Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

Now what does that title have to do with anything? Well, I read over my blog stats on a daily basis, including which blog posts are popular, where my readers come from, how many readers have visited the site, and what search terms bring readers to my little blog community.

Recently several people have been searching for information about Becker Gavotte, Gossec Gavotte, Gavotte from “Mignon,” and some other songs that I recognized instantly as the ones that typically cause teachers trouble. Hence my title today.

I remember when I first realized that I had teaching problems in my studio. I had been teaching for many years, but at the time I had recently opened up my studio full time. Since I was working long hours every day to accommodate a full studio, I was tired at the end of my teaching day. I did not have the reservoir of patience and creativity that I might have had if I only taught ten to fifteen students. I began to consider what areas of my studio did not produce an energizing return for me, and that is when I discovered how to fix the troubles I saw in my studio. Below are some basic lessons I learned and how I began to figure out how to address the problems.

Listening Deficiency

I noticed that some students had a difficult time learning a new piece. I would have to practically stand on my head or write down the notes with some sort of fingering code in order for the student to remember (or even learn!) the piece. Allegretto stands out in my mind as one of these pieces. Etude, Minuet 3, and Minuet in G were others. When I puzzled over why this might be an issue, I considered what tools I could suggest that would improve the learning process. Why, listening to the recordings frequently, of course! So I asked the parent to play the recording of the piece a few extra times every day, and that is when I really noticed the look on the parent’s face. Oh, they were not doing the listening in the first place, I realized.

I stopped being afraid to talk to parents directly a long time ago. Parents naturally want what is best for their child, and if they do not, then they should. So, I stopped hesitating about bringing up these sorts of issues with parents. I believe that parents should do everything they can do to the best that they can to be sure that their child is able to learn to the best of the child's capability. I cannot expect to place the responsibility of playing the recordings daily on the shoulders of a five year old. Gosh, children need to be prodded to brush their teeth before bed, take baths, and eat their vegetables! And that is when they are still in high school! No, a parent’s touch is required here, and if a parent has trouble remembering to turn on the recordings, then I suggest steps that the parent could take to help his or her memory. Sticky notes are good, alarms on the smart phone work well, and text and email reminders from the teacher are really successful!

Now I frequently ask parents if they are doing the listening every day. Do they have the CD playing in the car? Can they find the CD? If the parent has put the recordings on the child’s electronic device, how has the parent made sure that the child is actually listening to the recording?

If the parent is playing the recordings and the child still has trouble with the new song, then I recommend doing additional “extra” listening every day for a week or two. Usually the problem clears right up in a week once the parent steps up the listening work.

Daily Practice

This issue would seem to be a no-brainer, but yes, there are still parents out there who think that their child can learn a new skill and develop a high level of ability without actually having to practice the instrument every day. There are also parents who may understand the value of daily practice but who seem to think that a minimal amount of effort is all that is needed to accomplish what needs to be done. I even had one parent who was doing the 100 days club requirements but doing a minimal amount of practice for it (5 minutes per child). I let it slide for a while because the daily practice habit was the purpose of the 100 days club, but after awhile I started urging the mom to step it up and increase the amount the children practiced. I knew they could accomplish more than they were. The parent might establish the daily habit of practicing, but by limiting the practice to five minutes, the parent was not enjoying the experience of finding out how good a parent she could be. As any good Suzuki parent will tell you, the practice issues happen after the first five minutes, when the going gets tough and the parent has to draw on good parenting skills and exercise maximum creativity.

Again, I do not hesitate to ask parents and the student how much practice is being done at home. I find that if I phrase the question in certain ways, that I am sure to encourage the parent to do more in the practice department. This is not the time for my open-ended question technique. Here is when I turn on my lawyer charm: Did you practice every day this week? I like to start out by asking whether the parent has practiced with the child the optimum amount, which is every day. The parent may whittle the answer down into a lower amount, but at least they know where the “top” is.

Intonation Problems

Boy was this a tough one to figure out! There were some spots in the Suzuki repertoire that eluded me for a long time in terms of intonation. The teachers all know what songs I mean: Gavotte from “Mignon,” Gavotte in G Minor, and Becker Gavotte to name just a few. Also, as part of the intonation problem, I had to deal with left hands that fell down under the fingerboard or left index fingers that would not stand up, or pinkies that did not play on their tiptoes. I have written several previous blog posts about addressing intonation, so I will not address the issues again in this post. If you would like to revisit those articles, here are the links:

Orange Peel Tone

Ringing Notes and Super Ears

Can You Spell Ševčík

Learning How to Fish

I am sure you have heard of the paraphrased expression: Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Well, here is how I learned how to fish, I mean teach, through the problems I saw. Let me use the Gavotte Three as examples (Gavotte from "Mignon," Gavotte in G Minor, and Becker Gavotte). Here are the discovery steps I used to teach myself how to fish:

• Identify the problem
• Specifically identify the problem
• Discover where the technique was first introduced
• Develop a strategy to shore up the technique or prevent the problem in the future
• Figure out how to present my strategy to the student in a palatable way

And here is my further discussion of each of these discovery steps.

Problem: Student plays woefully out of tune. Specifically the student’s left third finger does not stretch high enough, the first finger does not reach low enough, and the pinkie is confused about whether to stretch out to a perfect fourth from the first finger (it is a flat pinkie in the music, after all).

Specific Problem: Usually I will follow the Julie Andrews’ technique of isolating the two notes where the problem occurs. Just as a basketball hoop is missed because of an improper layup or a baseball pitch is missed due to an inadequate swing, so most musical technique problems occur between the note where the mistake is and the note that precedes it. However, in my current problem, I could not identify two notes. Specifically, the problem was that the student did not adequately understand and could not properly execute the appropriate finger pattern. The same problem occurred in both pieces. So the fingering pattern was the problem.

Discover Where the Technique was First Introduced

I identified the technique’s first appearance as somewhere around the Two Grenadiers. To be completely accurate, I could identify the issue as a little exercise that Dr. Suzuki put in the beginning of the previous version of Violin Volume 2, where he had the student hold down the third finger and then silently move the first finger from the regular squared knuckle position to the lowered first finger position of Bb. Once I figured that out, I was able to trace the development of the skill throughout book 2. I found the lowered first finger first in Two Grenadiers. Then I found the finger pattern needed for Book 3 within the middle section of Gavotte from “Mignon.” Ah ha! Now I was onto something.

Develop a Strategy to Shore up the Technique or Prevent the Problem in the Future

From that point of discovery onward, I increased my teaching efforts in book 2 to prepare my student better for the skills required by book 3. I made sure that my student was solid on the lowered first finger in Two Grenadiers, including the little exercise at the beginning of book 2 and using the finger in our Aunt Rhody Goes to Saudi Arabia game (substitute Bb for every B natural in the song). Then I made sure that the middle section of Mignon was absolutely perfect before moving out of book 2. I will explain in the next section how I accomplished that. These small steps paved the way for a much more enjoyable teaching experience for me, and my students were much better equipped to handle the lessons found in book 3.

• • 
    
  Figure out how to Present my Strategy to the Student in a Palatable Way

I have already mentioned the Aunt Rhody Goes to Saudi Arabia game. Other ways I presented the new finger pattern was to teach the student about transposition. Students are already transposing when they play Twinkle or other songs on different strings. They may not have enough theory background at this point to understand what they are actually doing, so I bring up the issue now, although Long, Long Ago in Book 2 is a good place as well (since it is transposed from the original A major version of book 1).

Next we transpose Perpetual Motion into the key of Bb. I do this because it teaches the finger pattern that Mignon and book 3 require. I also teach my students to play a Bb scale, 1 octave (on the A and E strings), and also play the scale in thirds. We have been known to work with a tuner too. Even my little ones find the tuner useful as well as fascinating, and working with a tuner also helps my students to learn how to maintain an even tone with the sustained bow.

Armed with these Bb tools, my students are ready to tackle the middle section of Gavotte from “Mignon.” However, before they do, I staple a $1 bill to the bottom of the song in their book 2. I tell my students that this is a dollar spot. In order to earn the dollar, the student must play it perfectly in tune. Whenever that happens, the student can then remove the staples and we paper clip the dollar to the book. The student must then come in the next week and still be able to play the dollar spot perfectly in order to remove the dollar bill and put it in his or her pocket.

I do not let my students collect the dollar unless they absolutely play the passage correctly and in tune. I am very particular about this. The student may take a long time to earn the dollar. We just keep moving along in the book while the student keeps trying. I do not allow the student to move past book 2 until the dollar is won. Usually the student earns the dollar within a few weeks. [And do not worry about going broke stapling dollar bills to students' music books. Usually the parent produces the dollar bill when I ask if they have a dollar for change. They kind of scurry to produce the dollar bill for me so that I do not have to use mine. Very sweet!]

Since I required these small steps in book 2 (and we focus on them in group classes as well), my later book 3 problems disappeared! Similarly, when I used my discovery steps to analyze problems in book 1, I discovered my answers and my solutions earlier in the book.

I have been teaching many years now, so I have had many opportunities to discover problems and solutions throughout the entire Suzuki repertoire, and I have been offering many of my discoveries to you through this blog and its articles. Try using these same questions and make some of your own teaching discoveries, and let me know about it by posting a comment below.

Preparing for Perpetual Motion

Perpetual Motion marks the beginning of the intermediate section of Suzuki Violin Volume One and the halfway point of the book. In the first half of the book, the student learned many basic fundamental skills, including various bowing variations, fingering combinations (using the same finger pattern), and song formats. The student has learned notes on three strings but basically plays only two strings in general. Now it is time to step things up a bit and teach the child how to play on the D and G strings, how to use the pinkie, how to deepen the student's concentration and focus, and to strengthen the child's memory. Perpetual Motion will help to do all of that, but before we start working on the song, there are a few things that will help a student prepare for the song.

At this point, my students have been playing with their right thumb "outside" the frog. I am very careful about how my students place their thumbs on the outside frog. The purpose of this beginner bow hold is to help the child develop the habit of rounding the thumb. I have witnessed too many beginning school string programs where students learn the "inside" thumb bow hold from the start, and many of the students have collapsed thumbs that bend inward. This bending inward so that the thumb resembles a banana will prevent the student from later learning how to do specialized and advanced bowings, as the thumb flexibility is curtailed. (To read more about how I set up a beginner's bow hold, click here).

So to prevent this problem, I introduce my beginning students to the "outside" thumb bow hold. Once we reach Perpetual Motion, I officially introduce the "book 2 bow hold" to my students. Most students tell me that the new, regular bow hold is much more comfortable than the earlier outside thumb bow hold. Occasionally a student has difficulty making the change. One thing I consider is the timing of the bow hold. If I have a student who is taking a long time to get to Perpetual Motion, then I might introduce the book 2 bow hold earlier. This case would be the exception, because students should not be taking so long to get to Perpetual Motion unless there is some sort of learning issue.

I ask the student to review earlier songs (which should be happening all the time anyway at this stage), and ask the student to practice the new bow hold with each of the songs. Parents, your child may need to be reminded to play with the new bow hold because the other bow hold is a habit by now.

Although I introduce the use of the pinkie in the pretwinkle stage with the plucking song (for more information about the plucking exercise, click here), I actually do not encourage my students to use the pinkie in the earlier book 1 songs until Perpetual Motion. The revised edition does provide alternate fingerings that include the pinkie, but I prefer to save this for later. I think it is more helpful to teach the students how to cross strings properly. Once the student reaches Perpetual Motion, I begin my systematic campaign of building the pinkie habit. There are times to use a pinkie fingering and times when it is best not to do so. In the beginning, I teach my students certain fingerings and offer little explanation about why I make these choices. As time goes on and the student encounters fingering choices in later repertoire, I will then open up discussion about how to make appropriate fingering choices.

I have two previews for Perpetual Motion, and both previews involve the pinkie:

• First, I introduce the first four notes in measure two: C#-D-E-C# using the finger pattern 2-3-4-2.
• Second, I ask the student to prepare the C# (second finger) on the A string and prepare to hold him down while the student plays: E-C#-D-E with the finger pattern [prepare 2, then play] 4-2-3-E string.
• My students practice these two pinkie previews about 10 times per day for a week.

In the meantime, I ask the practice parent to play the recording of Perpetual Motion extra times in addition to the regular listening program so that the student is definitely saturated with the recording of the song.

I also ask my student to practice the one-octave A major scale. We already know this scale, but I make sure that the scale gets included again in the weekly lesson assignment. We practice the scale with the various Twinkle variation patterns, and I also introduce new rhythms and bowings to anticipate the Perpetual Motion variation bowing. I figure if the student is accustomed to playing all sorts of rhythms, then some of the "sting" of the Perpetual Motion variation bowing will be alleviated. The variation bowing will then become just another variation in a sea of variations and nothing to worry or obsess about. I have called it a variety of things: rabbit bows, jello bows, ribbit bows (aka Kermit the Frog), Yankee bows (as in "yank" the bow down), kitty bows, and pony bows.

At first I introduce the bowing variation as a double bow with a rest, as Dr. Suzuki suggested in his practice tip for the Perpetual Motion variation. You can also incorporate physical rhythm games with this practice tip by having the child play the double note and then take a step forward in the rest. As the student learns how to coordinate this action better, the student also learns how to feel syncopation and offbeats. Later, the student can play the bowing variation without the rest.

And finally, the last thing I might do, depending on the student, is introduce the first few notes. Usually I wait a week while the student improves the pinkie previews and builds the pinkie fingering habit contained in the two previews. At the very least, I might ask the student if he or she has figured out what the song's first note is, as I play it at the same time.

I send the student and practice parent home with a practice assignment that includes the new bow hold, review songs that will use the new bow hold, the above previews, and the A scale with variations, including the double note variation that will show up in the Perpetual Motion variation. After a week of this specialized practice, I find the student is very well prepared to learn the rest of the notes of the song.

How to Improve Your Teaching

Teaching is not a mystery. Teaching is something that we can all do. Before we had the ability to print books, we learned by emulation and imitation. We apprenticed ourselves to others who were more expert than we, and we followed the advice of mentors. If you are a teacher, or a parent, this blog post is for you. Yes, if you are a parent, then you are a teacher. You teach your child many things before the child even reaches school age:

• How to dress

• How to eat with utensils

• How to show manners ("please" and "thank you")

• How to pray

• How to pick up toys

• Any number of other things depending on your situation. My mother taught us to swim at a young age. I have read of other parents who teach their toddlers how to ski.

In a previous blog post (http://teachsuzuki.blogspot.com/2011/06/quick-teacher-tip-how-to-digest-song.html), I discussed how to analyze a song for the purpose of revealing the song's teaching points and generally considered four areas:

• Left hand skills ("Finger, bow, go!" Dr. Suzuki said, so left hand skills ranked first in priority)

• Right hand skills

• Preview (how to teach or introduce the song)

• Later problems (the deterioration of skills that happen over time and how to identify them and correct them, or better yet, how to prevent them)

However, there is another step that would improve a person's learning in order to be a better teacher: the ability to see the big picture. Here is how I suggest we do that. After going through the above exercise to determine the teaching points in each song in the Suzuki volume, I suggest we make these additional summary lists:

• What left hand skills are learned in this book or could be learned in this book?

• What right hand skills are learned in this book or could be learned in this book?

• How can we use this current material to prepare for the next book or next set of skills?

• How can we use this material to cement the foundation of things we have learned already (review program or group class activities)?

When we study a particular volume of teaching material, we tend to think about individual pieces as presented in the volume.  When we consider the volume as a whole and how it fits within a larger picture, and we make a list of the general skills learned in totality in the volume and how these skills relate to future learning, we see a different progression of skill development. I suggest that these summary lists be revisited frequently, because as teaching experience grows, so will the discoveries, and the lists will need to be revised to reflect these new discoveries.

So, in addition to the four quadrant dissection that I advocated in my earlier blog post, I suggest making a summary list of the quadrant of skills developed in the volume of material. With each step backward or "zoom out" step we take to consider a bigger picture, we will uncover a broader list of skills to develop and focus on. The more "big" pictures we discover, the bigger our arsenal of teaching ideas. This ability development -- the skill of seeing the big picture -- is what will improve our teaching ability.

Quick Practice Tip: Get a Really Smart Phone!

Last night I got a text message from my high school senior student asking me for some practice tips for the ricochet bowing. I searched my iPhone for the "Voice Memos" app, hit record, and made an audio recording of a ricochet bowing exercise for my student. I gave the recording a filename and then emailed it to my student. I sent a reply text to alert my student that the recording was on its way.

My students (and their technologically savvy parents) love this! Absolutely love this! My high school senior laughingly refers to it as "having a portable Paula." We have resorted to calling these little snippet recordings "Porta-Paula's." I thank Steve Jobs and Apple for my iPhone. I get a lot of use from it in my teaching arena.

For example, I frequently make short videos of practice exercises for my students and forward them via email to the students and their parent. I have one little boy whose mother does the home practicing but whose father is the person available to bring the boy to lessons. I frequently record practice tips, exercises, and instructions or make short practice videos, and then I email everything to mom. Since she is a Suzuki-trained music educator, I know that these little videos and voice recordings will be all that she needs to stay in touch with what her child and I are doing.

For other students, I make up short practice recordings of songs or areas of songs that we are working on. The students enjoy these recordings. I often use them during lessons as well.  The recordings allow me to have my hands free to work with the student to make adjustments where needed. Not only do the parents have a built-in practice routine that they can follow at home, it also gives me a practice assistant during lessons.

I use many apps on my iPhone for my teaching. I am curious what other apps teachers use in their teaching. This will be a future post for sure!

Happy practicing!

Song of the Wind, part 3: Downbow Circles Preview

Song of the Wind teaches an important right hand skill: down bow circles. Down bow circles are the foundation for all sorts of other skills, from setting the bow on the string to begin a good articulation, to playing double stops and chords in more advanced repertoire. Along the way, down bow circles can test whether a student is still maintaining the bow hold (it tends to fall out of the hand if the bow hold is incorrect) or if the student is holding too much tension in the shoulder (the student can use the circles to learn how to set the bow and release the shoulder tension).

If you have not already done this when teaching the Twinkle variations, place a tape mark on the student's bow at the point where the student's arm forms a "square" (right arm bends 90 degrees at the elbow, and the forearm is parallel to the violin strings) when the student has placed the bow on the strings to play. It is a good idea to check the placement of this tape mark periodically as the student grows, to be sure that the mark still "fits" the student's arm length.

Airplanes and Helicopters

Here is how I introduce the down bow circle:

• I ask the student to play a down bow on the E string to produce a nice ringing tone.

• I then ask the student to lift the bow in a circular motion in front of the student's face and land the bow at the marked tape spot. The circle should be done counter-clockwise, similar to the hand gesture that one makes when saying "come here" with the hands.

• I then ask the student to make several down bow circles. I bring to the student's attention how the bow bounces on the landing, and I ask the student to experiment with eliminating the bounces.

• I then introduce the concept of airplane versus helicopter landings.

• Airplanes bounce on landing (at least once, no matter how good the pilot is).

• Helicopters are capable of landing without a bounce.

• Airplanes land while still in forward motion, hence the bounce.

• Helicopters can drop straight down without forward motion.

• I then have the student practice landing the bow on the E string after a down bow circle while completely stopped in forward motion, as in "helicopter" style. The student is usually able to eliminate the bounce.

• We play 10 down bow circles on the E string and strive for a good ringing tone.

• We then progress to down bow circles on the A string just for variety.

Railroad Car Wheels

I also discuss with my student how the "arm" of a railroad car wheel works. If you recall, the railroad wheel has an arm that connects the wheels with each other. That arm moves the same way between the wheels. In such a manner, the frog and tip of our bows should imitate the circular motion of the railroad car wheels. The circle we make at the frog of the bow should be the same size circle as that made by the tip of our bow.

Group Classes

In group class, we use Song of the Wind to practice the down bow circles in several ways:

• We sing the song using the "Goosey Gander" words, and we practice making circles:

• On the first verse, we turn in a circle at the places where we would be making down bow circles with our bow. This prepares the student and helps them to remember where the circles actually occur in the song.

Fox has stolen Goosey Gander.

Bring him back to me. (circle)

Bring him back to me. (circle)

If you don't I'll sic my dog

And chase you up a tree-hee-hee. (teeny circle)

If you don't I'll sic my dog

And chase you up a tree.
(circle when making the repeat; no circle after the second verse)

This a loose English translation of the original German lyrics,
"Fuchs, Du Hast die Ganz Gestohlen."

• On the second verse, we make circles with our bows in the air, using a "come here" gesture to mimic the actual down bow circle motion.

• We practice making down bow circles using fruit as a measurement for the circle's size. For example:

• We make circles as large as a watermelon ("What is the largest fruit you can think of?")

• We make medium-sized circles ("What is a medium-sized fruit?")

• We make tiny circles ("What is the smallest fruit you can think of? A grape?")

• We talk about what size circles we might make throughout the song. My goal here is to help the students recognize the need for a grape-sized circle between measures 10 and 11.

Advanced Students

I have used this song or at least the down bow circle skill to help an advanced student learn how to play double stop chords and to check for shoulder tension:

• We practice making a circle bow and setting the bow, stopped, on the string before drawing out the notes of a double stop chord.

• We practice making circle bows, and checking for tension by saying:

• "Set" (is the bow set on the string and stopped?)

• "Sink" (has the student released the tension/energy/air from the shoulder?)

• Song of the Wind is also useful for checking the state of a student's bow hold. If the student has let his or her bow hold posture slip or get sloppy, this song will reveal it.

Dr. Suzuki

Someone once told me a story about Dr. Suzuki and his teacher training classes in Japan (the story may have come from Pat D'Ercole. After Dr. Suzuki explained how to make proper down bow circles, he then told his teacher trainee students to practice the circles 10,000 times. Apparently the American teachers responded with the idea that Dr. Suzuki really wanted them to practice the circles a lot! The Japanese teachers responded by buying special notebooks so that they could begin keeping track of the number of circles they practiced until they added up to 10,000. I do not know if the story is true, but if it is, the story does illustrate a difference in response between the American and the Japanese.

This pretty much wraps up the discussion about Song of the Wind. As you can see from the numerous blog entries I have posted, this song is full of useful teaching points. I frequently refer to this song in master classes, as it contains so many valuable uses for both the left and right hands.

Song of the Wind, part 1

Song of the Wind is the third song in the Suzuki Violin Volume 1. The song is full of teaching gems, and I have found the song to be a useful teaching tool for younger students, a review song for more advanced students, and a great song for group class activities. Here is an overview of the skills contained in Song of the Wind.

Left Hand Skills

• Song of the Wind is in A major and uses the same finger pattern as the Twinkle Variations and Lightly Row (close 2-3 finger pattern).

• The song begins with ascending "walking fingers" as previously introduced in Lightly Row (exactly the same except for an additional E string).

Walking Fingers + E

• The song introduces a "jumping finger" section in measures 3 and 5 to teach the student the spatial relationship between the first and third fingers, which:

• is the basic foundation for the general shape or frame of the left hand.

• supports good intonation by strengthening the "feel" of the distance between the first and third fingers.

• teaches the student to hold down the first finger as a "corner fence post" to set up future finger patterns and combinations.

Jumping Finger

• The song generally moves stepwise throughout the song except for the jumping finger section.

• The song uses the descending scale pattern as learned in the Twinkle variations with the added complexity of changing pitches in a different rhythmic pattern in measures 7-9, 11-13).

Descending scale

Right Hand Skills

• I prefer that my students use the staccato bow stroke.

• Using staccato in the beginning of book 1 skill learning will set the student up for the creation of good tone production because staccato teaches good articulation (beginnings) of the notes.

• Staccato, which is a stopped bow stroke, helps the student to use the brief "thinking pauses" between notes to set the bow properly to make good clean string crossings.

• The song provides additional string crossing practice.

• The song introduces down bow circles (4 circles on the first pass through the song and 3 on the repeat).

• Down bow circles teach the student to stop and set the bow before proceeding, which will set the student up for later practice with double stops and chords.

• Down bow circles afford the teacher an opportunity to check whether the student is retaining tension in the right shoulder.

• Down bow circles teach the student about the importance of maintaining a good bow hold, since the student might lose control of the bow during the circle if the bow hold is not maintained well.

Other Skills

• The song builds up the student's ability to move the right and left hands and arms independently of each other.

• The right bow hand drops down to the E string level when performing the jumping finger section of measures 3 and 5, but the left hand must retain its position on the A string level. Students tend to lay down their left third fingers when making the "jump" because they are trying to mirror the motion of the right side of their bodies.

• The student has to fight the temptation to drop the left hand down a string level to match the right hand motion.

• The song introduces the concept of holding down pivotal fingers. In this particular song, the first finger F# on the E string becomes the "corner fence post" or "superglue finger" with which the third finger can use to stretch into position on the A and E strings. In later songs, Dr. Suzuki will introduce other such sustained finger placements.

• I live in a rural community, and most of my students are very familiar with the construction of fences.

• We dig a hole for the corner fence post and put it in cement. Once the corner post is secure in cement, we are able to add additional fence posts and to stretch the fencing wire in between the posts.

• I use the corner fence post analogy when discussing the sustained F# finger for my slightly older students, and I use the "superglue finger" idea with my younger students.

There are a lot of previews to the skills that a student will learn in Song of the Wind, and I will address those previews and my teaching methods in part 2 next week.

Happy Teaching!