Teaching Elementary Orchestra : checkup

This post is the sixth in a series of beginning-of-the-year lesson plans. For previous weeks, please see:

Week 6! Last week we had played the A, D, and G strings with the bow out of the book. I don't want to leave out the C/E string, so this week we play similar kind of pieces as the book but in the Orchestra Expressions Supplement packet. We are also prepping for our first playing checkup, which will be the following week. While the playing checkup will be on the pieces from the Orchestra Expressions book, p. 13 and 15 (string levels and string crossings), there's not time to play them in small groups this week. Instead, I make sure to review those all in full orchestra this week and focus on the C/E strings in small groups. This is also the week we begin Serenata, from Concert Tunes for Beginning Strings by Dale Brubaker.

Again for this lesson plan's sample script, I will assume this is a violin group. This lesson plan is for a 30-minute small group, designed for groups of about 3-4 students all on the same instrument.

NEED:

Serenata (should already be in folders)

ON THE BOARD:

Agenda on screen
The five D string notes written on the staff (D, E, F#, G, A), not labeled yet

ALSO NEEDED:

Have spare folders and Orchestra Expressions books handy in case students forgot theirs
Spare instrument for me
Phone/camera to take picture of bow holds for Admire These Beautiful Bow Holds bulletin board
Link to Orchestra Expression Supplement Packet audio files
Link to bowing checkup rubric
1-page Google Doc condensed version of this lesson plan (includes lesson plan for full orchestra too)

UNPACKING:

Welcome! Go ahead and unpack instruments. Sponge or shoulder pad on.

LEFT-HAND PLAYING POSITION/D STRING NOTES:

We know that as the notes get higher on the staff, we add a finger and we get a higher sounding note. On the staff, we recognize this note below the staff. It's...open D, no fingers. Open D is a space note, then we go up to the line and add a finger. This note is...E, one finger. From the line we go to the first space...F#, 2 fingers. Then 3rd finger makes...G and then all 4 fingers on the D string makes...A, sounds the same as open A.

We filled out our handy-dandy fingering charts last week, right? [Glance quickly at each in case someone didn't have their folder last week and needs to fill it in real quick]

Let's find our left-hand playing position. Playing position, arm swing, straight left wrist, balance on the knobby pointer finger bone, thumb touches lightly across, by the red tape. [Make some individual adjustments, as needed]

I'll point, you pluck. [Point to the notes on the staff and talk through how to play them while students pluck. I like to go up and down the five notes]

Let's say the musical alphabet [I point to the poster of the keyboard with the notes labeled]--A, B, C, D, E, F, G, then we start over again with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, then we start over again with A, B, C [and then I start pointing to the D string notes as we say D, E, F(#), G, A]

I'll point again, you pluck. Maybe you'll recognize this melody. [Point to the melody notes for Barcarolle]

Did anyone recognize it? It's on our green sheet. [I play it if no one recognized it and help pull out green sheets]--Barcarolle. Let's try out _____ [pick a piece on the green sheet]. [This part seems to work best if everyone just works at their own pace and I go around and help out. Students work through the first song, and if they get it okay, they can go on to another song]

These are all great pieces to keep playing at home this week as you're practicing. We want to get really comfortable recognizing the different notes on the D string--what they look like on the staff and how many fingers to play each. Remember we have flashcards on Canvas that will help with this. We played the Matching game last week.

BOWING:

Let's take the bow out of the case. The first thing we do is...tighten the bow. It's been about two weeks since we last rosined our bows together, so sometime at home this week would be a good time to rosin your bow again. I don't want to take class time to rosin our bows now.

Find your bow hold and let me know when you're ready for me to check out your bow hold. Today is our bow hold check. [Make adjustments as needed, give specific verbal comments as adjusting and then write down number in grade book--4, 3, 2]

I'd love to get a picture of all of you showing your bow holds. [Take picture for Admire These Beautiful Bow Holds bulletin board]

Now I have a silly poem to teach you. Do what I do with your bow and keep a beautiful bow hold no matter what you're doing with the bow:

"Up like a rocket, down like the rain,

Back and forth like a choo-choo train.

Round and round like the great big sun,

Now land on your hand, curved pinkie, bent thumb." [For cello/bass, I'll say "curved fingers, bent thumb."

You can tap, tap, tap the pinkie on the bow when we get to the "curved pinkie" part. How are our bow hands still looking? Is the thumb still bent? Fingers over the frog? Pinkie on its tip?

While you're picking up your instruments with your left hand and finding rest position, I'm going to open our white packets to p. 3. From rest position find playing position.

We're going to play "E String Level." We know we need the bow because...it says arco--the Italian word that tells us to play with the bow. We also have what bowing direction over the first note? Down-bow, starting by the frog and pulling the bow "out."

Let's set the bow near the frog on the E string, between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard. Low elbow level for E string, almost touching our side

[Play "E String Level" with audio file--I have the slow tempo of each of these pieces open in different tabs on my computer ahead of time]

Look at "Crossword Puzzle." Which two open strings do we need in this piece? E and A. Remember we play the first half two times and then the second half, Circle B, two times.

[Play "Crossword Puzzle" with audio file]

Rest position. Next week during small groups, we're going to do our first playing checkup. This is a chance for you to play by yourself for me, and I will be able to give you some comments and feedback as we're all working to become stronger on our new bowing skills. You'll get to play one piece on p. 13, string levels, and one piece on p. 15, string crossings. Let's look at the kind of things I'll be grading you on and giving you comments on.

[Pull up playing checkup rubric on screen; model each of these as I talk about each of them--students will often model these as I'm going through them too]

I'll be grading and commenting on playing position, looking for sitting tall in the chair, feet flat on the floor. Proper playing position--instrument way up on the shoulder, jaw bone on the chin rest, instrument even with the floor.

Bow hold--we just worked on that--looking for bent thumb, at the edge of the frog, fingers curved, over the frog, pinkie curved and on its tip.

Bowing--we'll get a cleaner sound with bow between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard, open/close from the right elbow, so not the whole arm moving, but the upper arm staying still and the elbow opening/closing so the bow travels parallel to the bridge. Proper bow direction--starting down-bow, near the frog, pulling the bow "out" to start.

String level--adjusting the elbow level for the different strings so we get the sound of the string that we want.

And then music literacy--playing the correct notes and rhythms that are in the music.

So, our bowing checkup will be next week during small groups. Any questions about our bowing checkups?

[If time, also play Crisscross. This one is tricky with the 3/4 and the string crossings and rests and repeats--after playing with the audio file, it helps to slow it down even more and trying it again]

Okay, one more piece for today. Say hello to your longest orchestra piece so far--Serenata!

[Pass out "Serenata" or pull out of folders]

We rest for two measures at the beginning, then what are the open strings that we see? A, D, A. Are we arco or pizzicato? How do we know? Do we start down-bow or up-bow?

Let's go up into playing position, find the bow hold, set the bow near the frog between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard on the A string and we'll play...A, D, A. FREEZE. Which bow direction is our bow ready to do next? Right, up-bow. Which bow direction does the music say we're going to do next? Right, down-bow. So, we need to pick up the bow and set it down back by the frog so we're ready to do another down-bow. We just did a "bow lift." Do you see the apostrophe/comma looking thing over the rest? [Which I penciled into my master copies] That is called a bow lift, where we pick up the bow and set it down back by the frog.

Back to the beginning, let's play again.

[I play violin with the students, saying the letter names and bow lifts. We get to Circle 2 and stop]

Let's play that much again, and I'll play piano this time. Here's the introduction, ready, play.

[Play up to Circle 2]

You are ready to play the whole song at home this week!

PACKING UP/PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT:

We had tightened our bow before, so now we...loosen. Lefty-loosy, counterclockwise. You'll notice the stick and hair getting closer together; you may see some individual hairs start to separate. Gently slide the tip end of the bow back into the case.

Sponge/shoulder pad off, instrument flat in the case.

For practicing this week, we have p. 12-15 in the book, getting ready for our bowing checkup next week during small groups. We have the white packet, p. 3, that we played from today. Keep practicing the green sheet with our different D string notes. We started "Serenata" today. Then we have the flashcards on Canvas. We want to get really comfortable naming and playing these different D string notes. And then we talked about rosining bows at home this week and keep looking for a cloth if you're still looking for a cloth to keep in your case to wipe the rosin dust off.

Next week I'll see you at ___. Instruments back on the rack. Next up is ___, so you can send them on in. Have a wonderful rest of the day!

---

For the following week, I will need to print off the bowing checkup comment sheets ahead of time. They print three to a page. I use a colored pencil to fill out the student name and instrument in the order I will be seeing them for small groups that week in advance, just to save a little time in the moment.

I will also need to print off a couple extra Composition #2 worksheets to have ready in case anyone forgets to bring their folder next week.

Lesson plan for Week 7

In about January of students' second year of string playing, I introduce this D Major scale sheet. Before then, we often warm up in full orchestra with a D Major scale with different rhythm patterns or adding slurs or as a round. In small groups, we go through each line and review technique. The hooked bowing is pretty new for students at this point. In full orchestra, at first we have to pause and regroup between each bowing, but I tell students our goal will be to play straight through the whole sheet. Eventually a student leader will stand in front and give the breath to start (I'll call out the next bowing as we get close to the end of a line). It seems pretty straightforward, but I'm always surprised by how much room for growth is evident the first week we attempt this as a full orchestra--and by how proud the students are when we are able to make it all the way through more-or-less together.

D Major scale sheet (PDF)

Pretty soon we move into our unit on G Major, so we transfer this warmup to the new key. Violins and cellos also learn the upper octave in G Major (starting the G above open G), so I usually have them play the warmup in the upper octave too. In past years, I haven't made a new scale sheet for the new keys; students just have to play the same bowing patterns but in the new key. They can look at the scale written out in quarter notes in the book if they want a visual. This year I've made a new scale sheet for both G and C Major, and I anticipate students will appreciate being able to follow along on the page as they play. Maybe they will be less likely to forget the line with the single eighth notes exists :) It's funny how often students just stop playing after the repeated eighth notes scale and we have to restart "the fast one." Anyway, with our focus on the upper octave scale, that's what I typed out for violin/cello, with the scale starting on open G only included in the first line, as half notes.

G Major scale sheet (PDF)

In the spring (usually around the time of spring break), we do a playing checkup on all the scale bowings in G Major. We go through the rubric together the week before, and then during small groups the week of, students play individually for me while the other students in their small group are working on their G Major composition.

G Major scale checkup rubric (Google Doc)--three per page to cut apart and write on for each student
G Major scale checkup rubric (Google Form)--for any virtual students (I save the individual scores/comments as a PDF and email to the student afterwards)
G Major scale checkup rubric (PDF)--one to share with students ahead of time for reference

Our last key of the year is C Major, so we apply these bowing patterns to this key too. Violas and cellos get the higher octave written out (starting an octave above open C), with the scale starting on open C only included in the first line, as half notes.