A duet and the Meadow Minuet

We practiced before dinner because we were going over to a friend’s house. I decided to do something we have never done: play a duet in Read This First that was not a Suzuki song. First, M read through the notes about 3 times, identifying the note names. I was a little frustrated that she couldn’t identify the problem notes after we went through it; I’m trying to get her to problem-solve on her own, rather than always having me identifying what needs work.

But she got through it, and we played it through together a few times. It sounded nice, and we played one four-bar passage several times to get it sounding good. This was all conflict-free and seemed to have a pretty good payoff in M’s satisfaction.

Next, we worked on the C and D sections of Meadow Minuet as follows:

  • M played melody, I played bass;
  • I played melody, M played bass; and
  • M played both in the C section only.

This went well. Her only issues are (1) pinky shape, and (2) paying attention (aiming) before starting to play.

At one point, as she was figuring out what bass note to play, she said:

“I’m corn. Because I’ve got such good ears!”

Three medals!

We had an early private lesson today, before group class. They played through the Twinkles, and M did great. She played with big, fat tone. Her teacher recommended using higher-tension guitar strings so M can play louder without buzzing. Our assignment is to work on Meadow Minuet, add in bass notes, and work on left-hand pinky position (need curve).

At the Guitar Olympics in group class, M tried every event. Her teacher adjusted the medal recipients on the fly, so they didn’t exactly reflect everyone’s relative performance, but M got three medals, one for the 50-measure hurdles (reading fruit rhythms), one for note reading, and one for Song of the Wind with the metronome. I watched her do that, conduct Lightly Row, and play Perpetual Motion on the G string, and she did a good job on each. Her Perpetual Motion was not smooth, but she caught and fixed every mistake and didn’t drop any sections, which shows she was listening to what she was doing. Overall, she was proud of herself, and I even got her to agree afterwards that it’s a good thing we practice a lot, since that’s why she’s doing so well.

Get while the getting is good

Good practice today, but I should have cut it off earlier. We got started a little late, but M was very cooperative at first. She got Kanga (her stuffed kangaroo) as an audience, and then pitched coins into Kanga’s pouch as an activity.

We started by listening to Meadow Minuet and identifying the four sections. I had taken blank playing cards and written the first 2 measures (for sections A and B) or the first 4 measures (for sections C and D) on them to use to decide what to work on. M and I listened a few times, pairing up the cards with the beginning of the sections. Then M picked a card (C) and we worked on that section (she played melody and I played bass). She did great, so we moved into the D section, focusing on counting in the two measures in which the C# is held for a total of five beats.

While we worked on this, M found the “evil twin” C# on the B string by herself, and we discussed note geography some.

Next, M conducted me playing Twinkle theme, Lightly Row, and Aunt Rhody. She lost the downbeat often, so I had her bang on the padded footstool with a rhythm stick on the downbeat. This helped some.

Finally, I asked M to play the Fuhrman Tanz with some musical ideas. She was game, but she did things pretty arbitrarily (i.e., she got quieter and louder at weird spots). Also, she kept playing the start of the B section wrong and couldn’t identify the problem when she was done playing.

I asked her to play the descending-scale section of the B section 10 times to conclude, and I adjusted her left hand quite a bit. She got cranky about this and started crying. She protested that I shouldn’t be adjusting her hand and said, “Alan said the most important thing is to be comfortable, and I was comfortable!” After a pause for calming down, she played three more repetitions, and she did not fight me when I adjusted her hand.

I should have finished earlier.

A solid start on A-M alternation

Good practice today. We did:

  • G scale on the G string.
  • Perpetual Motion on the G string.
  • Perpetual Motion in first position, with A-M in the right hand. M played with authority, though she was digging in a bit too deep on the pad instead of playing with her nail. Still, for how new this exercise is, she did well.
  • The Fuhrman Tanz twice through. M seems to have the structure down. She didn’t do much with her dynamics, but she did play nicely legato.

I wonder if she might get a better handle on some dynamic ideas (e.g., echos) if we practiced just those portions of several songs, rather than playing entire songs and trying to incorporate multiple ideas in each song.

Preparing for the Guitar Olympics

Today we practiced after dinner. We did:

  • Song of the Wind with the metronome. Yesterday’s repetitions paid off — M played all the right notes. Areas to improve:
    • The second repetition often was weaker than the first. I pointed out that this is a pattern we see in several songs.
    • The rightness of M’s right-hand fingering was variable. She had a hard time remembering to start on her “m” finger, but she gave a good effort.
    • M’s left-hand fingering got sloppy as she got faster, but she was rock-solid with the metronome, even up to 100 bpm.
  • Conducting. M got off of her pattern a lot at first (i.e., she was going sideways on the downbeat, not down), but this improved.
  • Perpetual Motion with A-M fingering. This was remarkably good — M played with authority, and paid good attention to what she was doing. The novelty must have helped. She did, however, have problems keeping track of her place in the song’s structure.
  • Perpetual Motion on the G string. This was also remarkably good, though M again had problems knowing where she was in the song’s structure.

As our activity, M pitched coins again. She picked out some plastic bugs before the lesson to earn as bonuses when she got a coin in the glass.

Overall, a pretty good lesson, particularly given the lateness of the hour.