1.

Violin Care and Safety:

a. Students should always have their rosin, headrest, and cleaning cloth in
case
b. Remind them to always loosen the bow before putting their instrument
away, and to clean the strings and fingerboard with cloth
c. Always remind them to be gentle and hold the violin by the neck
d. Obviously, have them store in a safe, cool place to avoid damage
e. Never have the students touch the bow hairs, tell them that the bow will
“lose it’s magic” if it is touched too often
2. Posture:
a. Have them start out with bow-hold:
i. Hold the bow for them by the wood, and
place their thumb just below the pad.
Then, tell the student to relax their hand
and just let the fingers wrap gently
around. Tell them to place the tip of their
pinky just next to the screw and have the
lean their first finger more towards the
hair.
ii. Have them form their own bow grip until
it starts to look more comfortable for them to do it on their own
b. Then, with posture:
i. Ask them what they think a violin player looks like. I find that often
they’ll imagine a “pompous” looking violin player with their back
really straight and their left wrist very open, rather than close to the
neck. Then have them re-create this pose. (This may not work with
everyone, but it worked for my students. Omit this and just explain
posture to them if it’s too confusing :) )
3. Sound Production:
a. Sound production is often quite tricky for students. It’ll often take a while
until they can produce a clean sound and tone, so don’t worry about
making it perfect at this stage.
i. Have them hold their violin up, and place their bow in the right spot
(in between bridge and fingerboard). Before they start to bow, tell
them to keep the bow in that space. If they go elsewhere, have
them stop and retry. Make sure they keep their elbow locked
instead of jabbing all over the place
1. This will definitely take a
while, but be patient, and
eventually they’ll get it
4. Basic Scales:
a. Start with introducing them to the concept of octaves.
i. Have them play an open G string and a third finger on the D string.
Ask them if how the two compare, if they sound the same, different,
etc
b. Guide your student through playing a one octave G scale, ending with the
high G, and then play the low G for another beat.
c. After playing the G scale up, ask them to play descending to make sure
they know where to put their fingers.
d. Once they have that, try having them play on the D string to high D and A
string to the high A. Going into more complicated scales that don’t start on
an open string should wait until they have completed a few pieces on their
own, and should continue to be introduced throughout them learning
pieces
Start with these scales, as they start on open strings, and do not go above first position

5. Concept of Octaves: see (a) for Basic Scales

6. Dynamics:
a. Because it is hard to introduce dynamics while they are still learning
pieces such as “Mary had a little lamb” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,”
wait until they are focusing less on producing sound and focusing more on
tone.
b. Start with playing one piece three times: one very loudly, one medium,
and one very softly. Ask them what the difference between the three times
were.
c. Introduce the definition of dynamics and how it is used to make music
more interesting
i. If you’d like, play one piece twice, once with no dynamic contrast
and once with lots of dynamics
d. Once you tell them that loud means forte, piano means soft etc, ask them
to play the piece they are currently working on in different volumes.
i. For example, ask them to play forte, then ask them to play
mezzoforte, things like that
ii. Only use a small passage for this, just for the sake of time
e. Finally, ask them where there should be dynamic contrast within their own
music. Let them know some basic “rules” of dynamics, like going up in
notes usually means you should get louder and vice versa, playing softer
doesn’t mean playing slower, things like that
7. Composer Game/Genres
Prepare a set of cards with composer names on it and also a corresponding set
of excerpts (on your phones, links on youtube, etc) those composers have composed.
Under the composer names, write what each one is known for (ie Beethoven is known
for dark, stormy melodies, Mozart is known for delicate, complicated pieces). Play an
excerpt, and go through the cards and have the kids guess who’s who. At the end,
review what composer did what and ask them what their favorite one was and why.