5 Things I’m Loving This Week–April 1, 2016

This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher Blog on April 1, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.

Violin teaching tips, tricks, and resources…

Happy Friday! So… good news and bad news.  Bad news first:  I cut off the top of my left thumb chopping bell peppers last weekend.  Good news: I am so excited today because my sister is in town…..Okay okay, April fool’s.  I didn’t cut off the top of my left thumb.  But I almost did!  Not bad enough for stitches, but bad enough that it bled a whole bunch and I passed out.  (I have a thing about blood.  Good thing my husband is an ICU nurse.  Don’t fret, I’m totally fine.)

Sorry.  I couldn’t resist.  It is April Fool’s after all.  Moving right along…

Here are some of the violin teaching resources I found on the web this week.

1. Third-position study sheet
I love this third-position study sheet created by Heather Figi, of Music for Young Violinists. It is just excellent, and I have a few students that I know it will work wonders for! You can download it for free here.

2.  22 Creative Ways to “Play it Again”; Turning Piano Teaching Repetition On It’s Head
While some of these ideas don’t work with violin, a lot of them do.  I’m always asking for more repetitions, so I am planning on using these this week!

3. Suzuki Violin Pre-Twinkle Packet
I don’t think I would use everything in here, but there are lots of cute pre-twinkle songs and illustrations that would be fun with new beginners.

4. Why Your Child Can’t Skip Music Practice Tonight
This infographic is a great one to share with your students and their parents!  You can even download it for free to print and hang as a poster in your studio.

5. How Children Learn by John Holt
I wasn’t particularly excited about the March book club pick, and I got started on it a little late because of our big move, but wow.  This book is amazing.  So many of the ideas and philosophies go hand in hand with Suzuki’s philosophies.  It’s also spurred some critical thoughts about how I teach, and how I correct my students’ mistakes.  I think I’ve been entirely too worried about “bad habits.”  A lot to think about.  Even though March is over, I highly recommend you read this book.  If you’ve already read it, maybe read it again!  It’s that good.

​Happy Friday, my friends!