Violin Stars Study GroupLesson 4

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

We have one goal for lesson 4 – and that is to learn how to use our 2nd

and third fingers. To do this I'm going to teach you how to play an E Lizard and an A Lizard. Also keep reviewing flower song because you will need to pass it at the end of this lesson.

Before we begin I would like to you spend a few minutes on review. A timer works great for this, 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!

Now 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.

Notice how I am standing up straight in this picture. There is a space between my legs which gives me good balance and stability. My spine is straight and my head is straight.

Okay now 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.

Alright, now let's 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.

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.

So before you begin go listen to the midi track of the E and A Lizards. I'm not going to give you notes for this exercise because I don't think you need them. To play an E Lizard start on the open E string with your fingers hovering over the fingerboard. Play huckleberry pancake on E. Then put your first finger down and play HP then put your second finger down and play HP remember the big space – now put yourthird finger down right next to the second and play HP – repeat the 3rd finger HP note – then lift the 3rd finger and play 2nd finger HP then 1st Finger HP and finally open E HP. I forgot to mention that your first and second fingers should stay down while you're playing the 3rd finger. That way they are still there in the right placewhen you finish with the third finger. When you get it figured out do the same thing on the A string. Use Lizards as a warm-up for each practice session.

So that completes lesson 4. To pass lesson 4 I need to hear you 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!