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Violin Stars Level 1Lesson 2

Welcome to Lesson 2! Here are you goals for this lesson -

Learn how to play the Huckleberry Pancake rhythm

Learn how to play the Down Pony Up Pony rhythm

Learn how to play the Mama Oh Mama rhythm

Learn how to play the Wish I had a Motorcycle rhythm

Learn how to play the Seagull Song

Now, before you watch this lesson on the DVD, please allow me to give you some quick bowing advice! Our violin bows are rather long! So it can be confusing as to what part of the bow to use. We certainly don't want to use the entire bow yet, and it can be awkward to play at the frog or tip at this stage. So that leaves just one place – the middle. The middle of the bow is where we are going to do all of our main playing for now.

The picture shows my bow on the A string in the middle of the bow. My bow is in about the middle of bow country and it is also straight. For now, you will want to keep your bow in the middle of bow country and not too close to the bridge or fingerboard. The middle is the safest place for us to be right now!

Huckleberry Pancake

Now, you may go ahead and play along with Lesson 2 on the DVD. Please return here when you finish!

Once you have the feel for the Huckleberry Pancake rhythm try to get some staccato going in the pancake part. Think Huckleberry STOP STOP. So the Huckleberry notes are smooth and the pancake notes are sticky. Make sure your bow stops at the end of the Down stroke and at the end of the Up stroke. At this stage of our training we will always start down bow.

So make sure that you spend some time practicing that rhythm on all four strings with crisp clean stops.

Down Pony Up Pony

The next rhythm is called Down Pony Up Pony. The word 'Down' and 'Up' are played with a longer bow stroke and each 'pony' is played with two small bow strokes. You can also say,“DOWN tiny UP tiny DOWN tiny UP tiny. Play along with the DVD

and then try this rhythm out on all four strings.

Mama Oh Mama

The third rhythm is called Mama Oh Mama. It's a tricky one because it is a staccato rhythm and it also has a tricky rest involved. If I were singing it, I would say Mama SHH! Oh Mama SHH! Oh Mama. And during the SHH! I would not play. You can also sniff during the rest, and it works quite well.

Wish I had a Motorcycle

The next rhythm is called Wish I had a motorcycle. Each note of this rhythm is the same exact length so that is your challenge. Make sure you stay in the middle of the bow and make all of the notes sound even and smooth. Keep your wrist relaxed. Sometimes it's helpful to play this rhythm while sitting on your bed so that you get a bouncy feeling!

Seagull SongThe last rhythm gets us ready for using long smooth bow strokes. We call it the Seagull Song. To begin, place your bow on the A string and use as long of bow strokes as you feel comfortable with. And it's fine if you only use a couple of inchesof bow in the beginning. Too much bow will just get you into trouble. So you will play A A E E A E A and then do it again A A E E A E A. Practice this exercise a lot because you will need this basic smooth stroke for a lot of your first music.

Lesson 2 Complete!

Important! To pass this lesson you will need to send me a recorded sample of your playing. This is the key to your success, because it allows me to provide you with feedback, and correct any mistakes that you might be making.

Most people have a basic microphone on their computer that will record sound, or you can use a phone or mp3 player to record the sound and then unload it into your computer. Whatever works for you, I'm not picky. You don't have to master all five rhythms yet, but I would like to hear you play

Huckleberry Pancake on the E and A string

Down Pony Up Pony on the E and A strings

The other rhythms are more complex and you won't be required to master them until the next lesson. Do practice them though! And please be patient, though they may seem silly or boring, these are basic rhythms that advanced players use in every piece of music they play. By mastering them now you'll be ahead of the game in the long run. And, believe it or not, just the basic down up bowing is the hardest to master! It's true, so that's why we start with rhythms in the beginning.

Be sure to practice everything that you have learned before moving on to lesson 3.