1st January 2016

1/100? That’s because I have challenged myself to write at least 100 posts for The Music Jungle this year. I’m getting off to a fine start…

I shall be teaching scales to a couple of keyboard ensembles, to various keyboard and piano beginners, and also to a young cellist this term (I’m covering for a colleague – I don’t normally teach cello but it was my “second study” so I’ll be within my zone of competence!). So I picked out these tunes and rounds as a way of making things more interesting and, maybe, melodious.

Just transpose them into any key you like for whatever instrument you are teaching. Or leave them as they are, and bong them out on glockenspiels and chime bars in class music lessons.

For a very basic version, try this.

A bit of keyboard/piano fingering has strayed into this Senwa Dedende. It’s a useful was of working on the “third finger over” moment. (Ignore the sudden sharp at the end; I’ve cropped this from another files)

I thought Ebeneezer Sneezer might be a useful way of approaching Detached Slurred bowing; Down-down Up-up etc. Or, as I started saying “PULL-PULL, PUSH- PUSH” when trying to sort out  the horrible bowing of an exam candidate I was accompanying. “La Streghe”, as I recall, and the child constantly ending up at the one or other end of the bow.

Finally, I thought this tune, for the cellist, in D or G major, would be a way of consolidating the “fourth finger stretch” for “ti-doh” at the end of lines 2 and 4. We could also experiment with different bowings and see which one was better (why?) easier (why?).

Well, I hope these will help everyone to find an new enthusiasm and excitement for teaching and learning scales!