Validating Yourself through Music Festivals?

This part of being a music teacher has always bothered me.  A good friend of mine was upset at the scores her groups received at music festival.  She is a great teacher and musician but teaches band at a small school.  It is hard for her to have enough students with one on each part.

Festivals are hard enough just trying to get the students all on the bus at the right time! Then some big wig directors from large schools, with huge numbers, comes in and tells you how important balance and tone are.  Of course we know that but we are trying to get our students playing the correct notes and in tune before we get to that stage.

All of this weighs down on teachers and of course we take it to heart, we put all of ourselves into this! As important as it is to be evaluated and assessed by qualified musicians, it feels like the music version of high stakes testing.  We have to get a '1' rating to be a successful group, right?! I would be happy if my students all got along and enjoyed playing challenging music.

Courtesy of ToneDeafComics.com

The Jellyfish!

The first great idea I learned at KSMEA (Kansas Music Educators Association) last week was an amazing way to teach and reinforce relaxed bowing.  The clinic was given by Dr. Jacob Dakon of the University of Kansas.  His pedagogical strategies were amazing.

I know about chunking info and experience before labeling (anyone else take Quantum Learning Training?) but never thought about how much we should be doing that with the bow! My good friend Henry Littich said that 45% of playing a string instrument is LEFT hand and 65% is RIGHT hand.  I know I have focused so much on the left hand: intonation, vibrato, positions, etc but the bow is how we communicate that! I know a lot of people are like duh, the bow is important.  I know but I never fully grasped how important.

His 3 steps are
      #1 Learn without holding anything
      #2 Learn while holding a pencil
      #3  Learn with bow

Start with an octagonal pencil. Once fingers are set and the thumb is BENT with a squishy thumb pad, the fingers should be able to flex at the interphalangeal joint between the proximal phalanx and middle phalanx.  Thank you google images.

Short fingers are made by bringing the pencil up close to the palm and bending the joints of the fingers.  Long fingers are made by flattening the knuckles of the fingers and thumb.  The thumb will need to flex so make sure that the pad stays soft and it flexes back up when the students are doing short fingers.  Going from short fingers to tall fingers is THE JELLYFISH! Show students how to flex these joints and move their hands like jellyfish. Let them call it their squishy!

If the hand setup is correct the students should be able to create short fingers and tall fingers while still holding onto their pencil, with a good bow hold. This will take time and practice before they do this with the bow.  A good tool is having buddy time to review what you have taught them.  Make sure they know all of the steps first and you will have a class full of mini-yous teaching each other.

Next have them do this with the bow.  Stick the pencil in between the hair and the stick, at the tip, to take the weight off of the bow hand.  The goal is to have proper form first, before they even put the bow on the string.  Good time to have another buddy teaching time!

Now with the bow follow these steps.  

1. Lift
• Keeping a good bow hold, lift the bow and land with short fingers.
2. Set
•  Set the bow on the string in the lower third.
3. Settle
• Allow synovial joint(elbow) and glenohumeral joint(shoulder) to relax and come close to the body
4. Flex
• Go from short fingers to tall fingers without making sound.

The purpose of this progression is control.  If the students are able to achieve the colle, short fingers to tall fingers, then they have great control of the bow.  This is definitely a stumbling block for lots of students, mine are no exception.  Using a good bow hold is a constant battle but if we introduce these techniques early on the expectations are high and the success rate will be higher.