The Five Minds For The Future chapter three was an interesting read. It was more complex than the Daniel Pink book. I found myself getting lost in all those intellectuals he used for his research. Basically he wanted to let persons like myself know how the mind works and the various ways we research and develop our profession. After reading the chapter I have a little more insight on how to research my project. In the chapter Gardner gave eight types of synthesis and four components. I hope to use what his ideas to develope my project and come up with some use ideas in my conclusion.
My research will be on intonation. I read Mrs. Butts blog and I see that she has chose that as her project. Mine project dealt with my elementary students. My approach was to use the listening to notes on the piano, vocal, memory, and rules to get them to understand the relationship between the piano, and the violin. I plan to use the four components help with my evaluation.
I had talked with one of my collegues yesterday who is in the class. We had come to the conclusion that although we are pressed for time in the class that on the whole it has been a very interesting class and that an extension to the class for another semester would give us a chance to develope more and better research and that we could very well come up with a lot more usefull ideas that would help us develope our students more.
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Hi Ira,
ReplyDeleteYes, intonation problems definitely tend to be the string teacher's nemesis. That's why I like to start my students with a modified Suzuki approach. This reduces the distrations of books & stands, allowing the students to focus on technique and sound. I was very fortunate to study at SIUE when John Kendall was leading the program when it was an international training place for graduate Suzuki teachers.
Technique is so important, and many intonation problems can be ameliorated by good hand positions. You are on the right track with singing and listening. If a student can sing in tune, that means they hear the correct pitch and you can expect them to be able to play in tune. I haven't done it as much this year, but I also like to work on dictation - first just rhythmic dictation and later add pitches encompassing a major tetrachord. When I start with rhythmic dictation, I begin with four measures in 4/4 time (the given) and only use quarter notes and rests.
I would like to see APS embrace the Suzuki approach. I have seen the difference this can make in my former school system in St. Louis. We had a program there where every single third grader played Suzuki violin. We had a class set of violins and the students did not take them home, but played a nice concert program in the spring. In fourth grade rented their own instruments and students could choose to continue violin or switch to cello. Note reading began in fourth grade. I had success with postponing viola and bass until fifth grade. Nothing against viola or bass, but this made scheduling easier and allowed the teacher to "choose" those who could be more independent on those parts. Maybe over the next year or two I can show APS teachers how to put this program into action!
I am looking forward to the trip to DC so I can spend time with my devoted colleagues. I have never been to DC, so this will be a fun trip!
Hi Carole
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments on intonation. I seem to be running out of time as far as this action research is concerned. After this test I will try with the singing and listening. My fifth graders seem to do rather well on intonation. I have had some of them for two or three years and they seem to know where to place there fingers. They may not know exactly what they are listening for but at this stage I will take what I can get. I do have some findings with all my schools I just wnat to make sure that I come up with the right conclusions. This will be something to build on for next year. As for D.C., if you have never been there you are in for a treat. You will need a good week there just to see all the buildings on the mall.
I too am still dealing with intonation issues and after making sure tapes were repositioned, since sweaty fingers push the tape around, I decided to just go back to "August" and just do fingering exercises in rest postion(vertical), and did some fun finger taps on the neck like Simon Says, type thing. It still amazes me that once I started incorporating low 2's(Fnat/Cnat), some totally forget who F# was! lol. The biggest offense to my ear(besides open E, is still 3G! My violins, violas, and cellos just have to get in the habit of opening up that left hand for correct placement, because if they don't get that right, look out 4 finger!
ReplyDeleteI just really wished I had more time with my students as well. I found it particularly challenging to get kids to after school rehearsals and I also had bowing issues this year.
Good luck!
sjt