all for strings theory book 1 teachers 91. fingering chart

ALL FOR STRINGS THEORY BOOK 1 TEACHERS 91. FINGERING CHART HOW TO

Relate the Whole-Tone Pattern back to the Major Pattern so students can see that it only differs from it by one note.

This pattern involves introducing the extension of the 2nd finger to the cellos.

This pattern is made up of all whole-tones.

Note how the Minor Pattern sounds: It sounds ‘sad’.

This puts the semi-tone in a different place.

Note that the Minor Pattern differs from the Major Pattern by only one note.

The Major Pattern sounds like half a scale.

Note how the Major Pattern sounds: It sounds like half a scale, and it sounds ‘happy’.

This is the pattern that they are already familiar with playing.

VIOLIN & VIOLA: any two fingers that are apart/have a space.

ALL FOR STRINGS THEORY BOOK 1 TEACHERS 91. FINGERING CHART HOW TO

Establish how to play WHOLE-TONES on each instrument. VIOLIN & VIOLA: any two fingers that are touching. BASS: between 1 & 2, or between 2 & 4 (3rd finger is not a note, but can help give the pinky strength).Stress to the students that although there is a space on the chart, in reality, their fingers should actually be touching. VIOLIN & VIOLA: any two fingers that are touching.Establish how to play SEMI-TONES on each instrument. When I feel that they are ready, here is how I introduce them….ġ. There are six basic terms you need to establish with your beginner string students that will make fingering not only easy to teach but will actually help them visualize where their notes should be. Six Basic Patterns For Teaching Fingering In order not to overwhelm the students with terminology in the beginning, I introduce this after the students have had two or three months of playing, and can play fairly well using tapes on their instrument. Once you establish the following basics, which only takes one lesson, you not only have the foundation for fingering, shifting and intonation success, I have found that there really is no limit to where you can take your students. There is no need to shout out note names or different fingerings for each instrument, and with the support of a good scale method and good fingering charts, the students will easily learn to figure out fingerings for themselves. This terminology makes it so easy to discuss and correct fingering, teach scales, and teach shifting because the terms are common to all the instruments.

We can transform how we teach fingering if we all set up our students with some basic patterns and vocabulary. I don’t know if many teachers use this method, and I myself have never encountered this at school or in private lessons*. As a student, I remember feeling like anything past third position seemed like a mystery to me as well. Why couldn’t they memorize the patterns that seemed so simple? But to most of my students, the fingerboard was a vast uncharted territory that they could never seem to master. And it is absolutely fun because once you realize how easy it is going to make everything, you will jump for joy!įor years, I struggled with trying to get students to see the patterns on the fingerboards that seemed obvious enough to me. How would you like to make teaching scales and fingering super easy? This lesson is going to transform how you teach scales and fingering to your string classroom, or your private violin, viola, cello or bass students.

All for strings theory book 1 teachers 91. fingering chart