• Tote Bags for Lessons
• New Twinkle Variations for Home Listening

Tote Bags for Lessons
and what to put in them

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by Karen Zethmayr

We use a lot of equipment for lessons, and it doesn't all fit in a violin case. A bag of some kind helps keep them always at hand. Any bag that fits your personality and all your gear will do. It doesn't have to be fancy. You need:
1. notebook for lesson notes
2. castanets
3. an inexpensive tambourine or other favorite rhythm instrument, kid-invented ones encouraged.
4."box violin" to use even after the kids are playing the real one. We use them in group sessions too. Don't worry about fabricating a neck. Acceptable things to use are Grape Nuts sized boxes, foam meat trays, old pencil boxes about Grape Nuts size -- you get the idea. If it lacks a side (as a meat tray does) it needs a nice thick sponge to make it grippable. I'll encourage kids to decorate them according to their individuality. We'll also add things that enhance noise-making capabilities. The more individual the better.
5. stage to help feet remember where to be. Carpet samples are good, pizza boxes, even a "step exercise" mat if you happen to have one.

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New Twinkle Variations for Home Listening

These two midis use a rhythm just like "Mississippi" except that the accent is on the last note. We will call this rhythm "Come on and Play." One midi is the Twinkle Rag, just like all the other Twinkle Variations, but the accompaniment is a ragtime - calypso version of Twinkle. The same rhythm is also used to accompany Daisy, Daisy.

The sound is synthesized, not a recording of real instruments; and midi files, being very small, are also a little tinny sounding. I'll make wave files of those and others we will eventually play, and anyone who brings a blank CD can have several files you can play on a CD player. Wave files are too big for email. You don't have to understand all about the songs before you come; listening at home will make them easier to learn.

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Suzuki Workshop Jan 11-13

The date for the 2008 SAW (Suzuki Association of Wisconsin) Retreat at the Inn on the Park on the Square, Madison Wisconsin,
is January 11-13. (Updated Oct 07.)

If you would like to receive notification as new Suzuki resources are added to this site, you can send an email to grandma@grandmaskite.com. Your email will not be sold, shared, traded, or used for any other purpose than that which you requested. As it turns out, I have been adding a topic in a parent letter about once a month for my own Suzuki families.

Other Suzuki resources on Grandma's Kite:

Pencil exercises, set one for bow hold
Pencil exercises, set two for bow hold
One Little Elephant (left finger strength and flexibility)
Four Little Elephants Jumping on a Web (left finger naming, strength and flexibility)
Left hand number card "pick up" game
"Home built" violins and ways to use them in group sessions
Reading readiness game "Who Ran Away?"
Reading readiness game "Rhythm Flash "
"Reading Readiness in Music"

Supplementary Music and Midis

Twinkle Rag – a twinkle variation with a new twist on half of the rhythm in Variations A and D. Same four sixteenth notes in a ragtime setting

Daisy Daisy uses a three four twist on "Mississippi without the hot dog." The whole accompaniment is open D and G. The song and bass line can be played as a violin / 'cello duet or on the piano.

For more information on the Monroe Street Fine Arts Center Suzuki program, see Monroe Street Fine Arts Center, http://www.msfac.org/ or email grandma@grandmaskite.com.

For more information on Middleton School of Performing Arts, see http://msopa.net or email grandma@grandmaskite.com.

 

 

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Suzuki is
Hands On
Education

•Parent Letter Topics
Bow hold:
•Pencil exercises I
•Pencil exercises II
Left hand strength and flexibility:
•1 Little Elephant
•4 Little Elephants Jumping on a Web
• Smallmotor "pick up" game
Position in Motion:
•"Home built" violins with activities
Reading readiness:
"Who Ran Away?"
"Twinkle Rhythm Flash Cards"
Supplementary Music and Midis
Twinkle Rag
Daisy Daisy
Daisy sheet music

Email Karen Zethmayr grandma@grandmaskite.com • Teaching Resume • Design Resume