Thanks for a great lesson last week. Thank to you all of you for being prepared and excited to play!
Please be sure to bring in your practice guidelines agreement form if you have not done so!

Please review the bowing exercises from week one. Here are some details to remember: 
1. Flat wrist when holding the bow (at the balance point)
2. Shoulders relaxed
3. Arm extended but elbow slightly bent
4. Fingers flop over the stick. 
5. Violinists: pinky on top of the stick
6. Cellists: all fingers hang over the stick
7. ALL: lean in (pronate) toward your first finger when you hold the bow, like you are turning a doorknob "in". 

New Assignment!

1. Please read through the set up pages of your method book, String Basics, pages 2-3. It also gives a brief history of string instrument making from Cremona, Italy. 
2. Holding the instrument: 

• Cello: Practice finding the exact placement of your cello by standing up and sitting back down a few times. Points of contact: chest, tuning peg near left ear, sides of cello on the inside of your knees and the endpin on the floor. 
• Violin: Shoulder rest makes a "sad" face on the bottom of the violin.   Bring the "button" on the bottom of the violin in towards the center of your neck. Practice placing your left hand on your right shoulder while holding the violin. 

3.  Pizzicato/Plucking the open strings.  Make a fist with the right hand and leave out pointer finger and thumb. Place thumb on the side of the fingerboard and using pointer finger, pluck all strings 4 times in both directions. 
*** remember to pluck in the middle of the fingerboard. Look at the pictures in your method book on pages 4-5. 

See you in class!
  

Hello 5th Grade string players!
It was fun to meet you all and get almost all of you set with your instrument, shoulder rest, cello anchor strap, rosin and music.  I think we will have a great year ahead. 

Your main homework assignment this week is to get comfortable with the bow.
Remember the following:

1. Tighten your bow but keep the dip in the stick
2. Hold the bow at the balance point with your right hand!
3. Keep space between your fingers
4. Have a bent thumb and keep it behind the 2nd (middle) finger. 

Here are the exercises we learned last week for your review: 

1. Basketball dribbling: with relaxed and curved fingers, bounce up and down
2. Elevator--keep your arm straight but with a slight bend in your elbow
3. Windshield wipers
4. Scrape the sides of the cake batter with the bow "spatula"
5. Creepy crawly up and down the stick, both vertically and horizontally. 

See you in class!