Level II Orchestra

3rd Semester Beginning Orchestra Classes for ages 8-18

Second year or higher string players will further their playing skills from simple pieces that span one octave scales in G and D major to become comfortable in the key of C and two octave scales in G and D major as well as move from simple rhythms to more complex rhythms that include dotted rhythmic combinations. proper staccato and legato bowing techniques will also be cultivated.

Class 1 Class will go over posture and bow hold review exercises. Students will review the three scales that we worked on during the previous semester D major, G major. We will also discuss natural minor scales and the displacement of the tetrachord to create them and how they relate to the major scales. Then class will review favorite pieces from the previous semester, beginning on page 30 of book one of Essential Elements for Strings and aiming for pieces up to page 35.
Class 2 Class will review the D major, G major scales to begin class and do a posture check for their instrument. Page 36 will be reviewed and low 2’s for the violins/violas. C major scale will be re-introduced and added onto the daily warm-up of the instruments. Students will then re-review the different bowing for quarter, eight, half and whole notes as they go through page 37 and page 38 as well as discuss arpeggios and their role in daily practice along with scale work.
Class 3 Class will warm up with D, G, and C major scales and basic arpeggios. Pages 38-39 will be introduced/reviewed and the E string for violins/violas will be taught. If Students are doing well with the E string, class will go over staccato playing and how the bow is to articulate staccato technique on page 40 and 41 hooked bowing will be discussed.
Class 4 The keys of D, G and C will be reviewed along with the skill builders; scales and arpeggios for those three keys on page 42 as well as the fun arrangements with A and B parts will be looked over with the class. Hooked bowings and Staccato playing from the previous week will be reviewed as well. If time allows, the William Tell Overture and Simple Gifts on pages 44-46 will be played as a class as well.
Class 5 Students will review a few of the playing techniques discussed in the first month of class; scales, arpeggios, slurs, staccato and hooked bowings. Students will review favorite pieces from Book 1 and pick any pieces from book one that they may want to use for recital. Book 2 of Essential Elements for strings will be introduced to the class with pages 2-3 and the introduction to Morning by Grieg and Barcarolle by Offenbach.
Class 6 Students will warm up with scales and review pages 2-3 in Book 2 of Essential Elements for strings. Then they will go over pages 4-5 discussing intervals and how to listen for the various intervals and their relation to each other and how to memorize various intervals. If students understand these concepts well, pages 6-7 will be discussed.
Class 7 The class will warm up with the D, G and C major scales experimenting with various rhythm patterns and bowing patterns. The class will play with the idea of changing rhythms with each measure and let the students experiment with what they have learned so far with various bowing techniques. Students will review pieces on pages 2-7 and discuss the challenges with the various scales. Page 8-9 will be reviewed and the new rhythm of a dotted half note and how to distribute the bow correctly to compensate for dotted rhythms. “Touch the Stars” from the previous semester will be distributed to the students and they will point out where the dotted rhythms are in the piece and how to correctly count and bow those rhythms.
Class 8 Class will review the dotted rhythms used on pages 7 and 8 and practice correct bow distribution. Page 9 will introduce eighth note playing and how it relates to staccato playing on the beat with quarter notes. Then off-beat eighth notes will be explained and applied as well as counting for them in a way the helps the students take their time and not speed up the timing of a piece because they are playing on the off-beat. If there is time, page 10 with the dotted quarter-eighth note rhythms will be introduced and demonstrated so that students will be able to bow those rhythms correctly. The fermata will also be reviewed and discussed. Students will pull out “Touch the Stars” and play through the first few phrases.
Class 9 Class

Students will be able to play G, D and C major scales and arpeggios in two octaves as well as be able to move from Grade 1 to Grade 2 pieces as a group by the end of the semester.