Become a Note-Reading Whiz on the Violin!

In this class intermediate violinists will have a chance to fully develop the skills to become great sight-readers. Although there are many incredible musicians who don't read music - much as there are story tellers who don't know how read words -  learning and refining what we call "sight-reading" skills (playing at first sight of the music) opens up a world of ensemble playing and confidence for young violinists. 

Strong reading skills lead to increased ease in ensembles and also save so much time in practicing. When learners have to muddle through new music it can lead to frustration and annoyance. When the reading itself is easy, violinists simply focus their time and energy on the music itself. It all becomes much more fun!

We will do a mix of note-reading drills, key signature practice with the scales, and lots and lots of rhythm work. Once the students master the basic of the rhythm practice, we will layer it with games involving different dynamics, bow strokes, etc. I like using slight variations to sneak in extra practice!

As we move through the classes, learners will each have a chance to lead different portions of the sessions, and there will be plenty of time to ask questions. There will be some quizzes along the way (using Kahoot, which is a lot of fun for them!) and we practice the skills using Sight Reading Factory and MusicTheory.net as passages that I provide that will be tailored to their level. There will be a chance for learners to submit music that they want to work on, and we will review it together.

This is not a class for beginner violinists! Learners should be at the level of Suzuki Book 2 and 3 or the equivalent.

Detailed breakdown by week:
1) assessment of current sight-reading skills; overview of how we will practice our scales; introduction of primary rhythm technique
2) scale warmup (G major); in-depth work on the rhythm technique; note-reading drills in G major; games with dynamics
3) students begin to lead the scale warm-up (C major); add rests to first phase of rhythm work; note-reading drills in C major; games with dynamics and bow strokes
4) scale warmup (A major); review homework assignment and learn to use conducting in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4; note-reading drills in A major; sight-reading passages in A major combining notes and rhythms
5) scale warmup (B flat major); review homework assignment; assessment of current reading skills; learn key signatures up to 3 flats and 3 sharps; preview of how to translate key signatures into fingerboard placement
6) scale warmup (F major); in-depth work on translating key signatures into fingerboard placement; rhythm technique challenges; new sight-reading passages 
7) scale warmup (E flat major); quiz on key signatures; each student lead the group in a new sight-reading passage
8) scale warm up (D major) then sight-reading intensive! In this session the learners will tackle as many new passages as possible and write up a brief assessment; 
9) in-depth work on the remaining challenging areas and 2-minute presentation from each student on what they have learned to date; wrap up with new passages to play
10) each student leads one passage with all the steps we've learned in the class (the key and scale, the rhythm, an overview of the dynamics, then playing). Final assessment.