[Note to Teachers: This series of lessons uses songs that address the use of drugs for recreation and escape. If your school policy allows, you might take advantage of opening a discussion on the topic of inappropriate use of drugs. If your curriculum is subject to restrictions on the topic, you should review the videotape before using it in the classroom.]
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Takin’
It to the Streets
Lessons for Strings, Middle School
Shifting with Grace
Lesson 3 of 4 |
Objectives
- Students will shift with ease and accuracy throughout the range
of their instruments, resulting in the ability to perform orchestral
and solo literature at a more advanced level (3 on a scale of 1 to
6).
National Standards for Music Education
2: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire
of music.
Materials
- Videotape of Takin’ It to the Streets
- Television
- VCR
- Rosamunde Overture by Franz Schubert, arr. Vernon Leidig (Van Nuys,
CA: Highland-Etling/Alfred Publishing Company, 1991) Level 3, or other
appropriate music
Prior
Knowledge and Experiences
- Students have established correct left-hand position and have played
Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture, (or another comparable
piece, chosen by the teacher) in first position (wherever possible).
Procedures
Part I
- Tell students they are going to view a videotape about musicians
who make their living performing on the streets. Tell them to pay
special attention to the violinists and their techniques in the tape,
Jim Graseck in the first segment, and Ying Wei and his granddaughter
Yee in the third segment.
- View videotape Takin’ It to the Streets.
- Discuss with students any observations they have about the violinists.
Accept reasonable comments including bowing technique, posture both
standing and sitting, interaction with passersby. Direct students
to discuss the left hand position and the ease of shifting as Jim
Graseck played in the subway [6:37--6:52].
Part II
Please note: The following portion of the lesson provides ideas for
teaching shifting. Teachers can add to the below ideas and/or use
shifting exercises of their choice.
- Tell students they are going to work on bettering their shifting
techniques.
- To prepare for shifting, demonstrate and ask students to imitate
a silent exercise. Slide each finger along one string, maintaining
contact with the string without depressing it to the fingerboard (minimizing
friction). Ask students to notice the space between the string and
fingerboard.
- Establish a rhythm patter (a dotted half note slurred to a quarter
note at a slow tempo) for the exercises that follow.
In steps 7-10 demonstrate the exercise first; then have students imitate.
- Begin with shifts on a single finger from first to third position.
Play first-position note (B with the first finger on the A string)
for two beats. On beat three, begin slow, pianissimo shift with the
first finger by reducing finger and bow pressure, slowing bow speed,
and leading with the wrist to avoid tension. On beat four, arrive
at the target pitch in the third position ( D with the first finger),
listening for the approach to the pitch to avoid overshooting it.
- Repeat third-position note (D), holding it for two beats; on beat
three, prepare for descending shift by moving thumb and wrist back
toward first position; release finger and bow pressure to achieve
a pianissimo shift of the first finger down to the note B. Prepare
and shift during beat three, arriving on beat four. Note to students
that they should look at fingertip to see that there is space between
the string and fingerboard during shift.
- Using the above exercise, shift from first to third position on
each finger and repeat the exercise on each string.
- For violins and violas: Using the same exercise, still at a slow
tempo, shift from first-position note (which will serve as tonic of
its key) to each step of its major scale. It is advisable at first
to shift only from first finger to second finger and back, first finger
to third finger and back, first finger to fourth finger and back,
and so on.
- Lead the orchestra in playing Rosamunde Overture, asking students
to shift at specific places in each part.
Indicators of Success
Students shift accurately and confidently from first position to higher
positions when performing the Rosamunde Overture (Or alternate selection.)
Follow-up
Identify and have students practice passages from solo literature that
can involve shifting on one finger to the same finger and then from one
finger to a different finger (e.g., on violin, Handel sonatas).
Have students apply refined shifting technique to increasingly more advanced
orchestral literature.
This lesson is adapted from Strategies for Teaching Strings and Orchestra,
compiled and edited by Dorothy A. Straub, Louis S. Bergonzi, and Anne
C. Witt (copyright 1996, MENC).
VH1, in partnership with Cable in the Classroom, collaborated with
MENC: The National Association for Music Education to develop this series of lessons.
National Standards for Music Education
- Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
- Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
- Reading and notating music.
- Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
- Evaluating music and music performances.
- Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
- Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
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