A Student Hit Me

by Paula E. Bird

Recently during a lesson I asked a student to hit me with her bow. She did. Ouch!

I have tried to get this student to stop playing with a floppy bow hand for a long time. I have tried all sorts of pictures, analogies, and suggestions to get her to understand that her sound was soggy and floppy because her bow hand was soggy and floppy. No energy.

I tried to get the teaching point across to her by shaking her hand using a “limp fish” handshake. Then I shook hands with her using a good, firm business-like grip. The model example did not “take.” Her bow continued to flop and sag, and then she began to lean the bow stick backwards, as if she was pushing her sound away from her. Instead of connecting her musical energy through her body to the bow and ultimately onto the violin, my student was letting the energy seep out of her bow hand knuckles and dissipate into the air. How to change this?

I have been working with my student to alter this energy use for about a year now with no success. I finally became desperate, and out of the land of desperation, many wonderful ideas are born.

At her last lesson, I became desperate to try anything to bring awareness. I explained the problem: her hand was bleeding energy out into the air rather than directing it to her bow hand and the violin. I talked about the 4 types of energy flows and used the descriptions from Ed Kreitman’s book, Teaching with an Open Heart (2010):

Push

Pull

Stop/Block

Allow

My lesson about energy was an easy one with this particular student because her mother’s business is about working with other people’s animals. Since my student is home-schooled, she is able to join her mother often and learn how to work with the animals. We discussed the different types of energy and its effect on dogs, because that is the most familiar experience for this particular student. Pomeranians have more energy; old Labradors have less. That sort of thing.

Ed Kreitman’s book is an excellent resource book for teachers. It is worth every penny. The book contains a beautiful description of energy and the role that energy plays in our approach to the musical instrument and to the creation of our musical expression. The illustrations are very clear, and often once I have shown the pictures to my students, they seem to grasp so much more quickly the teaching point that I am trying to make. I highly recommend that teachers read this book to aid the teaching of musicality and playing with musical expression. For more information about the book, you can order the book through Ed Kreitman's website shop here: http://www.wsste.com/. The book is also available through the Suzuki association website, suzukiassociation.org.

So here is how I got the teaching point across to my student.

"Hit me with your bow," I told her.

She looked at me blankly.

"Hit me with your bow," I insisted.

Whack!

Ouch!

Success!

Her bow hold altered! Her grip or hold had more substance. She directed energy to the bow and ultimately to the side of my head where she hit me. That was what I intended. I wanted her to form an intention to direct her energy to a certain point -- me. From there I showed her what she had done and how the bow hold energy changed, and how it looked.

Light bulb moment! For the first time I think my student "got it." She immediately changed her approach to the bow. She did not squeeze anything tighter; she merely garnered her body's energy to one focal point on her bow and then from her bow to the violin. Instead of letting the intentional energy leak out of her hand into the air, my student focused it into the instrument.

And her sound was fabulous! Gorgeous, focused, and clear! Lovely bow hold posture.

Although I would not advocate a student hitting a teacher (or vice versa), in this case the lesson was perfect!

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula ----- 

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

January Focus: POSTURE!

After every holiday break, my studio faces the same challenges. My students have fallen off the practicing routine wagon, they have become lax about posture issues (instrument holds, stances), and they have forgotten most of their repertoire. What to do when this happens?

First, I have learned to expect these problems. That expectation takes a lot of the sting out of the problem. When I know to expect these problems to happen, I feel less stressful when I identify the problems. I have also prepared myself with the tools to fix things.

Second, I have my game plan and my tools ready to go. I start with the usual suspects – bow holds and left hand – and begin anew. I have learned not to worry too much about the situation because it will generally rectify itself quickly during the lessons that follow. And although most parents feel quite guilty because they have let things slide, I do not beat them over the head about it. They are not alone. Other families get swept up in the maelstrom of parties and holiday festivities, extended family and friend visits, and other surprises that upset the normal practicing schedule. We all struggle with the tug of “taking a break” and getting some down time, and in truth, holidays are a lot of fun.

So I remind everyone that our focus will be getting our posture back on track. We add a few songs to our practice lists for review and to help cement our posture issues. And we start.

This month I will put a few well-placed signs about good posture on my studio walls and front door. I will write reminders and lesson notes that focus on these points. And I will ease everyone back into the familiar routine.

For additional reading, here are a few popular articles from the past that might provide some more useful information:

How to Recover from a Practice Break: This article includes many ideas about how to prevent a break from the practice routine, and how to recover from a break if one occurs.

How to Get Started After a Break: This article presents a three-step plan to start rebuilding the practice habit after a break.

How to Get Started After a Break: This short article presents a few tiny steps and a suggestion about a review plan to "get things going" again.

Posture Checklist for Violin: This article presents an 8-point checklist to review and adjust posture issues.

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

©2016 by Paula E. Bird

Quick Practice Tip: Study Cards

Written by Paula E. Bird ©2013
Recently, a few of my parents and students got excited about making their own set of study cards. I provided the small cards and connecting rings, and the students made up their own batches of cards. Here is an example of how one mom put together study cards for her two book 1 students:

Here are the Twinkle Variations. I am a big fan of the Twinkles as a regular part of the practice program because Twinkles cement the foundation of the student's technique. Many technical problems can be cleaned up miraculously merely by playing two Twinkle variations per day, whether the student were in book 1 or book 6.

New Songs are the cards that the students are currently working on. These cards represent the most recent four songs that the students have learned or are learning. As the students polish each new song, we will eventually add new songs to this batch and transfer the polished songs to the review list.

These are the review cards, and I thought this parent had a creative idea to call this batch "Oldies but Goodies." Everyone has a different approach to review, but for this family, a systematic review program works well. The parent makes notes on the backs of the cards about teaching points and practice goals.

I purchased the rings and small cards at a teacher supply store, but these items are also available at some office supply stores and university bookstores.

Happy Practicing!

Hand Position Week (aka Bow Hold Week)

This week we will celebrate our hand positions on the instrument. I usually call this bow hold week, but bow holds only apply to stringed instruments. For other instruments, the hand placement plays an important role in how well the student can play the instrument. So, I have changed the nomenclature to "hand position week."

If your child plays a stringed instrument, focus this week on how well your child holds the bow. Make sure the finger placement is correct and that there is no unnecessary tension in the bow hold. I say "unnecessary" because with stringed instruments it is important to maintain a strong thumb and to keep the thumb active and engaged rather than "turned off." Every finger placement is important; incorrect placement of one finger may lead to a deterioration of the bow hold in general.

Once you make the necessary corrections and stay on top of this, you will probably also notice a marked improvement in the student's sound and playing in general. Messy bowings or uneven tone production will usually clean up because the student is now able to maintain a straight bow and make the proper contact between the bow and the string.

For pianists, proper hand placement will include the curvature of the fingers. Many students today have double-jointed knuckles, and it is imperative to encourage the students to maintain a rounded, "natural" hand placement. This task also includes watching the angle of the wrist, elbow, and shoulders to the instrument.

Because we work to build good posture habits, I find that we can practice building a habit by holding the proper position for a certain length of time. I have a little egg timer sand "hour" glass that measures the span of one minute. My students will practice a good bow hold while we watch the egg timer measure out the one minute. Sometimes my students ask to do this for two minutes. Just imagine how easy this habit would be if the parents had the students practice this one minute bow hold or curved hand position several times a day.

I find that if I periodically announce such special focus items, such as hand position week, that my parents do a better job of being vigilant at home. I hope that you will have an opportunity to join us in the week's focus.

Happy Hand Position Week!