It is time. I am creating a curriculum for private violin/fiddle teachers and players that I have developed over the last 43 (!) years of teaching. I am finally writing the books I wish I had early in my teaching career as well as material that would have helped me navigate the road from classical musician to musician at large. This curriculum will include:
- How to work with beginning violin students—kids and adults. It will be SEQUENTIAL! Very, very sequential. Theory will be sprinkled throughout, including clear diagrams, brief explanations and will always be immediately applicable.
- Games to learn to read and feel rhythm, to learn to improvise, to learn the note names on the staff and on the fingerboard.
- Loads of transcriptions of compositions from many places, along with the steps and resources to become a more efficient teacher and learner. These tunes will be be progressively more difficult and will be ordered and indexed in various ways (by finger pattern, genre, meter, key etc.) to make finding appropriate repertoire for your student easy and efficient. You will be able to give the student several choices from the same level. When they choose the piece, they are more inspired to practice it.
- All transcriptions will include an audio component since I believe that hearing all the stylistic aspects of any piece is essential.
- Music theory presented in a clear and applicable manner including lots of easy-to-understand diagrams.
- Thoughts on teaching and learning music and on practicing sight-reading.
- Thoughts and advice on practicing in general and how to make your student a great practicer.
- Some music history.
- Recommended listening, reading and Youtube watching including my favorite fiddlers in a variety of genres.
- How to learn by ear if you’re a reader.
- How to read if you play by ear.
- How to play back up on the violin/how to play with other people.
These materials will be available in book form but components of this project will also be available in various digital formats.
Please check back for updates!