Welcome to Karate Strings!

Introduction

For Parents

Welcome to Karate Strings!

As the parent of a beginning string player, you have just taken on a very important role in your child’s musical education. Lessons can introduce new concepts and skills. They also provide guidance in your child’s development. However, the real progress occurs between lessons when the teacher is not present. Therefore, the better informed you are about how and what your child should be learning, the better equipped you will be to help him or her through the daily process of practicing. Please take a moment to read through this introduction so that you can best support your child’s journey to success in strings.

Audiation

Before your child learned how to read and write words, he or she had to master three levels of literacy: listening, thinking, and speaking. Music has levels of literacy which are nearly identical: listening, audiating (‘thinking musically’), performing, reading, and composing. All too frequently, students are asked to learn how to read notation before they have learned how to audiate. (This is like learning how to pronounce words without understanding their meaning or usage.)

Making matters worse, this occurs during the very onset of technical instruction on an instrument, forcing those students to learn two instruments at once: their physical instrument and their mental instrument. The end result is a player who decodes musical symbols without any clear understanding of what it is they are playing. There is no musical independence gained, and thus it is a skill with limited value.

To be musically literate, a student must develop a musical vocabulary. This does not mean learning terms such as “allegro” or “rallantando” because those have linguistic rather than musical meanings. In music, there are two basic vocabularies: tonal (involving patterns of different pitches) and rhythm (involving patterns of different beat functions). The combination of these vocabularies is what makes melody, which is where we find all of the tunes that we love to hear and play.

Karate Strings is designed with this in mind. Your child will learn a string instrument, but, more importantly, he or she will build his or her musical vocabularies and audiational skills so that performing, reading, and composing can be done with comprehension. Furthermore, your child will also learn the basics of improvising, which is to music what “telling a story in your own words” is to language. This is what will make your child musically literate and provide a lifetime of musical involvement and appreciation.

Using the Book and CD

This book is sequenced according to belt colors resembling those that are found in karate. Please try to follow the instructions as attentively as possible and don’t hesitate for a more detailed description from your child’s teacher. Additionally, there is a CD which is to be used daily for practicing. Please be sure that your child has regular access to a CD player so that he or she can properly learn to audiate. Your support of singing and movement activities is especially critical to their success.

Tuning

String instruments can go out of tune often, and significantly, making practice time anything from mildly frustrating to completely unproductive. Eventually, your child will learn ‘what to turn’, ‘in what direction’, and ‘how much’. However, it takes time to develop both the audiational skills and the physical coordination necessary for success. Therefore, you will be given the opportunity to learn this early in his or her studies. Please take advantage of this important service so that you can use the first track of the CD to ensure that your child’s instrument is as it should be.

Practicing

To learn a musical instrument, your child should practice every day, especially on the day of his or her lesson (to maximize retention). Also, it is better to come back to the homework more often rather than to practice for one large block of time. Therefore, practicing need not be done all at one time during the day. (There is no value to ‘going through the motions’ if the attention and focus are simply not there.) Throughout the year, your child will be trained in good practice habits that approach the idea as one of problem solving rather than a routine of mindless repetition.

Throughout this book, you will see practice logs to be completed and brought to your child’s next lesson. These are general templates for what should be practiced and how much time should be spent overall each day. (Feel free to copy these logs as need for each belt level.) The more involved you are in your child’s practicing, the more success they will have. Therefore, you are asked to please remember to initial each log to confirm the results. You child is always encouraged to do more than the daily practicing goal.

Belt Tests

Each belt has a ‘test’ which your child will perform for his or her teacher in order to earn that belt color. Every student is encouraged to work at his or her own pace and test as often or as infrequently as desired. However, it is likely that each belt will take about four weeks of preparation prior to mastery. This will allow you and your child to estimate overall progress. If your child is having difficulty with any of the belts, please contact his or her teacher to schedule extra help to avoid frustration and disappointment.

White Belt

Rest Position and Playing Position

Most of the time, there will be no difference between rest position and playing position. These are terms that originate from the ‘upper strings’ (violin and viola). However, during some rest position periods, you will be able to simply put your instrument down. Be sure that it is ON ITS SIDE and that the END PIN is OUT OF THE WAY of others.

Here is what your instrument position looks like. Notice three things:

1)  The player’s right knee is just below the corner of the ‘cut-out’.

2)  The player is sitting forward with her feet flat on the floor so that the scroll of the instrument is behind her head.

3)  The top of the body of the cello is making contact with the chest at about armpit level.

When you hear the following commands to the violins, here is what you should be checking (especially if you have put the instrument down):

OUT – Make sure that your end pin out enough so that the cello is the correct height to your knee.

UP – Sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor.

ON – Let the top of the body of the instrument rest on your chest.

Parts of the Instrument and Names of the Strings

The bow

The cello

The strings

Belt Song: “The Posture Song” (CD Tracks 2 & 3)

Use your left hand to point to the appropriate part while singing in playing position. Listen to the first track. Sing the melody along with the second track.

(To the tune “Head and Shoulders”)

Scroll and shoulder, bridge and nose, bridge and nose

Scroll and shoulder, bridge and nose, bridge and nose

Pegs and strings and two F-holes

Scroll and shoulder, bridge and nose, bridge and nose

Open D String

This note is called D natural or D.

Tonal Patterns: Resting Tone Responses (CD Tracks 4 & 5)

After each pattern on Track 4:

1)  Wait one click. (Use it to take a nice, deep singing breath.)

2)  Pluck the D string.

3)  Sing “DO” (pronounced “doh”) on that same pitch.

After each pattern on Track 5:

1)  Wait one click. (Use it to take a nice, deep singing breath.)

2)  Pluck the D string.

3)  Sing “LA” (pronounced “lah”) on that same pitch.

Bow Hold

Hold out your right hand, palm upward. Make sure to keep all of your fingers and your thumb, curved and relaxed.

Using your left hand, place a pencil across your right hand so that it rests on the pad of your pinky and in the top crease of your pointer.

Rest the side of your thumb on the pencil across from your middle finger. Use this to hold the pencil gently. Turn your hand over.

With a bow in your hand, aim your thumb for the bottom of the ‘cut-out’ of the frog. Notice that you still hold the stick primarily.

When flipped over, a good cello bow hold should look something like this. The fingers are spread slightly for better control.

Rhythm Patterns: Connected Separated Styles (CD Tracks 6 & 7)

1)  Make a good bow hold in your right hand.

2)  Hold your bow (or pencil) vertically (up and down).

3)  When asked, echo the example given using the syllable DOO (for connected style) or TOOT (for separated style). Move your bow up and down to match what you are chanting, keeping it straight up and down at all times.

Duple Connected Duple Separated Triple Connected Triple Connected

These diagrams show:

a)  The direction your hand moves (either down or up).

b)  Heavy bows (thick lines) and light bows (thin lines).

c)  Connected bows (“turn-around” arrows ) and separated bows (“stop sign” arrows ).

d)  Full bows (long lines) and half bows (short lines).

e)  Where your hand is for half bows in triple (lower half or upper half).

For FULL bows, your hand should travel between your nose and your navel.

For HALF bows, your hand should travel between your nose and your neck (upper half) or between your neck and your navel (lower half).

NOTE: The above diagrams do NOT show how many times total you must move your bow during the CD patterns.

TEST FOR WHITE BELT

v  Perform (sing and point) “The Posture Song” accurately and with good playing position. Move properly between rest and playing positions.

v  Perform (sing and pluck) resting tone responses on D-DO and D-LA.

v  Perform (chant and bow) connected and separated vertical bowing for patterns in duple or triple. Keep a good bow hold throughout.

Weekly Practice Log

DAY / MINUTES
Belt Song / MINUTES
Tonal Patterns / MINUTES
Rhythm Patterns / TOTAL
MINUTES
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven

Parent’s Initials (confirming the above log) ______

White Belt Practice Goal = 10 minutes every day

Yellow Belt

Open A String

This note is called A natural or A.

Open G String

This note is called G natural or G.

Tonal Patterns: Echo Responses in Major (CD Track 4)

After each pattern:

1)  Take one click for a nice, deep breath.

2)  Echo the pattern as heard.

3)  After echoing the final pattern, sing the resting tone on DO.

Rhythm Patterns: Connected Separated Styles (CD Tracks 6 & 7)

1)  Make a good bow hold in your right hand.

2)  Hold your bow (or pencil) diagonally (slanted).

3)  When asked, echo the example given using the syllable DOO (for connected style) or TOOT (for separated style). Move your bow up (left) and down (right) to match what you are chanting.

Belt Song: “Land of the Silver Birch” (CD Tracks 8 & 9)

1)  After listening to the song on the first track, echo the phrases on your instrument, using your open D, A, and G strings.

2)  After listening to the song on the second track, play the whole song along with the accompaniment (background music).

TEST FOR YELLOW BELT

v  Perform (sing) echo and resting tone responses to patterns in major tonality.

v  Perform (chant and bow) connected and separated diagonal bowing for patterns in duple or triple. Keep a good bow hold throughout.

v  Perform (play) “Land of the Silver Birch” accurately and with good playing position. Move properly between rest and playing positions.

Weekly Practice Log

DAY / MINUTES
Tonal Patterns / MINUTES
Rhythm Patterns / MINUTES
Belt Song / TOTAL
MINUTES
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven

Parent’s Initials (confirming the above log) ______

Yellow Belt Practice Goal = 15 minutes every day

Orange Belt

1st Finger on the D String

This note is called E natural or E.

4th Finger on the D String

This note is called G natural or G.

Tonal Patterns: Echo Responses in Minor (CD Track 10)

After each pattern:

1)  Take one click for a nice, deep breath.

2)  Echo the pattern as heard.

3)  After echoing the final pattern, sing the resting tone on LA.

Rhythm Patterns: Connected Separated Styles (CD Track 11)

1)  Make a good bow hold in your right hand.

2)  With your instrument, go into playing position.

3)  Place your bow on the D string about halfway between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge.

4)  When asked, echo the example given using the syllable DOO (for connected style) or TOOT (for separated style). Move your bow up (left) and down (right) on the string to match the style of what you are chanting.

Belt Song: “Jim Along Josie” (CD Track 12 & 13)

1)  After listening to the song on the first track, echo the phrases on your instrument, using the following notes on your D string: D, E, and G.

2)  After listening to the song on the second track, play the whole song along with the accompaniment (background music).

TEST FOR ORANGE BELT

v  Perform (sing) echo and resting tone responses to patterns in minor tonality.

v  Perform (chant and bow) connected and separated bowing on the open D string for patterns in duple or triple. Keep a good bow hold throughout.

v  Perform (play) “Jim Along Josie” accurately and with good playing position. Move properly between rest and playing positions.