Welcome to the Absolute Beginner’s Class for Violin

The faces you see above are some of the first “Fiddling Femmes” who began in 2012 and 2013. They are smiling, encouraging you on this journey. The large majority of them still play to this day. I hope that you, too, will have music to make for years to come.

Below you will find written and audio files to serve as practice aides. If, over the course of time, you find you need something specific, please feel free to ask. Maybe someone else could benefit from having it too!

Practice Aids:

Helpful apps you can get on your phone: Tuner Lite and Tempo

Class 1

The Counting Chart:

Breathing Bows (4 counts) - play 4 x on each string

Skating Bows (2 counts) - play 8 x on each string

Walking Bows (1 count) - play 16 x on each string

Running Bows (2 bows per count) - play 16 pairs on each string

Caterpillar Bows (4 bows per count) - play 4 sets on each string

Shuffle Bows (“long short-short, long short-short”) - play 4 sets on each string

Galloping Bows (3 bows per count: “gal-lo-ping”) - play 4 sets on each string

Single string to Double strings : play (GGGG - GD GD GD GD - DDDD - DA DA DA DA - AAAA - AE AE AE AE - EEEE - EA EA EA EA - AAAA - AD AD AD AD - DDDD - DG DG DG DG - GGGG)

Notes: Breathing bows are “whole notes”, Skating bows are “half notes”, Walking bows are “quarter notes”, Running bows are “eighth notes”, Caterpillar bows are “sixteenth notes”, Shuffle bows are 1 quarter note and 2 eighth notes, Galloping bows are 3 eighth notes.

Practicing: try to spend 15 to 20 minutes a day on as many of the exercises as possible. A short practice session every day is better than one long practice a week. Make friends with your instrument. Find a spot in your house that is protected (away from wood stoves and heat registers) but accessible, to keep your violin on your mind and encourage time spent with it. Developing a routine is the hardest part of learning an instrument. Be patient with yourself and attempt to enter into a flow of the activity. Enjoy the sound. Feel the rhythm.

Class 2

Continue using The Counting Chart on open strings exercises as a warm up.

Climb the Mountain then Come Down : starting on E, then on A, D, and G (3 x each)

One octave Scales that begin on open strings;

One octave A scale One octave D Scale One octave G Scale

Our first “tune” Ebenezer Sneezer

(audio) (sheet music)

Class 3

Use the rhythms of the Counting Chart in conjunction with your scales [for example:]

A scale with “shuffle bows” - D scale with “caterpillar bows” - G scale with “breathing” (4 count) bows

Two octave G Scale - 2nd finger plays in a “new home”

Ebenezer Sneezer in the Key of G - starting on “middle G” (D3)

Twinkle, Twinkle start on A

Twankle, Twankle start on D

Twunkle, Twunkle start on G

Listening homework - listen to these tunes in order to identify

1)the A part

2)the B part

3)the “Call”

4)the “Response”

5)the “New Response”

Class 4 -

Tonight’s class is about creating “violin chords”.

Practice the exercise called “Single String to Double Strings” to get the feel of the bow switching from one to two strings. Remember that it’s not about pressure, but balance. Aim for a light feel when playing two strings.

You can use these recordings of the melody when practicing the chords.

La Guenille

Wildwood Flower

Other practicing: Use the rhythms of the Counting Chart in conjunction with your scales [for example:]

A scale with “shuffle bows” - D scale with “caterpillar bows” - G scale with “breathing” (4 count) bows

Keep up your practice of Twinkle, Twinkle (starting on open A); Twankle, Twankle (starting on open D); and Twunkle, Twunkle (starting on open G).

Class 5 -

Class 6 -

All about bowing… the bow represents the breath of a singer, the sighs of the heart, the pulsing of our blood, the beating of a drum. The ability to coax these elements out of a stick and horse hair is a most worthwhile and life-long study.

The change in direction, from down to up, from up to down, creates a little sound that is more like a drumming sound then we realize. We can articulate many rhythms with the back and forth motion of the bow. If we change notes without changing the bow direction, it’s called a slur. When we use a slur there’s a sense of propulsion or momentum between the notes, like the feeling of being on the “Tilt-a-Whirl” at the fair.

In Amazing Grace, there is a constant pattern to the motion of the bow; up bow for 1 count followed by a down bow for 2 counts. As we sing the melody, we sometimes sing multiple notes at the moment we are executing the 1 count up bow. These notes get “slurred”, all played in the single bow stroke going up. In other tunes, we will also slur using a down bow stroke but in Amazing Grace, they happen to all be up bows.

Practice Routine:

1) One octave scales starting on A, D, G, and middle g (D3). Play each scale at least twice, first with a single bow per tone, then use a rhythm on each note. Add “skipping bows” to your menu of choices!

2)The Two octave G scale - start on open G and go up the scale notes until you reach the high g (E2). Remember the 2nd finger is low on the A and E strings. Use a single bow per tone until you are confident enough to try adding slurs.

3) Using the two octave G scale, slur all the notes on a single string. (G-1-2-3) (D-1-2-3) (A-1-2-3) (E-1-2) then try going down the scale too. You can also try slurring 2 notes in a bow.

4) Amazing Grace

5) Have You Been to Ireland -just the A Part… we will learn the B part at next class.