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Monday, October 5, 2020

Fingering Chart Displays

 

Fingering chart violin viola cello bass


After seeing a fingering poster online that another orchestra teacher had created, I knew I wanted to make a set for myself.  I cut strips of black paper at various widths to show the strings from thickest to thinnest (1/4", 1/2", 3/4", 1"), laminated the poster, then used Velcro to mark where each note would go.  Each letter name bubble was cut out, laminated, and Velcro-ed.  I also taped a plastic baggie to the back of the poster to store the unused notes.  At one school, I have a strip of cork board above the white board, so I use a push pin to display the poster.  At the other school, I ran a couple strips of Velcro just above the white board, so I attach those posters with Velcro.


With beginners, I can have all the notes removed to just show the open strings, and then I can add the D string notes as we get there.  With the second-year students, I can start with the D Major scale notes, or show those low 2 notes, or whatever it is we're focusing on.  


This year I'm color-coding the tapes rather than just using black pin striping tape.  For violins/violas, 1 = red, 3 = black, and 4 = blue (no tape for 2).  For cellos, 2nd finger is red, and the rest are black (thumb goes behind red tape).  On bass, first position 1 and 4 are red, and third position 1 and 4 are black.  For the posters, I kept the red paper for the red tape notes and otherwise used blue paper.  Maybe I should have added an extra column for the finger numbers, but for now it's working to stick the numbers on a string that we're not using at the moment.


Open string labels (Word doc)

Open string labels (PDF)

Fingering chart note bubbles and instrument labels (Word doc)--should be enough for two sets; I printed the first page on red paper, the rest on blue--just double check it has all the notes you want

Fingering chart note bubbles and instrument labels (PDF)


Fingering chart violin


Fingering chart violin


fingering chart violin viola cello bass


fingering chart violin viola cello bass




Monday, September 7, 2020

Prepping Folders for Fall 2020

Prepping folders fall 2020


 In preparation for in-person and virtual students in the fall and the possibility of going totally virtual at some point, I prepped folders with all the music/handouts students would need through winter break.  A local music store kindly donates folders each year.  I color-coded papers as I normally would so students can find sheets faster.  To ensure students would have a pencil (as I won't be leaving pencils on the stands for students to share throughout the day this year), I bought boxes of pencils, sharpened them, taped a piece of yarn to them, and taped them to the folder.  To the pockets of the folders, I taped in a "Contents" list and a fingering chart.


So far they're working out fine--and only a few students have totally dumped all the papers on the floor when they were pulling out the pencil.  Not quite sure how they managed that :)


Update: Now, a few years later, I'm also including concert dates and a reference sheet.  During the school year, I tape in the concert order for each of our concerts as well.  It takes quite a bit of prep time before school starts, but I am happy with the result :)




Prepping folders for fall 2020 plus fingering chart

Monday, August 24, 2020

Fingering Charts for Folders

Fingering reference chart violin viola cello bass

 

This fall I taped fingering charts into the folders for my students as a helpful reference for both my in-person and virtual students.  For second-year students, I included all the notes they should have learned last year and will be learning this year.  For first-year students, I included bubbles for the notes they will be learning this year so students can write them in as they learn them.


I used Finale to make the notes, using the Alpha note feature to add the letter name to the note head.  I made the bar lines and time signature invisible and played around with the spacing to get it to match the fingering chart above.  Then I took a screenshot and pasted that into Word.  For the fingering chart, I used Word and copy/pasted circles for the bubbles and text boxes without a border for the note names.  These just fit on the inside of a folder.  Feel free to edit to include the notes that you would like!



See also: Reference sheet for folders


Fingering reference chart violin viola cello bass


Fingering reference chart violin viola cello bass








Tuesday, August 18, 2020

2020 Mask Bulletin Board


 

My district is planning an in-person return in September.  I'm nervous about this decision, but one small thing I knew I had in my control was the message in my back-to-school bulletin board.  Here's hoping this is the only year I'll have to use this one!

I found a website that lets you resize a picture of a mask to a photo that you upload, so I tried to add a variety of string players and composers.