BOW EXERCISES

Here are a few bow exercises to work on this month. Choose one each day. They only take a few seconds to do.
20 Tic Tocs
20 Tip Circles
Stir a cake
Rocking chair on the bridge
Silent arpeggio on the Kreisler Highway
20 Thumb Bites
Finger sets: Lift pointer and pinkie off the bow alternately
4 Bow Circles on each string
Submarine Bow (under the violin)
Windsheild Wipers (use the fingers, not the hand)
Put a coin on your bow hand and flip it into your case behind you when you go up bow
Do "Up Like a Rocket" with a lifesaver on the tip of your bow
Elevator Bow (raise the bow up from the floor, keeping the tip and frog straight)

Happy Bowing! Keep Balanced!

Happy New Year!

As we start a new year I am excited to get moving again in our Suzuki Books. Many of you are about ready to finish Book 2. Let's set that for our New Year's Goal for January.
Thanks you all for your excellent performing in December. I hope many of you were able to perform for family and church events. It makes people happy when they hear you share your talents.
We are again (still) working on our one-minute flash cards. So many of you are so very close! Keep working until they are automatic. If you have to stop and count lines and spaces, you don't know them well enough.
Group Lesson for Januray will be on Wednesday, January 27th at 4 p.m. We will be welcoming a new student, Jordan and look forward to him playing music with us!

Christmas Songs

Please practice the Christmas songs we are doing for the River Ridge Stake Christmas Fireside on November 29th. The songs are: Angels We Have Heard On High, The Infant King, Away in a Manger. Practice with big, round, beautiful flowing tone so we fill the whole church with our music. Remember: The way we practice is the way we play.

Rehearsal: Wednesday, November 26, Group Lesson
Saturday, November 28, 9:30 a.m. at the church
Performance: Sunday, November 29th 5:00; Please be there by 4:40 to tune

Practice Perfect!

As long as we spending the time to practice, let's not spend our time practicing mistakes. Always practice the way you want your finished song to sound, using the correct position to make the best tone. We call this Perfect Practice.
A reminder: Some of you have not yet completed a 10-Minute Practice Card. Others have completed several. You need to practice at least 10 minutes at a time and should practice at least three 10-minute sessions in a day.

CONGRATULATIONS TO HAYDEN!!!

Hayden has completed his Suzuki Book One and performed all the songs in Book One at a recital for his family. He did an excellent job and will be starting Book Two next week.

Congratulations Hayden for a job well done!

New Stuff!

Group Lesson this month will be on Wednesday, October 28th at 4 p.m. As is our tradition, we will be working on "Spooky Stuff" such as spider crawls, ghost tones, the pendulam swing, left hand spider walk, tic tocs, and more! These things all relate to GOOD POSITION! Good position helps us sound better and play better. It has been said that it takes 21 days to change a habit. Therefore, constant effort is required to change some of our poor position habits.
Be sure to keep the thumb bent at all times doing the spider crawl on the bow and take small steps!

A reminder: We will play a Christmas Medley at the River Ridge Stake Christmas Fireside on Sunday, November 29th at 5 p.m. There will be a rehearsal on Saturday, the day before at 9 a.m. So far our medley will consist of Angels We Have Heard On High, The Infant King, and Away in a Manger.

Please remember to mark your 10 minute practice cards. We can accomplish anything if we do it in small increments!

We had a fun evening of fiddling...

Thanks to all of you who worked so hard to get the fiddle numbers learned! It was a fun evening. We had nearly 50 people in attendance. We are going to keep going on our fiddling numbers all year long and will be learning more tunes each month. Fiddle music is fun, rhythmical, and very entertaining. We also learn a lot of good violin playing skills from fiddling, such as string crossing, finger dexterity, and bow control. Keep on fiddling....