About Us
Music Strategies
Having a passion or love to play music may be the enthusiasm desired to interest a student, but to sustain such interest there has to be a strategic plan, assessment that they understand to use and an awareness to learn and formulate their own questions. Somehow, it has been gotten wrong. It isn't how well the teacher forms their questions to their level of awareness, the key is to teach students how to questions and elevate their level of awareness in order to ask more meaningful questions which are the fruits of learning.
Geniuses Admired Music
Albert Einstein was passionate about playing the violin. He even considered it a brainstorming technique. He once said, that if he had a minute to live, he would spend 55 seconds formulating the question and the remaining 5 seconds answering the questions. The idea of brainstorming engages the brain to send inquiries to your mental files to connect ideas to formulate usable bits of information. Practice connecting musical thoughts through the SCAMPER technique.
The Wizard of Menlo Park
Thomas A. Edison invented the first recording device to capture sound for playback. He was referred as the WIzard of Menlo Park due to his unbelievable invention at that time. He began the recording industry having his top floor of his lab a music room where the musicians of that day would go to his West Orange labratory to record sound. Later on, Victrola or Victory came on the seen becoming a leader of the music industry at that time. We need to learn to think like Edison by cateloging our ideas making connections, and creating music rather than recreating a score. How might we bring out contrast in a piece of music, in improvisation and composition? How might you create your own unique sound through strategizing interests and building your artistry?
Listen to Edison Recordings
Lesson Plan
Practice Plan
The goal from beginner to an advanced musician is to always work on fundamentals and to be improving and understanding plateaus in order to maneuver around such setbacks. We need a schedule, a practice plan, and motivation first!
1. Plan: the Musicians Way;
2. watch model examples of your instrument and play along with the musicians on the recording; record your practice for assessment to the model recordings to learn from the greats;
3. your growth plan from the assessment; and
4 implement your plan on stage. Perform!
Never accept just study and practice. Music is a performing art not a silent one for the doer, the musician.
Model Instrumentalists
Using the greats performance for learning. The best teachers are the best models. If we just spent time on developing awareness, there is a great deal of lessons to learn from the greats on youtube, and other online videos.
Developing Style from Elements
After practicing for years the musical elements of articulation, intonation, rhythm, tone production, timbre for color, tempi, technical mastery, and an idea of a library of great performers in your mind, the last step, is to make connections from their way to your way - your own voice!
Study of Violin Basics for Kids
- How to hold the instrument
- how to hold the bow
- how to use the bow
- Rhythmic training
- Melodic Training - memorize melodies and use them to create variations and modified melodic bites.
- Timing through metronome practice
- Practice intonation through singing and with stellar perfromers through youtube.
- Practice variety of articulation and nuances
- Practice larger works committing it to memory buidling innersense of pitch
- Discover who you are stylistically
General Violin Basics
Violin basics for the rest of us not youngens. Following the list of Violin Basics for Kids on the left.
Interpretation
Pablo Casals was my hero along with the drama of Maria Callas' styles. I loved how Casals would manipulate intonation to express the melodic line to the harmony. He was just one of the many heros that I listened, and modeled. For each instrument, I had a different model:
Violin: Michael Rabin
Cello: Pablo Casals
Metal: Randy Rhodes
Composition: Astor Piazzolla
Saxophone: Sigurd Rascher
Flute: many to include Rampal, Robison, Galway
Bass: Jaco Pastroius
Jazz saxophone: Charlie Parker
Drums: Ginger Baker (Cream)
Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King
Country: Brad Paisley, Keith Urban
Classical composers: J.S. Bach, Brahms
etc.
Who is your hero?
LINKS
