Know Your Strings Workbook

Know Your Strings

Know Your Strings Lesson with Colin

Know Your Strings Sight Reading Lesson

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Bowing Books.

A unique addition to Beginning Violin Playing

They are really important when developing an ability to use the bow correctly.

Beginner Bowing Book

Beginner Bowing Play-alongs

Hopping

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Let Your Fingers Do the Walking Video

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

Play-along

FE FE Song

AB Song

Mary Had a Little Lamb

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Let's Make A Sandwich - Bread and Cheese

Play Along Music Rhythms

Charlie Brown and Snoopy

I love (sh) Mom

Strawberries Strawberries

See you later alligator

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Play Along Music Twinkle, Baa Baa, ABC songs

ABC Song

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle Workbook

Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, ABC

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Games Games Games for Beginner Violin

First Position Tic Tac Toe/Bingo

Musical Symbols Tic Tac Toe

Beginner Spit-cato

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Explanations of first few lessons for BEGINNER VIOLIN

Know Your Strings -

Introduction with Colin - Reviewing the previous lesson is essential to slowly layering and reinforcing information. Do something old and something new each time you set aside a few minutes for practice. Be sure everything is prepared for the student or your child. Have the shoulder rest and chin rest comfortable and set at the right level. Make it a pleasant experience. Pick your battles. Don't make position one of them....yet.Provide the proper materials and it should just happen. I have made a new shoulder rest for Colin. He will show you in future videos.

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Know Your Strings

- A foundational workbook for violin students. Getting to know the name, the sound and the note on the staff of the string is a building block. This workbook provides lots of coloring of notes and helps to develop the concept of where the note falls and what the note sounds like.

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Know Your Strings -

2nd lesson on note recognition for little guys! Please enjoy the clip of Colin and Grammy taking it slowly reviewing the notes and the workbook "Know Your Strings" My method of teaching incorporates colors. Ok musicians, don't pooh pooh this before you try it to the level I use it. It is possible to teach difficult musical concepts visually, showing the student the patterns that can easily be seen with colors. Each note owns it's own color. It isn't a psychological thing guys. It is a teaching tool....and it works.

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Parts of the Violin Large Teacher Bits

Parts of the Bow Large Teacher Bits

Parts of the Violin Memory Game for NON-readers

Parts of the Violin Study Cards

Parts of the Violin Go Fish

Just different forms of the same thing. You don't need them all unless you are a teacher. The large 8 1/2" x 11" bits are for the first introduction to the violin. You show the student the picture (with one 'bit' of information on it, and give them a fact about it. The facts can change each time you show them. They are on a separate page.

Next, you would use the study cards. The student can carry them around with them and look at them now and then to learn the name.

Finally, the games. Go Fish would be for readers. Memory for either readers or non-readers. Take it slowly. Build a firm foundation.

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This part of the "set-up" for playing violin shouldn't be rushed. I realize the student wants to get that violin up and running, but adding games can slow it down until their thinking has absorbed the new ideas. Learning the parts of the violin or cello can be fun. It also makes it nice not to have to say, "can you put your pinkie on that thingamagig over there at the bottom of the stick." It's a language. Give them the gift.

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Preparation and Position workbook.

This workbook provides six steps to getting the violin properly on the shoulder. Anything important enough to learn should be broken down to it's smallest point and then presented one little bit at a time. The foot, the bow-hold, the chin, the thumb and hand, the right arm and the face....yes, the muscles of the face, are all addressed in this little workbook.

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.....I have developed an unusual shoulder rest that solves all these issues. It will be available for September. If you are interested in seeing pictures, just email. Keep this page bookmarked so you can be one of the first to order them. The availability will be somewhat limited at first.

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Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

.. This book is so much fun. It is, again, foundational to playing. With songs for each new finger learned, it slows down the learning process until the motor skills catch up. Have fun. By the time you are finished this book you will be playing the FE FE song, AB AB song,and Mary Had a Little Lamb....well.

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... whenever I teach a Suzuki piece, I encourage memorization. But this sometimes takes a while, especially if the student hasn't had enough listening time in. Listening to the pieces ahead of time is part of practice. My students actually earn notes for listening to their pieces. Then, they can purchase something from the general store with their musical money. It's not a bribe, it's motivational.

Many workbooks have additional songs or harmonies that can be played as sight-reading pieces. The harmonies are written on the same horizonal level as the song the student is learning; using the same notes. It might sound better if it were played, floating around the fingerboard, but give it time. You are just beginning a journey. I've never gotten to the end yet, but the paths and process sure have been fun.

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Let's Make A Sandwich - Bread and Cheese

Teaching a song again requires that we break it down so the student can see repetitions in 'riffs' and phrases played, and the structure of a song. I usually teach Twinkle by making a sandwich. We use Bread and Cheese. This ebook, 'Bread and Cheese - Let's Make a Sandwich', is the first of this type of study.

Play along with the colored music:

Reader download:

Download Colored Music Reader

Charlie Brown and Snoopy

I love (sh) Mom

Strawberries Strawberries

See you later alligator

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Beginner Bowing Book

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Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, ABC

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star brings a new challenge to playing the violin. No longer do you play a rhythm on the bow but pull the bow slowly as if petting a little dog. Since this takes a little while to learn, two more songs are presented in this workbook: Baa Baa Black Sheep and the ABC song. Sing while you play to keep the beat. Challenge yourself by having other students play a different song at the same time as you play your favorite.

Play along with the colored music:

Reader download:

ABC Song

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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Lightly Row

Put on your running shoes because we are getting ready to take off. In a short time, you will have enough tunes memorized.........memorized mind you, to entertain dad for a good 1/2 hour.