Quick Practice Tip: The Power of the Stopped Bow

Over the years of teaching the Suzuki method, I have come to appreciate the power of the stopped bow. The Twinkle Variations that Dr. Suzuki put together are brilliant in terms of what the pieces teach the student about impulse control and the proper use of kinesthetic energy. The more I teach, the more I discover or uncover all the gems that Dr. Suzuki has included in the Suzuki repertoire. Nothing is more powerful to me than the lessons learned concerning the stopped bow.

I teach many students who play other violin music, such as fiddling or mariachi. I frequently encounter students who literally cannot stop their bow. The bow dribbles from one note to the next without ever clearly defining the end of one note and the beginning of the next note. Wait! Who am I kidding? The bow is not dribbling, it is moving 100 m.p.h.! This constant movement issue results in several problems:

• Messy bows and unclear articulation
• Rushing tempo or a tempo that pushes the “toe-side” of the beat rather than the “heel-side” (the energy is forward directed rather than “sitting in the saddle”)
• Inability to play staccato well
• Tight joints, especially the right elbow
• Squeezed back muscle, especially below the right shoulder
• Poor tone production: either a pressed sound because the student is squeezing the notes or a wispy sound because the student is so tight in the right elbow and back muscles, that the bow can put little weight into the sound
• Poor practice habits: inappropriate practice tempos and a failure to consider the actual sound made

Sometimes it may take me a few years to teach a student with the stopped bow problem how to get a good stopped bow staccato. If only I could take these students back to square one and the Twinkle Variations! The Twinkles are the foundation of all the necessary stopped bow combinations that the student will encounter in the later Suzuki repertoire.

Here are some beneficial uses of the stopped bow:

• It gives the student an opportunity to consider whether the bow will make a good contact point with the string in order to produce the next note.
• It gives the student a chance to place the bow properly on the appropriate string level (or string levels in the case of a double stop chord).
• It allows the student to consider how his or her body should pivot the bow quietly from one string level to the next without lifting the bow off the string.
• It allows the student an opportunity to “check in” with muscles and joints to unlock any unnecessary tension.
• It allows the student to “ping” the beginning of the next note to start the vibration of the next note, which helps the student to generate good, strong tone.
• Most of all, it allows the student to actually consider what sound the student makes when playing.

I also work with the student to uncover any unnecessary tension in the bow arm, right shoulder, or back. If I am working with a high energy level student, then this issue alone will take a long time to address. I may have to spend a considerable amount of time addressing posture issues, including how the student directs his or her physical energy in a playing stance.

If I work with an advanced student, I might ask them to play Perpetual Motion so that we can work on these issues, but anything will do, even a basic scale. My goal will be to get the student to slow down and actually stop playing after one note so that the student can prepare the next note. In some cases, I need to actually address the student's playing stance in order to encourage a more successful outcome.

I used several terms above that might require further explanation. When I talked about the "toe-side" and "heel-side" of the beat, I referred to the front side versus the back side of the beat. If you lean forward on your toes, you will feel the inevitable pull forward. Did you know that we walk by falling forward and then catching ourselves? This is how the front-side of the beat works. We fall forward when we play, so that the tempo surges forward and speeds up. When we put our weight in our heels, we add the sensation of grounding to our playing.

For anyone who is familiar with horses, the concept of toe-side and heel-side energy dissemination makes sense. Horses are very sensitive creatures. If you want to start moving, all you have to do is think about it. You bring your energy level "up" and "forward" and the horse starts moving. How much energy you send forward will direct how fast the horse will comply. When you want to slow the creature down to a stop, you turn your energy "off," let your breath out, and settle back into the saddle. The horse stops.

Students can relate to "toe-side" and "heel-side" as descriptions of playing stances. We experiment with both so that students understand how each stance feels. Then we practice "sitting back in the saddle" so that students learn the physical sensations of relaxing and grounding. The students learn how to shift their weight to the heels of their feet and to tilt their pelvises under so that the torso weight shifts backwards (they tuck their "kitty cat tails" under and between their legs). For good measure, I might suggest that they also practice letting all the air out of their lungs. Being the high energy person that I am, I often practice breathing out my air in a slow whoosh. I find that I can calm my energy level down to a stop when I practice this technique.

The most recent student that I worked with to learn how to play a stopped bow (it took us four semesters to master this skill at the university level), had to learn how to curb his energy level and his expression of energy while playing. In other words, he had to learn how to turn things "on" and "off." My long time readers know how much a fan I am of the "Dog Whisperer" show with Cesar Milan. I learned a lot about using energy properly from watching this show on the National Geographic channel. I have a dog pack of six adult dogs and one youngster. Currently I also have three puppies about 5 weeks old. Anyone who has that many dogs will know what I mean about how one uses one's physical energy. I can rile up or calm down my pack of sweethearts in two seconds just by how I turn my energy level "up" or "down." I have even taught this skill to several of my students in order to teach them how to improve their posture or to learn leadership skills. But this is another blog post for the future.

For now, look to yourself and your students. Observe how you and your students are doing with their stopped bows and staccatos. If you find problems, consider whether you or your students are too energetic in your playing and then work out a step-by-step program to "slow" things down.

This blog post began as a quick practice tip and quickly became a long discussion about the physical manifestation of energy while playing. No, I am not an alien. I really do think about these things -- a lot. I apologize that the "quick" practice tip was anything but quick. This week, think about the power of a stopped bow and check whether you are providing yourself and your students with the opportunities to create good stopped bows. If you or one of your students has difficulty in this area, consider whether the student is physically standing and playing in a way that would discourage or encourage a good stopped bow.

Happy practicing!

Quick Practicing Tip: Long Bow Day!

I hereby declare today to be "Long Bow Day!" If you are not a string player, do not despair! You can still participate in  Long Bow Day! You may want to change the name to suit your instrument, but the concepts will basically be the same whether you play the violin, the piano, or the trumpet.

A Long Bow Day is a day when we play songs that require long bows more than any other bows. You know which songs I refer to: Twinkle Theme, Lightly Row, Aunt Rhody, O Come Little Children, Long Long Ago, etc. These are songs that require legato bowing. If you are a pianist, these are songs that ask for legato phrasing, and there are many songs like this in Suzuki Piano Volume One. In fact, a good deal of the Suzuki Piano Volume One is teaching the student how to play legato with one hand while the other hand learns to play staccato or use the wrist drop/lift motion. For us string players, that means that the pianists are learning how to use both right and left hands independently, as we do.

Have you figured out what ten places you need to practice your legato or long bows? There are three possible ways to approach a Long Bow Day:

• Tone and Sound Quality
• Good Form
• Musicality

For string players, a good tone and sound quality stem from a good contact point between the bow and the violin string and from the absence of tension in the body. Is the bow articulating the individual notes well? Is the tone scratchy or just right? Is the bow on the highway or drifting near the sidewalk (fingerboard) or bridge? Are there any points of tension in the skeletal joints? Is the student releasing tension from "inside" muscles and directing attention to "outside" muscles?* Most of all, is the bow straight (parallel to the bridge)? Get a mirror and check this, or have your practice partner help you to know when your bow is on the straight highway.

• My students and I use the numbers game to learn when the bow is straight. If the bow is straight and parallel to the bridge, that is the number 5. If the bow goes crooked inward toward the player, that is a series of numbers going down, such as 4 or 3. If the bow goes crooked outward away from the player, then the numbers go up to 6 or 7.
• As the student plays, the practice partner calls out the number, usually 4-6. This helps to guide the student to know when the bow is straight or crooked and in which direction to move the bow to straighten it out.
• A student can also learn how to look in a mirror and gauge whether the bow is moving in the straight groove across the string. Parents, please note that when the bow is "straight" and parallel to the bridge, that it actually looks crooked from the player's perspective. The player must learn how to see the bow when it is straight, and this is not easy.

Tone production for a string player may include how much bow the student uses. As the student advances in technical skills and ability, the repertoire requires that the student use more and more bow without sacrificing the tone quality. As pianists learn faster note passages and use the right and left hands more independently, the tone quality should remain consistent. In some cases, the student will learn how to balance the tone between the hands so that both right and left hand parts sound equal. In other songs, the student will learn how to voice the left hand or the right hand part in a way that will bring more prominence to that part.

For pianists, a good tone and sound quality is how the student executes the note with the finger on the keyboard. Beginning students do not yet have much muscle development in their fingers, hands, or arms, and in many cases, the families do not own pianos but are using electronic keyboards in the home, so that the students do not develop the appropriate musculature to execute a good tone on a real piano keyboard. In the beginning, I use a lot of imitation with students to help them learn how much weight to drop into the piano keys and the notes of the music.

Good form is always crucial to good tone, no matter what instrument a student plays. Always check posture and the form of execution. Good form also includes whether the student is playing the instrument correctly. If a violin student is not bowing parallel to the bridge or does not place the bow to make good contact with the violin string, then we need to focus on good form, because good form goes hand in hand with producing a good tone and sound quality. When I evaluate a student's form and posture, I start from the bottom and work my way to the top. For violinists, we start with balanced feet. I should not be able to push the student over sideways or backwards. (To learn more about how I set up my violin students' posture, click here).



Balance is always crucial when playing an instrument. Violinists shift weight from side to side and have to hold an instrument before them (off to the side), and this instrument carries weight too. Pianists need to be able to shift from side to side to reach keys at the ends of the keyboard; if a student is not balanced, then the student will topple over or play with little strength and tone in the sound.

Musicality refers to the more advanced musical concepts of phrasing, dynamic expression, and how the human body's mechanics create these things. If a student has the physical capability of executing a musical phrase, I introduce how a good musician would end a phrase. Just as humans let their voices trail off at the end of a sentence (or a voice runs out of steam at the end of a long note), we imitate that sound with the instrument. String players learn to let the phrase tail off in a whisper and which bow stroke accomplishes that best. Pianists learn how to lighten up the finger touch on the keyboard in order to create the phrase.

Now, being good teachers and practice partners that we are, we will follow the one-point lesson. We have our list of ten songs or ten places that require legato playing. Now we will decide which one of the three approaches we will use, and it may be that we use different approaches for different things on our list of ten. For example, a newer song or passage might benefit from attention paid to good form. A more familiar piece might require more attention to phrasing and musicality. And a song that falls somewhere in between might fare best with attention paid to tone production and sound quality. As long as we focus on one thing at a time, we can reap the most benefit from our practice efforts. Remember that younger students will need to focus on smaller segments and may need simpler tasks or smaller steps (baby steps) to work on. You should know your child, so be gracious about forming a practice plan that will encourage and nurture your student's learning.

Happy Practicing!

*"Inside" muscles are those muscles that create tension. Think of a body builder's pose down in a weight lifting competition. The body builder leans forward and makes his or her arms tighten the muscles on the inside of the arms. This squeezing causes all the arm muscles, shoulder muscles, chest muscles, and abdomen muscles to appear. "Outside" muscles are the other sides of the muscles. These muscles cause the tension to dissipate. If a body builder were to turn on the "outside" muscles, the arms would lift out to the sides, and the other muscles would not be showing. If I find tension, I help guide the student to turn on outside muscles instead of inside muscles. This one teaching area is probably the issue where I address most of my teaching time and focus because it affects tone and sound quality, good form, and musicality.

Practice Tip: Building Tone with Open Strings

I think Dr. Suzuki hit on a brilliant idea when he suggested that we practice tonalizing on our open strings. I would like to share my experience with you on this matter.

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the term "tonalization," and apparently my spell checker is unfamiliar with the word, Dr. Suzuki coined this word to describe what we instrumentalists do in comparison to the vocalization that vocalists do. Just as singers work to produce good quality tone and volume, so too can we instrumentalists.

Tone is a broad topic, but we do not need to discuss what tone is in order to understand how best to produce it. Dr. Suzuki suggested plucking the open strings and listening to the resonance of the pitch and then recreating the "ringing" sound with the bow playing the same pitch. There is something special about the resonance of our open strings. There is a brightness, a clarity, and a lingering and shimmering vibration in the air. The open strings sparkle and emit an extra "umph" in their sound.

When I am working with a student to build a stronger tone, I ask the student to play open strings as much as possible. For example, when playing notes on the D string, I might ask a student to play the open D string as strongly as possible about 6-8 times before playing the D string passage. Similarly, I will ask for repeated A strings or E strings. I notice that once a student has played an open string numerous times with the aim of making the string vibrate back and forth as widely as possible with as slow a bow as possible, the student then works to make the passage live up to the tone level set by the resonating open strings. I also think there is a kinesthetic value to this exercise, as students learn how to "feel" the pitch as well as hear the pitch with all its resonant overtones. I find that playing this open string exercise on the G string is quite lovely; the vibrations I produce resemble the same variations used in meditation chants, which help to stimulate the internal organs.

I have a simple tune that I like to use for this purpose, called "Lullaby." Originally I found this little song in David Tasgal's "Family Violin Method" and used it as an open string song in my PreTwinkler classes. My students loved it so much, the song has become a regular feature in my classes. One young student even went so far as to secure Mr. Tasgal's permission to record the song onto his mother's folk song CD.

Mr. Tasgal has graciously given me permission to print the music for this cute little tune. I myself use this tune to get focused for a practice session or to test out the resonance in a new performance hall. I can feel my back muscles relax as I play the song and concentrate on getting the most resonance from each open string. I play the song through two times; the first time I start the piece with a down bow, and the second time I reverse the bowing by starting with an up bow. My young students like it so much, they spend a great deal of time and effort to learn to play the song. I notice that my students have to expend a lot of concentration and focus energy to change the strings correctly and to use longer, slower bows. For a young PreTwinkler student to spend the time and effort to achieve this ability is a tribute to Mr. Tasgal's composition. My students enjoy this tune.

I have printed out a copy done on Finale, because it was easier for me to put it on my blog in this manner.

The only way I could figure out how to add an audio recording to the blog was to make a "video" of the song while playing it on my computer. If anyone knows how to embed an audio player on blogger, please contact me. Meanwhile, here is the recording I made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrQ8u34laQo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Mr. Tasgal has gone on to publish a new series, "Strings Fun and Easy." I have not yet had a chance to look through those books, but I will write out my experience once I have looked through them. You can learn more about Mr. Tasgal and his new series at: http://www.stringsfunandeasy.com/. The previous series, "Family Violin Method" can be found at: http://www.familystringmethod.com/, although Mr. Tasgal is encouraging newcomers to try out the new series.

Have fun playing those open strings this week. And if you have not changed your strings in a while, or your students are playing with dull, lifeless strings, buy new ones! You will enjoy playing this song with bright, shiny, new resonating strings!

Practice Tip: Building Tone with Open Strings

I think Dr. Suzuki hit on a brilliant idea when he suggested that we practice tonalizing on our open strings. I would like to share my experience with you on this matter.

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the term "tonalization," and apparently my spell checker is unfamiliar with the word, Dr. Suzuki coined this word to describe what we instrumentalists do in comparison to the vocalization that vocalists do. Just as singers work to produce good quality tone and volume, so too can we instrumentalists.

Tone is a broad topic, but we do not need to discuss what tone is in order to understand how best to produce it. Dr. Suzuki suggested plucking the open strings and listening to the resonance of the pitch and then recreating the "ringing" sound with the bow playing the same pitch. There is something special about the resonance of our open strings. There is a brightness, a clarity, and a lingering and shimmering vibration in the air. The open strings sparkle and emit an extra "umph" in their sound.

When I am working with a student to build a stronger tone, I ask the student to play open strings as much as possible. For example, when playing notes on the D string, I might ask a student to play the open D string as strongly as possible about 6-8 times before playing the D string passage. Similarly, I will ask for repeated A strings or E strings. I notice that once a student has played an open string numerous times with the aim of making the string vibrate back and forth as widely as possible with as slow a bow as possible, the student then works to make the passage live up to the tone level set by the resonating open strings. I also think there is a kinesthetic value to this exercise, as students learn how to "feel" the pitch as well as hear the pitch with all its resonant overtones. I find that playing this open string exercise on the G string is quite lovely; the vibrations I produce resemble the same variations used in meditation chants, which help to stimulate the internal organs.

I have a simple tune that I like to use for this purpose, called "Lullaby." Originally I found this little song in David Tasgal's "Family Violin Method" and used it as an open string song in my PreTwinkler classes. My students loved it so much, the song has become a regular feature in my classes. One young student even went so far as to secure Mr. Tasgal's permission to record the song onto his mother's folk song CD.

Mr. Tasgal has graciously given me permission to print the music for this cute little tune. I myself use this tune to get focused for a practice session or to test out the resonance in a new performance hall. I can feel my back muscles relax as I play the song and concentrate on getting the most resonance from each open string. I play the song through two times; the first time I start the piece with a down bow, and the second time I reverse the bowing by starting with an up bow. My young students like it so much, they spend a great deal of time and effort to learn to play the song. I notice that my students have to expend a lot of concentration and focus energy to change the strings correctly and to use longer, slower bows. For a young PreTwinkler student to spend the time and effort to achieve this ability is a tribute to Mr. Tasgal's composition. My students enjoy this tune.

I have printed out a copy done on Finale, because it was easier for me to put it on my blog in this manner.

&<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">lt</span>;<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">bgsound</span> <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">src</span>="NAME OF FILE">
The only way I could figure out how to add an audio recording to the blog was to make a "video" of the song while playing it on my computer. If anyone knows how to embed an audio player on blogger, please contact me. Meanwhile, here is the recording I made:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UrQ8u34laQo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mr. Tasgal has gone on to publish a new series, "Strings Fun and Easy." I have not yet had a chance to look through those books, but I will write out my experience once I have looked through them. You can learn more about Mr. Tasgal and his new series at: http://www.stringsfunandeasy.com/. The previous series, "Family Violin Method" can be found at: http://www.familystringmethod.com/, although Mr. Tasgal is encouraging newcomers to try out the new series.

Have fun playing those open strings this week. And if you have not changed your strings in a while, or your students are playing with dull, lifeless strings, buy new ones! You will enjoy playing this song with bright, shiny, new resonating strings!

Song of the Wind (part 2): Jumping Finger Preview

Jumping Finger Preview

In this preview, I will introduce the jumping finger section of measure 3. First I play measures 3 and 4 for the student a few times first and ask some questions to help the student develop awareness through the eyes and ears:

• Which finger did I hold down?

• Which finger jumped?

• What strings did my bow play on?

I ask the student to place the first finger F# on the E string and "superglue" the finger throughout the exercise. I then ask the student to play "Mississippi Hot Dog" rhythm (4-16th notes and 2 staccato 8th notes) on the F#.

While the student holds down the super glued first finger F#, I then instruct the student to "cross over" the third finger (ring finger) to play Mississippi Hot Dog ("MHD") on the D on the A string. Sometimes I cross my right leg over my left as a reinforcement illustration of this finger crossing.

While still holding down the F#, I have the student "jump" the third finger (ring finger) over to the high A on the E string and play MHD on the high A.

While still holding the F# down, the student lifts off the third finger to reveal the F# still in place and plays MHD.

We remove the "superglue" finger (the student lifts off the F# finger) and the student plays MHD on the E string.

The student repeats this sequence of notes and finger execution several times until the student remembers what to do and the parent is comfortable with duplicating the lesson at home.

I build on this basic skill by gradually shortening the length of time on each note in the jumping finger pattern. I ask the student to play the sequence again and shorten the rhythm on each note using these rhythms:

Mississippi Hot Dog

Mississippi

Strawberry

Hot Dog

And finally, the student plays the jumping finger passage as originally written:

Original Passage

The student will need reinforcement to remember these important teaching points:

• Hold down the F# throughout the execution of the jumping finger segment. This superglue finger is important, because it aids the student in learning the spatial distance between the first and third fingers. This is an important skill in shaping the proper left hand set-up on the violin. As time goes on, the student gets a little sloppy about this requirement, so the parent and I are vigilant about watching this.

• "Jump" the third finger from the A to the E string rather than laying down the finger to cover both strings. Be sure the mom or other home practice partner understands the difference between a jumping third finger and a third finger that lays down across the two strings as a short cut!

• More advanced players will develop the skill of covering both strings with the same finger.

• This is not the time for introducing this concept, as allowing the student to lay down the third finger encourages the bad habit of allowing the left hand to fall down.

Students will exhibit the problem of the "falling" left hand as they progress through books 1 and 2, and Dr. Suzuki set this song up in the beginning of book 1 to provide a vehicle for keeping the left hand from falling. For this reason, Song of the Wind is an excellent song for review!

Intonation, part I: Orange Peel Tone

Intonation is a huge topic, at least from my perspective. It is a broad subject area that involves many different inter-connected problems. I find that intonation isn't just a particular situation of the fingers, but that it often involves a combination of tone production, volume, bow usage, left hand position, posture, head-phone ear syndrome (my expression), and several other possible issues. Each student has his or her own unique combination of possibilities for good or poor intonation. As a teacher, much of what I do is to uncover the combination of issues and to develop a plan for systematically addressing each area until the problems are corrected or the student has learned to teach him- or herself in this area.

So, what is intonation? Whereas linguistics experts use the term to refer to the variation in tone used in speech, musicians use the term to refer to the accuracy of pitch. How does a musician know when something is "in tune" or not?  Just as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart knew pornography when he saw it[1], so musicians know bad intonation when they hear it. But how do you teach good intonation? How do you help students learn how to hear when intonation is good or bad?

In the beginning, we teachers often put some sort of tape markings on the violin fingerboard to give the students (and their practice partners) an indication of where a particular set of pitches should be when the fingers are placed on the those taped spots. That works well in the beginning, especially for parents and visual students. Tapes do go awry over time, however, and students look at them less frequently. Students learn new notes and begin to encounter new difficulties of playing in tune in different keys. Time to remove the tapes. Then what?

In my teaching, I contend with different issues depending on whether I am teaching a university student or a private student. I encounter one set of issues with my university students and another with those students that I have "grown" in my private studio. In this part I, let me address the intonation issues I work with most in the university setting, although I occasionally run into these same problems in my private studio. The university students either come to me from other teachers or they come from a string/orchestra/

Mariachi program with no background of private instruction. The students may have intonation issues, but these issues seem directly related to the fact that the students cannot hear themselves play. The tone is weak and the volume is soft. By improving the tone and volume quality, the students will then begin to correct their intonation automatically. I ask them to play a lot of open strings before beginning to play a passage and to imitate the ringing tonal quality of the open strings when playing the passage. This is a technique I learned from Dr. Suzuki's Method ("tonalization").

Another issue related to the quality of tone production is the student's propensity to practice too fast for his or her ear to hear accurately. I have observed personally that those students (and sometimes professionals) who tend to practice at high speeds most of the time without spending much time at lower speeds will have a fuzzy tone quality. The pitches may be correct, but the overall sound is as if someone threw a sheer curtain over the tone. You can see through the curtain but the visual clarity isn't there. I can hear the music but the clarity of sound isn't there.

One of my favorite tone builder suggestions is to ask my student to peel an orange several times throughout the week. It amazes me to discover how many mothers out there actually cut their child's orange rather than allowing their child the experience of peeling it for themselves. But for this assignment, I insist that the student do the peeling without a parent's help and to start the peeling with the right hand. I want the student to experience the sensation of digging the right thumb under the orange peel, because that is the feeling involved with producing a good tone with the bow. The right side of the body should be relaxed from the shoulder down to the hand, and the bow hold should be turned on. By turned on, I do not mean that the bow hold is gripping. I mean that the bow hold is engaged and the thumb is turned on rather than limp or soft. Like Atlas holding up the world on his shoulders, the bow hold thumb should be holding up all of the weight of the arm, elbow, and hand, and the thumb should be turned on to receive this weight. The feeling in the thumb should resemble that of peeling an orange.

Usually when a student returns to the lesson after the orange peel assignment, the tone has improved because the student now uses the thumb more appropriately. I am then able to refer to "orange peel tone" in future lessons as a reminder of the right thumb's occupation.

To summarize part I, I sometimes begin my work to improve a student's intonation by working on improving the student's tonal quality with the bow. I work to develop the proper use of the bow hold thumb in order to produce "orange peel tone." I have the student do a lot of open string playing before and during his or her work on a particular passage, and I encourage the student to imitate the ringing quality of the open strings.

This is my first step. For step two, I work to develop the student's ear and kinesthetic response to pitch. I'll discuss this in part II in a future post.

Remember to vote in one of the two polls situated to the right of this column. Please write a comment below to let me know what difficulties you encounter with intonation issues. Perhaps you have a particular teaching problem related to intonation that you'd like to address.

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[1] "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." (Justice Potter Stewart, concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964).