Preparing for Etude

I wrote an earlier article about teaching Etude, but in my current timeline of discussing Suzuki Violin Volume One, this is the place where I would introduce an article about Etude. In the previous article I did not discuss those things that I would introduce to a student in order to prepare for Etude, so I will discuss these items now.

First of all, I discuss the meaning of Etude with my students. "Etude" is a French word meaning "exercise" or "study." I discuss with my student that there are many "etudes" in the violin repertoire, and that these pieces are generally shorter in length and designed to teach particular skills. These skills may include a rhythmic unit, a new finger pattern, or a particular bowing variation. Generally etudes focus on one bowing variation or rhythmic pattern, which makes etudes useful for learning a particular skill because they direct the student's focus to a smaller area of technique or skill set. In this case, Dr. Suzuki's Etude will teach a new finger pattern, focus on strengthening the student's ability to make string crossings, and teach the student how to articulate notes well on an up bow (beginnings of notes). Most of the string crossings occur on an up bow to a lower string.

In addition to the student's regular listening program, I urge parents to play the Etude recording an extra number of times. Etude can confuse both parent and student aurally, so more listening helps. I also have a copy of the song laid out phrase by phrase. I made the copy by cutting and pasting the song into its four phrase components and lining up the phrases underneath each other. In this manner the parent can view the song phrases in comparison and easily see the different endings or contrasting parts of the song.

Here are a few things I might introduce to a student as preparation for learning Etude:

• G major scale, 1 octave: this scale is played with the G string as the starting note and uses the Twinkle Variations finger pattern on both the D and G strings. Sometimes we play the scale using one of the various Twinkle variations.

• G & D String Songs: We transpose as many of the songs that the student has learned onto the lower strings, if possible. Most of the book 1 songs can be transposed down a string. There are some that do not work. For example, Allegretto is impossible to transpose to the G string since it already contains a note on the G string, although Allegretto is a good song to work on because it requires the student to play on both the G and D strings. The other earlier songs in book 1 usually work well for transposition to a lower string. If we join forces with viola or cello students, our ability to play on a lower string will mean that we can play together with these other instruments.

• G Major Scale, 2 Octaves: This two-octave scale introduces a new finger pattern. The student builds on the one octave G major scale and adds another octave set of notes up to the E string with a different finger pattern.

• The teaching point here is that the student will learn a different finger pattern on the A and E strings.

• The two octave G major scale requires one set of finger patterns on the G and D strings and another set of finger patterns on the A and E string.

Additional Teaching Points: Once we learn the scale, we can add additional teaching points.

• 30 Second Scale: This is a game I play to encourage students to practice the two-octave G scale. I set the timer for 30 seconds, and then we count the number of times the student can play the scale  during the 30 seconds. The record is five for students of the Etude book 1 level (I do not show off my or any of my more advanced students' abilities to break that record). We only count the scale if a student plays it correctly -- the appropriate finger patterns and all of the scale notes.

• Fourth Finger Descending: Once a student has strengthened the ability to play the two-octave G scale, I introduce the pinkie fingering on the scale's descent. I stress the importance of leaving the index finger down in place while the student swings the left elbow under the finger board and sets the pinkie in place.

• Bowing Variations: Here are a few possible variations for the G scale. There are many other possibilities, and all of these ideas are excellent points in a group class lesson plan:
• slur two notes
• slur four notes
• 2 hooked staccato bows (up-up, down-down)
• 4 hooked staccato bows (up-up-up-up, down-down-down-down)
• combination of slurred and hooked bows (slur, up-up, slur, up-up)
• combination of slurred and separate bows (slur, up-down, slur, down-up) 
• Scale Patterns: We practice a little extra on the different combinations of scale patterns found within the G scale. This can be a fun thing to add to a group lesson plan. Here are a few examples:

• Broken Thirds Scale: I teach the G scale as a series of "broken thirds." I find that when a student learns how to play a scale in broken thirds that much of the battle of learning how to "feel a key" is won. I happened on this discovery one day while helping a student to learn the Bb finger pattern in the middle section of Gavotte from "Mignon," which is the 9th song in violin volume 2. Just on a lark, I taught the student how to play the Bb scale in broken thirds, and I found out that when the student finally learned this skill, that she also really, really learned how to feel the Bb key. Since that day, I have tried to remember to teach my students how to play all their scales in broken thirds. Here is the G scale in broken thirds:

• New Etude of Finger Patterns: We create our own "etude" by practicing a series of finger patterns that we developed based on note and finger patterns found within Etude. I use ideas that I learned from my personal study of Ševčik exercises to develop these exercises (here is the link to see my previous blog post about the Ševčik connection). We repeat these little fingering fragments several times:

And finally, the Suzuki violin revised volume one provides a full page of finger exercises just prior to the Etude song. These exercises are designed to strengthen the student's use of the pinkie.

Much of the Etude preparation work not only helps to pave the road for good teaching of Etude, but it also prepares the road for the songs that succeed Etude. As with all of the songs in the Suzuki repertoire, each song is connected and related to all the other songs in some way, whether great or small. The fun of teaching lies in the discovery of these connections and relations. With every student, I uncover new teaching points and therefore continue to grow as a teacher.

For my previous post about Etude, click here. Let me know of your ideas concerning how to teach Etude and how to prepare a student for Etude's teaching points.

Happy Etude-ing!

Teaching Allegretto

Teaching this song is tricky if the student has not figured any of the notes on his or her own. I have not yet figured out what the secret is, although I strongly lean in favor of the need for more listening to the song’s recording. I have students who struggle to learn the notes and to recall the song’s structure, and then I have students who figure out all the notes and can even play the song beginning on a different string. As always when I encounter a learning struggle with a Suzuki repertoire song, I encourage the home practice partner to play the song’s recording many, many times at home so that the student’s environment is saturated with it.

Another teaching aid is to line up the song so that the song’s phrases begin together. For example, each one of Allegretto’s phrases begins with two eighth note pickups. I have a copy of the music where I pasted the four song phrases on a separate sheet of paper with the phrase pick up notes lined up. I made this study copy for the benefit of the parents, not the students. Most parents do not yet understand about phrases at this point, so I find that this special study copy is an easier visual representation of the music when it is in this form.

Along with this altered representation of the song, I have written another version that includes just the finger numbers. I am not a big fan of this method at all, although I know that there are many books out there with this style of fingering included. If I were to give this fingering rendition to a parent, I would have them take a vow that they would not allow their child to use it. On occasion though, I have allowed a student who was really, really struggling with the song to use it on condition that the student uses it for only one week. I confess that sometimes this is the only way for some students to figure this out. Allegretto is just such a tricky song for some students.[1]

If I have to teach the student to help the student learn Allegretto, these are the general steps that I follow:

• I play the first few notes D-E-F# and have the student play the same notes back to me.

• I play the next three notes F#-A (pinkie)–G.

• I play G-B-A, A-G-F#.

• I send the student home to practice just these 12 notes this week. The student also does some review work on the home practice assignment sheet.

From that point on, I watch to see what happens. I help tweak the amount of listening to the song that the student does, and help to guide the student to figure out the remaining notes of the first part of the song.

The song has four phrases and follows the form: A-A1-B-A1. Because the song phrases are so similar, and also so confusing, I recommend that the student only practice the first phrase of the song until the student has mastered that part. Of course, students will move ahead at home, but I find that when they return to their lesson, they are still confused between the two A section parts. That is the reason that I recommend focusing on one part at a time. When I do have a student who is trying to differentiate the two A section parts, I suggest to the student and parent that the homework assignment be limited to the first two phrases of the song.

Finally, the student is able to play both the first and second phrases. Then we work on the third phrase, which starts out with a skip and a step backwards.

We hop our first finger into the mud puddle on the G string, and then the finger jumps back out of the puddle to land on the D string.

I have listed a lot of detail here about teaching the song, but in actuality, I try not to teach very much of the song because it is so confusing to students. Sometimes a teacher’s or parent’s well-meant help actually distracts or confuses the student. The best thing that we teachers and parents can do is to play the recordings A LOT, and to allow the student the necessary room to experiment and figure out the notes without our assistance, our words, or our interference. That, and keep the learning segments short, sweet, and to the point. Whenever a student comes to lesson and is confused, I send the student home with an assignment that is shorter by half. If the student struggles with differentiating between the first two phrases, then I assign only the first phrase. If the student struggles with the first phrase, then I send the student home with the first 12 notes (half of the phrase).

Most of all, I just do not sweat it. No pressure on the student or the parent. The song will happen when the student is ready for it to happen. I think the hardest aspect of teaching this song is for the teacher and parent to be patient and wait for the student. I find as many opportunities as I can to work on aspects of the song outside of lessons. In group classes, we might have other students play the song. I might play the song recording while the student is getting his or her violin ready to play. I might play through the song myself for the student at the end of the student’s lesson. In other words, I reinforce the listening and the visual presentation for the student. Usually the learning issues clear up with the extra listening assignment at home.

Next stop will be Andantino, another dessert song! (It’s a piece of cake!).

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[1] We also use this fingering style when trying to quickly learn songs for a Christmas performance. In the ideal situation, we would have plenty of time to learn how to play all of our songs by ear. However, in reality, often times we prepare for a show in a minimal amount of time, and some of the younger students really want to participate in more than one song, hence, the fingering shortcut idea to learn how to play Christmas songs. True to the Suzuki way, however, these same students quickly learn and then memorize the songs, so that these fingering study copies are rendered unnecessary after the students learn the songs.

Quick Practice Tip: Use the Sevcik Connection

In the past year I have been reacquainting myself with the materials put together by Otakar Sevcik, a Czech violinist in the latter half of the 19th century, early 20th century. Sevcik was appointed professor of violin at the age of 23 with the Russian Music Society in Kiev. He also later taught violin at the Prague Conservatory and Vienna Music Academy.

Sevcik's materials were staples in the technical repertoire during my formative years, and his comprehensive books are still around today. The books include studies in bowing, finger patterns, double stops, and shifting. They are valuable teaching and practicing tools. Although these materials may not be the current pedagogical fashion today, I believe that teachers (and students) might benefit from reviewing and considering the value of these materials.

There has been a renewed interest in some other technical materials written by Sevcik. These materials include analytical studies of various concertos or repertoire pieces. Currently these materials are being revisited and revised in translation. For more information, there is an interview published on violinist.com concerning the new editions of these analytical materials (http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20111/12018/).

Some of these materials may be studied now on the International Music Score Library Project website: http://imslp.org (Pretrucci Music Library), along with the other Sevcik materials. Although I have been purchasing my own personal copies of the analytical studies as the revised versions become available, I have spent a great deal of time immersed in Sevcik's gems of technical exploration of some of my favorite concertos and pieces (Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, and Wieniawki's "Scherzo-Tarantelle").

As I studied these materials, I analyzed Sevcik's work to form today's practice tip. I believe that Sevcik's philosophy is all about making connections -- connections between intervals, fingers, notes, bowing, and rhythms. After identifying these connections, Sevcik devised exercises that physically focused on repeating the connections.

I have experimented with these ideas with my university students, and we have had great success. We identify a tricky little passage, and then we analyze how to turn it into a finger exercise. Then we repeat this finger exercise over and over. My goal is to perform the exercise at least four times (3 times is never enough, and 5 seems excruciatingly long to a young student; 4 is like Goldilocks and the Three Bears and "just right.").

Here is a simple example of how this "Sevcik" practice tip works. Consider "Allegretto" (song #10 in Suzuki Violin book 1). Students often have a spot of trouble learning the fourth finger pattern in the 4th, 5th, and 6th notes of the song -- F#-A (4 on D string)-G. If we were to use my Sevcik practice tip, the student and I would play those three notes several times. We would also play several permutations and combinations of these three fingers. For example, I would play F# and 4th finger A over and over about four times. Then I would play the A and G over and over four times. Then I would play the three notes up and down a few times. Then I would change the pattern and play each pattern a few times: F#-G-A-G, or F#-A-G-F#, or F#-A-G-A, or A-G-A-F#, or A-F#-A-G. The student and I have fun coming up with new possibilities and connections. After we have done all of these, I ask the student to play the passage as it is written. I am constantly delighted to see my student's face light up because the passage has now become incredibly easier.

I am willing to bet that there are very few folks out there who enjoy practicing. I have spent many years coming up with ways to entertain myself in practice sessions. Using the Sevcik ideas, I have discovered the kind of amusement that keeps my active mind engaged and diverted in a good way. If I have a tiresome passage of 16th notes, I might play the passage with an extension that repeats each of the four-note groups of 16th notes four times. In this way, I might extend a 16th note passage of 24 notes to a 16th note passage of 96 notes. Then because I play so many notes continuously, I do not have the feeling that I am "practicing," at least in terms of practicing as hard work. Instead, I feel as if I am "playing," even though I really am practicing very efficiently and effectively. And I am enjoying myself in the process.

I am teaching a summer strings camp right now, and I frequently employ these Sevcik practice tips during orchestra sectionals with great success. I hope you enjoy this practice tip as well. There are many places in the Suzuki repertoire that lend themselves rather well to the Sevcik practice tip. And wait until we get to double stops! Sevcik practice tips become really fun then! Oh, the combinations of Sevcik possibilities!