Grade 5 Orchestra

Course Objectives

 

Fall Semester

 

"Intensive Weeks" 

Students will meet for class a total of 5 times during a two week period.  This will help catch and correct bad posture/techniques before they become embedded as a habit.  

 

During Intensive Weeks students will learn:

 

BOW

1. Bow hold (thumb bump, middle fingers on the first line, pinky on top (vn/va), natural finger spaces, big circle.)

2. Pencil bowhold: lighter and easier to shape fingers correctly.

3. Bowhold on bow Exercises:  tiny circles/reverse circles, windshield wipers, buh-bye.  (Always check thumb bump)

4. Bow:  stick, tip, horsehair, frog, eyeball, ferrule, screw, winding.

5. Wrist/elbow exercise.

6. Tip = up bow;   Frog = down bow

7. Pizzicato vs. Arco

8. Turn the screw 2 times away to play, 2 times back to pack.

9. Rosin the bow 20 times only once a week.

10. How to take the bow in and out of the case.

11. String lengths – how to check if the bow is straight.

12. Keep fingernails trimmed so you can hold the bow properly.

13. Bow should be perpendicular to strings.

 

INSTRUMENT

1. Scroll, Neck, Fingerboard, Shoulders, Bridge, Fine Tuners, Chin Rest, End Button/Pin.

2. 4 strings (Violin: GDAE, Viola/Cello: CGDA, Bass: EADG)

3. Where your tapes are and what they mean.

4. Rest position.

5. Playing position.

6. Hold instrument straight out with your neck muscles.(violin/viola only)

7. Open D, Open A, Open G.

8. Shoulder rest:  how to use it and why it’s important. (violin/viola only)  Rockstop (cello/bass only)

9. Safe instrument transport.

 

MUSIC/THEORY

1. Staff  (5 lines, 4 spaces, always count them starting at the bottom.)

2. Clef:  Violin=treble clef,   Viola=alto clef,   Cello/Bass=bass clef

3. Quarter rest = 1 beat of silence/freeze the bow.

4. Quarter note = 1 beat of sound.  

5. Double bar line = ‘the’ ‘end.’     

6. How to read common notes on your staff.

7. Two dots at end of staff = repeat sign.

8. Down bow symbol.  (Outline of frog, move bow towards the frog for this note.)

9. Up bow symbol.  (Outline of tip, move bow towards the tip for this note.)

 

 

Regular Schedule Begins

In-School Lessons:

Students will meet once a week on an assigned lesson day.  Students will attend lessons at a different period each week on a rotating schedule which will be provided at the beginning of each month.  The lesson day will rarely change; examples of a change would be Thursday/Friday students in the month of November when school is closed Thursday/Friday for teacher's convention, then closed again for Thanksgiving.  The students' lesson will be assigned to a different day for each of those weeks.  This will be indicated on the November in-school lesson schedule.

 

8am Rehearsals:

Students will meet once a week at 8am for rehearsal.  Please note that rehearsal days can and WILL change periodically.  As the concert approaches, I will begin combining groups so students may get accustomed to hearing one another play in preparation for the concert.

 

Rehearsal days are Tuesday-Friday; typically set up like this:

Tuesday: All Violas

Wednesday:  1/2 of the Violins

Thursday:  1/2 of the Violins

Friday:  All Cello and Bass

 

 

General Goals for remainder of Fall Semester:

D string notes and A string notes, pizzicato

D string notes arco with beginner bowhold

Reading D and A string notes on the staff pizzicato

Reading D and A string notes arco with beginner bowhold

D Major Scale

Basic melodies both pizzicato and arco

Regular bowhold

Reading simple melodies both pizzicato and arco with regular bowhold

Presentation of what we've learned so far at our Winter Concert.  This will include exercises and simple melodies from the book, along with other supplements.  The dress code for the Winter Concert will be black and white.  Presentation for the parents will occur in the gym at 2pm.

 

 

 

 

Spring Semester

  

BOW

1. Regular bowhold
2. Slur/Tie
3. Staccato
4. Hooked bow
5. Piano/Forte (combinations of pressure and speed)
6. Pizzicato bowhold Continue: Tip = up bow;   Frog = down bow
7. Continue: Tip = up bow;   Frog = down bow

 

INSTRUMENT

1. Continue work on proper posture
2. Begin notes as needed from G string, C string, or E string (depending on instrument)
3. 4th finger notes (Violin/Viola)
4. Shifting (Cello/Bass)
5. How to play the instrument with ‘one eye on the music and one eye on the conductor.’

 

MUSIC/THEORY

1. Continue Staff  (5 lines, 4 spaces, always count them starting at the bottom.)
2. Ledger Lines
3. Half rest = 2 beats of silence/freeze the bow.
4. Half note = 2 beats of sound.  
5. Dotted Quarter rhythms = students will use math skills to determine fraction value of notes.  
6. Continue reading and adding common notes on your staff.
7. Dotted half note = 3 beats of sound.
8. Whole rest/Whole note rhythms = 4 beats of silence/freeze the bow, 4 beats of pacing the bow equally.
9. Reading slurs/ties/hooked bow.
10. Dynamics:  p, mp, mf, f.  crescendo, decrescendo.
11. Reading and counting 8th notes.
12. Arpeggio: what it is, how to build one, how to play it.
13. Pick-up note:  what it is and how to count it.
14. Key signatures: identifying them, and moving on to the key of G major.
15. Conductor's motions:  what they mean in relation to directions in the printed music, and how they help the ensemble stay together.

 

General Goals for remainder of Spring Semester:

Improve on general musicianship.

Improve the ability to play and count one's own music while increasing awareness of other music being played around them.  

Taking that one step further and correcting whatever may be off so that once listening to another, adjustments can be made so the ensemble is playing in sync with one another.

A presentation of abilities learned so far this year will be presented at the Spring Concert.  This will include some scales/arpeggios, and a few pieces of music ranging in both difficulty and genre.  

The dress code for the spring concert will be black and white.

Presentation concert for parents will be at 7pm.