Violin Stars Level 1Lesson 4

Welcome to lesson 4! I'm so glad that you have made it this far through the program!

Lesson 4 Goal

Learn how to play Lizards

Before we begin I would like to you spend a few minutes on review. You can do this either before you watch the DVD, or after you watch it, but do make sure that you spend some time practicing on your own.

A timer works great for practicing, but if you don't have one then just grab a watch and keep track of your time.

Set the timer for 2 minutes and practice your bow hold. Set the bow down and then pick it up, repeat as many times as you can before the timer goes off! Remember curved pinkie bent thumb and keep your fingers soft and flexible!

Set the timer for 2 minutes and practice your violin hold. Go from rest position to playing position. Make it smooth and effortless and check yourself in the mirror. Do you look natural, or do you look awkward? Make sure that you're standing up straight with your shoulders back. Your head should be straight as well. It shouldn't be bent into any strange angles.

Set the timer for 5 minutes and warm up your bow arm. Review all of the open string rhythms. Always keep the bow on the string, don't let it come off every time you stop. You can tilt the bow to each string, you don't need to lift it. Practice tilting from the E string to the A string. You can just set the bow on the string for this exercise, you don't need to play, just tilt the bow back and forth. Notice how your elbow raises just slightly to tilt to the A string, and then it lowerswhen you tilt to the E string. Practice this on all four strings and then play your rhythms.

Review the Flower Song. Set your timer for 3 minutes and play Flower Song. Stop often and check your bow hand. Also check your left hand. Is your thumb loose? Look in the mirror, can you see daylight between your thumb and the neck? Be on the lookout for tension in your hands.

Lizards

Now it's time to learn how to play the Lizards. For this exercise we will be using three fingers. Make sure that each finger lands on the tip with the knuckle pointing up. We haven't talked about finger tapes on the violin yet. Let me show you a picture of a violin with them.

Now, do you see the tape closest to the scroll? That's your 1st finger tape. It marks where you should place your 1st finger. There is a big space between the 1st tape and the 2nd tape. We call that a whole step. The 2nd tape marks where the 2nd finger should land. Now you will notice that the 3rd tape is quite close to the 2nd tape. Wecall this a half step. The 3rd tape marks where the 3rd finger should land. So there should be a big space between your 1st and 2nd fingers, but your 3rd finger should be right next to your 2nd finger. When your 2nd and 3rd are down they should be almost touching. Now there are many other fingerings on the violin, but for now we will always have a big space between our 1st and 2nd finger and our 2nd and 3rd fingerswill be close together. This will be our main pattern used on all four strings.

When practicing lizards your first and second fingers should stay down while you're playing the 3rd finger. That way they are still there

in the right place when you finish with the third finger. Use Lizards as a warm-up for each practice session.

Lesson 4 Assignment

Play the Flower Song

In lesson 5 we will learn how to play an A Major scale and we will begin Twinkle Twinkle little star. Keep up the good work!