Spoken finger play
for Suzuki violin students learning names of fingers and sequence
of pitches for Twinkle Variations. For the lead-up game, see
"One Little Elephant."
For teacher talk ( and why I use 4th
finger), see below. Either this finger play
or "One Little Elephant" is a good
break between practice tasks with the violin. Do only one
of them for a break. Both games in sequence are too much.
In group sessions
of predominantly "pre-twinklers," the same words
can also accompany a "dramatic reenactment" with
four kids jumping on a spot designated as the web, as all
in the circle chant the words. Preschoolers will vary widely
in relative shyness. Since many more will volunteer to jump
than actually to speak solo lines, it helps to have the whole
group giving moral support by speaking.
Four little elephants jumping on the web,
One little elephant yawned and said:
"I'm too tired. I'm going to bed."
Three little elephants... [same ending]
Two little elephants... [same ending]
One little elephant jumping on the
web said,
"Wait a minute, I'm not tired!
Come back little elephants!
Come play some more!" ***[Don't try to keep the
rhythm strict from here on; go for drama.]***
Four little elephants jumping on the
web,
One little elephant stopped and said:
I'm hungry. I'm thinkin'... mmm... peanut butter!
Three little elephants... [same ending,
different favorite food]
Two little elephants... [same ending,
different favorite food]
One little elephant finally said,
Know what? I'm hungry too. Let's go make a sandwich!
Teacher Talk When I teach the Twinkle Variations, I stress the
ABA structure, because the sequence of pitches is not that
easy for a beginner with so many different things to think
about, even if they have faithfully listened to the CD.
I don't say "ABA;" We use letters
in too many different ways for beginners. I say "Bread,
Filling, Bread." In the Filling
part (only), I use 4th finger for E.
This fingering helps differentiate the two different sections
(no open strings in the filling part), and we get fewer instances
of "E D C# B A, E D C# B A."
To avoid the above, when they're playing the
Filling part, right when they finish playing
1st finger, I can say "Come back, little elephants,"
and they don't fall into the open string A trap.
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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.
