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.

Monday Morning Check In: The Adventure Begins

This is a different Monday morning post, because I embark on a new adventure this morning. At noon today I will board a flight bound (eventually) for New York City (the Long Island airport to be precise). From the airport, I will venture into midtown Manhattan to prepare for a performance with the Artisan Quartet in Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening. The entire enterprise stretches all of us in so many unforeseen ways.

First, we planned our performance over a year ago. After receiving the invitation to perform as part of the 30th anniversary season of MidAmerica Productions, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall series, a benefactor stepped forward to cover the costs of our performance. At that point we raised travel costs through fund raising performances that provided us with enough funds to make the journey and stay in an interesting hotel (more on the hotel later, just wait!).

Next, we worked on a suitable program at the same time that we continued our Beethoven string quartet cycle. We finally chose a program that drew a little bit from our Beethoven series and a little bit from other performances that we gave at other festivals. We were fortunate to perform various aspects of the program throughout the past year, enough so that our chosen repertoire became more like a familiar old friend than a momentary one-concert acquaintance.

We finally made our travel plans a few months ago. Making travel plans for four individuals (and one cello) taxed me to my travel savvy limits. How does one list a cello in a way that satisfies the TSA? How will boarding priorities work? Which airline? Which airport (there are three that service the New York area)? Which hotel? Should we stay nearby or within walking distance? Oh right, the cello. We cannot walk too far. Cabs? Coming from a town where its residents rely on driving to their destinations, how would we manage transportation in "the city that never sleeps"? [For that matter, what does the other song mean when it refers to the Bronx being "up" and the Battery "down"?] Aargh!

Travel plans made, we held one last preview concert this past Saturday night in Austin. We performed our entire Carnegie Hall program for our special friends in the recital hall at Blackerby Violin Shop of Austin and celebrated the coming journey at a reception after the performance. We raised enough funds to cover our expenses and maybe offer the cello a "spa day" if it so desires.

I saved the hotel for last because this will be our biggest part of the adventure. We will be staying at one of the boutique hotels very close to the hall itself. The hotel is renowned for its Andy Warhol prints and other eclectic decor. I am actually more eager to experience the hotel than I am any other part of my journey. There is much to do and see in New York, but in our short amount of time, I am uncertain how much we will be able to accomplish. I hope to see Central Park (did someone say there were carriage rides?) and the Museum of Modern Art (I want to see those Impressionists up close and personal!). We have our tickets reserved for the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial and I expect to be emotional. One of our members has compiled a list of recommended restaurants of such length that I worry about how many extra pounds I might bring back home with me. I want to sit in the eclectic hotel lounge and experience my hotel to its fullest. I want to visit with our friends and relatives who are making the journey with us.

As I scrambled around this afternoon and evening doing laundry, packing, and getting the house and chores in order for my absence, I thought about the ramifications of embarking on such an adventure. Although most definitions of the word include something about it being hazardous or risky, I prefer to think of an adventure as something that is new, fresh, and exciting. I think it is important that we find occasion to step outside of ourselves and follow a path that leads us somewhere unknown.

Some of my best memories from my Rome trip last summer were my morning rambles that sometimes lasted four or more hours. I would step off in one direction from my hotel with no more intention than finding a good cappuccino and a dolce of some sort, and maybe finding that little basilica or church someone mentioned. Perhaps a few hours into my long walk, I would have to refer to the map to realize that I had completely turned myself around in a circle. I saw things I could not have planned to see, and I found places that I wanted to visit again later. My entire wandering was as aimless as I could let it be, and it was wonderful. My legs were tired, but I did not mind the long walk. Eventually I would discover a tucked-away piazza with a sweet ristorante and a menu outside the door that had three choices of meals (complete with antipasto, pasta, desert, and beverage).

Eating in Italy and drinking coffee are the most relaxing things I have ever done in a very long time. The experience is lengthy, but the enforced wait is pleasurable. When I returned home to the US, I had every intention of continuing my lengthy sit downs at meals and over coffee. Hmm, too often I lament the fact that I am unable to sit down at the table to finish my coffee or eat my breakfast. I do entirely too much of that in the car.

But I digress. My point was that the long, rambling walks were the best part of the adventure last summer in Italy. I hope to have a similar experience in New York. I want to step out of my hotel and walk the few blocks to Central Park and then make a decision to go left or right and see what I find. I am certain that I will fill my creative tank with this incredible Artist Date opportunity. For more about Artist Dates, click here.

I have had fun this past week posting videos on Facebook that are related to the New York trip: Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind," Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," and the classic "New York, New York" from the movie "On the Town," starring Frank Sinatra and my all time favorite Gene Kelly. My favorite preparation event was when the quartet's Richard Kilmer showed up at our last performance wearing this T-shirt.

For any of our friends who are going to be in the New York City area this week, please come share our exciting journey with us on Thursday, March 22, 2012, at 8:00 p.m in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, where we will perform the Beethoven string quartet in F major, op. 14, no. 1 (which Beethoven transcribed from his piano sonata no. 9 in E major) and string quartet in F major, op. 135 (Beethoven's last quartet). Also on the program is the Grieg string quartet in G minor, op. 27 and the Mambo 7/16 by Roberto Sierra (do not try to dance to this or you will hurt yourself!). For more information about the performance in New York, click here. For more information about the Artisan Quartet, click here. For more about Sierra's "Mambo" click here. You can also leave me a comment below!