Category Archives: Suzuki Group

Suzuki Groups January 27th, 2018

Suzuki Group 1 (6-7 y.o.)
1. Told a scary story each, some true some made up (no reason)
2. Played Batman – of course!
3. Focus on rhythms: clapping, tapping, playing on open strings, reading off the board, writing on the board. After a rhythm was conquered, it was erased off the board. When the board was completely clean, the kids came up and wrote rhythms for each other to play/clap.

Types of note durations: ta (quarter), ti-ti (eighth), ta-a (half), ta-a-a (dotted half)

From Let’s Play Music

The car race game:
The kids took turns with reading/tapping/speaking/playing/writing rhythms. Each turn allowed them to move their car one space ahead. Everyone won a sticker!
Each turn, someone was the doer and someone was the listener.

Suzuki Group 2 (10 y.0)
1. Each talked about something cool that happened this past week.
2. Participants played for each other (there was lots of enthusiasm, so we did it first)
3. Reviewed one octave G scale, added C and G scales in lower register I position. Found the tonic (1st note of scale) and dominant(5th note) in each of them.
4. Talked about technique, what it is and why we need it. Learned/reviewed three exercises:
– RH walking on open strings
– LH walking on frets
– Chromatic 4-finger scale on one string
5. Reviewed intervals from 2nd to 5th: reading, playing, writing.
6. Watched the following guitar performances and tried to guess the composer’s country and time period:

Ana Vidovic plays Vals Venezolano No. 2 by Antonio Lauro
Rachel Schiff plays Sonate K 322 by Domenico Scarlatti
Grisha Goryachev plays Almoraima by Paco de Lucia
Marcin Dylla plays Prelude no.1 by H. Villa-Lobos

 

Suzuki Group June 24th & Field Trip to Dominelli Guitars

Two participants, 6 y.o.

Review
Basics: bow, 4 steps, rest position, play position for different songs, finger names
Starting together: beginnings on Batman and Twinkle
G pentascale together, naming the notes.

Activity-coded cards on the board (in various order):
– Monkey song with body reference/solfege scale do to sol with hand symbols
– Conducting different songs with feathers, in duple meter: Twinkle, Cuckoo, Hot Cross Buns, Row Your Boat.
– Testing each other on notes from G pentascale
– Learning Hot Cross Buns on the spot, each participant has their own phrase.
Student 1: B A G          Student 2: B A G
Student 1: G G G G      Student 2: A A A A
Together: B A G
– Playback of simple 2 or 3-note melodies
– Making an original song: G G the Frog
SONG
MELODY TUTORIAL

GG the Frog lyrics and melody
GG the frog – G G A B
Sat on a log – A G A D
There was another frog – B C A D B G

Trip to Marcus Dominelli‘s guitar making shop! We learned about the different woods and wood working tools. We learnt how guitars are put together and how they are made to be so shiny. We looked at tiny pieces of coloured wood from which all the different rosettes are made. We even got to turn the red mystery crank. And after all that, we got delicious ice cream.

Trip to Marcus Guitar Shop 1Trip to Marcus Guitar Shop

Suzuki Group April 29th

Group: 2 children, age 6

Videos
Catcerto by Nora the Cat and Orchestra
Kittens listening to guitar
Puppy listening to guitar

Listened to Irina Kulikova play Kramskoy’s Folk Variations and guessed what the piece was about. Got some accurate answers: farm, forest, cows…!

Activities:
A game of tic-tac-toe with a guitar activity in between each turn.

Played Cuckoo together and then learned See-Saw (D-B DD-B DD-BB DD-B). One child made a see-saw with his arms, and the other played, then the kids switched. Everyone sang along: See-saw, up and down, in the sky and on the ground.

Spelled the word CABBAGE with guitar sounds. Parents named the letters, the kids played. So, this is what C-A-B-B-A-G-E sounds like!

Put on our performance gear (a music cape and a music scarf) and played the following pieces:
Batman (focused on watching the nods) 3 times
Mississippi Hotdog on open G-B-E-B (Aka “Smoothie Stop” by MaryLou Roberts)
Twinkle Variation A (focused on playing along no matter what, tapped the beat, stopping the sound, bowing to the applause)

Came up with a band name! Tiger Bandits.