Kids (usually) want to grow up quickly. That’s normal and healthy and good.

But it also leads to parents texting me on Sunday morning asking if they need to get a full-sized violin this week because little Johnny insists he needs a bigger violin.

(No. Johnny’s current violin is exactly the right size for him.)

#ViolinLessons #ViolinTeacher

Practicing success stories from the violin studio today! Student who was only practicing 5 min per day [sic] upped that to 20 min per day and their folk reel sounded like they knew it!

Other student—the one where I wasn’t sure if it was how they were practicing or *if* they were practicing—came into their lessons OWNING their scales in several different rhythm patterns.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to you both, dear students of mine. You rock!

#Violin #ViolinLessons #ViolinTeacher

One of my students recently got a sewing machine, and they sewed me stuffed eighth notes! #ViolinLessons #Violin #ViolinTeacher

Hanging out in instrument-specific forums, I see a lot of young violinists & violists asking basic questions that they should be asking their teachers. I’ve been feeling a bit judgy about that, but today it’s occurring to me… what if they don’t feel free coming to their teacher with that question? What am I doing to create space in my studio for students to feel like they can ask whatever they want to ask? #MusicLessons #ViolinLessons #ViolinTeacher

“Unfortunately for you, I watched an Isaac Stern video last night.”

#ThingsISayWhileTeaching #ViolinTeacher #Violin

Working with ADHD string students 2/?

One of those cues is how willing the student is to be redirected to the task at hand. If they’re happy to refocus on what we’re trying to work on together, then they’re doing their best to engage, even if they go “Squirrel!!!!” 0.5 seconds later.

#ViolinTeacher #MusicLessons

I’ve been thinking about how I teach my ADHD students. 🧵

On days when they are having trouble focusing, I do try to distinguish between when they really are trying their best and their brain is simply not cooperating, and when they are goofing off and not trying. I do this pretty instinctively, but I realized yesterday that it might help to slow down & think about what cues my instincts are picking up.

1/?

#ViolinTeacher #MusicLessons

A student is on their second week with the Mozart violin concerto No 3 in G Major. Today we worked a lot on finessing the bow strokes in the first movement exposition.

Student looked at me at the end of the lesson: “I could spend an hour a day just on this.”

Yes, dear student. This is why Mozart is on every audition list everywhere.

#Violin #Violinist #ViolinTeacher #ViolinLife #Mozart

Rosin is the most convenient excuse ever invented by violin students 🙄

#ViolinTeacher

Why is the first Essential Elements violin book available on Apple Books, but not the second or the third? What??? Why???? #ViolinTeacher #ViolinTeacherProblems

A student is working on memorizing the first movement of a Haydn violin concerto. Here are her flash cards, so she can practice different sections of the piece out of order. I suggested this idea to her, and they turned out so great and she really likes using them! #Violin #ViolinTeacher #MusicLessons #AmPracticing

A student is working on memorizing the first movement of a Haydn violin concerto. Here are her flash cards, so she can practice different sections of the piece out of order. I suggested this idea to her, and they turned out so great and she really likes using them! #Violin #ViolinTeacher #MusicLessons #AmPracticing

Dear local Suzuki teacher: for the love of Corelli, PLEASE stop keeping middle schoolers on Twinkle for months at a time!!! That’s literally designed for PRESCHOOL education!!!

Scales are a thing that exist. You can change the scales they play, and you can cover all the same technical bases without boring your students to death. #ViolinTeacher #Violin #SuzukiRant

The Bulletproof Musician is so consistently helpful! #violin #ViolinTeacher #MusicLessons https://bulletproofmusician.com/19-things-that-great-teachers-do-insights-from-the-approaches-of-three-renowned-artist-teachers/

I'm not going to lie, the FACE and Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge mnemonics for reading treble clef drive me NUTS! Why? Because they obscure the fact that the staff is simply the musical alphabet.

Learning the mnemonics doesn't help students expand the alphabet up and down ledger lines or into different clef signature. #EarlyMorningMusicRant #ViolinTeacher #MusicLessons

https://hannahviolin.me/snow-days/ Snow days and Covid issues. #stl #musician #violin #violinteacher

Had to introduce sautillé to a student yesterday and… it was easy???? They got it nearly right away. I was expecting some kind of struggle, and instead it was just “lean your hand into the bow like this,” and they got it! Of course we did some fine tuning, and talking about how sautillé is a circular motion while spiccato is a U motion, but… it was so simple!

Now if only my own sautillé stroke would behave 😶

#violin #ViolinTeacher #ViolinLessons

“Oh look, your second finger is scared to be away from your third finger! Can you talk to it and tell it where you want it to go?”

This does three things:
1. Makes the student laugh
2. Engages the brain to focus precisely on the movement needed
3. Removes any sense of personal failure and replaces it with attention to their body movements (*they* didn’t mess up, their finger did something weird)

#ViolinLessons #MusicEducation #ViolinTeacher

While I’m thinking about teaching this morning, here’s a tool I love using with younger students especially: talking about parts of their hands and arms as if they were independent entities with minds of their own. #ViolinLessons #MusicEducation #ViolinTeacher

Oh man, I'm back to work later today, and back to work EARLY tomorrow. Vacation is over! #violinteacher