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Dallas Suzuki Violin Lessons | 11882 Greenville Ave | Dallas, Texas 75243

North Texas' Premier Violin Studio | (214) 269-8545

The Successful Path to Suzuki Violin Twinkle Graduation

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One of the building blocks of Suzuki music education is braking down all skills needed to play the violin (or any instrument) in very small pieces to be absorbed by our children’s minds. This approach is very successful, but requires consistent, repetitive daily practice of all the skill-building exercises, games, posture, movements, and musical concepts. The Suzuki Talent Education process also requires a great dose of patience in the part of the parent, as well as the expert guidance from the Suzuki music teacher.

I am passionate about helping every one of my students develop his/her full music potential and ability. In my effort to help the learning process, I have written an outline of the steps we follow to practice and get excellent at our Twinkle Variations and Theme. Enjoy!

– Rigo Murillo

The Successful Path to Suzuki Violin Twinkle Graduation

  • Taking a bow (“I’m eager to learn!” – “Thank you for teaching me.”)
  • Violin hand, bow hand
  • Violin hold
  • Bow hold (while listening to recording)
  • Bow Song (“Up like a rocket…”)
  • Violin hand shape/position (finger tunnel)
  • Twinkle Variations Rhythms (5 variations and Theme):
    • A – TTTT-Ta-Ta – Practice Video!!
    • B – 1-2-shh-4
    • C – Jack-Rabbit-Eats-Carrots
    • D – Blueberry-Strawberry
    • E – Wish-I-had-a-motorcycle
    • Twinkle Theme
  • Practicing Rhythms (Implementation):
    • Clapping
    • Rhythm movements (hands on legs, stomp, march, etc.)
    • Bow in the air (up and down rhythmic movement)
    • Bow on violin shoulder (without violin)
    • Twinkle Rock (TTTT-Ta-Ta 12 times and a Ta at the end)
    • Play all rhythms on E string
    • String Crossings w/ Twinkle Rhythms (E & A strings)
  • Twinkle Variations Prep Songs
    • Flower Song (A, E, E1, E)
      • Practice/review violin hand shape/finger tunnel
      • 1st finger on E string (arched, with fingertip on string)
    • Monkey Song (A, A1, A2, A3, A3, A2, A1)
      • Practice without bow hand, just fingers
      • Parent/teacher plays the bow  with every rhythm while student puts fingers down
      • Student plays bow and fingers with all rhythms with a brief stop in between notes
      • Student plays bow and fingers with all rhythms without stop between notes
      • The Monkey Song can also be played on E string, and later, D string
  • LNM-Generator-Concert-1TWINKLE VARIATIONS AND THEME (Twinkle Burger/Sandwich – Album Tracks 1 through 6)
    • Bread (A, E, E1, E, A3, A2, A1, A)
    • Meat/Middle of sandwich (E, A3, A2, A1, E, A3, A2, A1)
    • Practice only breads and only meats with every rhythm
    • Put burger together with each rhythm variation (stopping before putting fingers 1, 2, & 3)
    • Practice burger with each rhythm variation (reducing the stop before putting fingers 1, 2, & 3 until is gone)
    • Practice the whole burger, same variation many times (repetition) with each one
    • Practice two, three variation rhythms at a time until stamina is built
    • Practice ALL Twinkle Variations in “one take” with NO STOPPING – Here’s a Twinkle Var. A Practice Video
    • Practice ALL Twinkle Variations in “one take” WITH PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT (live or from the recording)
    • Practice PERFORMING ALL Twinkle Variations in “one take” WITH PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT (live or from the recording) for friends and family
    • Perform all, beautifully played Twinkle Variations in a lesson
  • GET TWINKLE GRADUATION CERTIFICATE!
  • Perform Twinkle Variations at a Play-In or Concert
  • KEEP REVIEWING TWINKLE VARIATIONS DAILY
  • Learn other variations / make up your own
  • Play “music/mental skill” games with Twinkle Variations: Ghost game, clapping game, on/off switch game, etc.These games increase the level of concentration and mindfulness and prevent children from playing on “auto-pilot” mode.
  • PLAY BETTER!!

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How A Violin Is Made

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Peter Prier is a violin maker who has established a prestigious violin making school in downtown Salt Lake City, UT. Watch him telling the story of how he got to be a violin maker.

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Community Suzuki Workshop Recital: Violin Students

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Congratulations!

Congratulations to everybody who came to our workshop! Frances, Alondra, Ailyn, and Alejandro did a great job performing in the recital. Next time, we will be glad to have others who are prepared perform, as well. Well done!

[Read more…]

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This Is Your Brain On Vivaldi and Beatles

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Using a combination of brain imaging and computer modeling, researchers found areas in the auditory, motor, and limbic regions to be activated during free listening to music.

Using a combination of brain imaging and computer modeling, researchers found areas in the auditory, motor, and limbic regions to be activated during free listening to music. (Credit: Image courtesy of Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland))

Aug. 7, 2013 — Listening to music activates large networks in the brain, but different kinds of music are processed differently. A team of researchers from Finland, Denmark and the UK has developed a new method for studying music processing in the brain during a realistic listening situation. Using a combination of brain imaging and computer modeling, they found areas in the auditory, motor, and limbic regions to be activated during free listening to music. They were furthermore able to pinpoint differences in the processing between vocal and instrumental music.

The new method helps us to understand better the complex brain dynamics of brain networks and the processing of lyrics in music. The study was published in the journal NeuroImage.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the research team, led by Dr. Vinoo Alluri from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, recorded the brain responses of individuals while they were listening to music from different genres, including pieces by Antonio Vivaldi, Miles Davis, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Shadows, Astor Piazzolla, and The Beatles. Following this, they analyzed the musical content of the pieces using sophisticated computer algorithms to extract musical features related to timbre, rhythm and tonality. Using a novel cross-validation method, they subsequently located activated brain areas that were common across the different musical stimuli.

The study revealed that activations in several areas in the brain belonging to the auditory, limbic, and motor regions were activated by all musical pieces. Notable, areas in the medial orbitofrontal region and the anterior cingulate cortex, which are relevant for self-referential appraisal and aesthetic judgments, were found to be activated during the listening. A further interesting finding was that vocal and instrumental music were processed differently. In particular, the presence of lyrics was found to shift the processing of musical features towards the right auditory cortex, which suggests a left-hemispheric dominance in the processing of the lyrics. This result is in line with previous research, but now for the first time observed during continuous listening to music.

“The new method provides a powerful means to predict brain responses to music, speech, and soundscapes across a variety of contexts,” says Dr. Vinoo Alluri.

The above story is based on materials provided by Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland), via AlphaGalileo.
Journal Reference: Vinoo Alluri, Petri Toiviainen, Torben E. Lund, Mikkel Wallentin, Peter Vuust, Asoke K. Nandi, Tapani Ristaniemi, Elvira Brattico. From Vivaldi to Beatles and back: Predicting lateralized brain responses to music. NeuroImage, 2013; 83: 627 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.064
Credit: Image courtesy of Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland)

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Worth the drive?

Because of our high-quality instructional program and un-compromised commitment to excellence, we have families from all over the metroplex coming to take violin lessons at our program. Don't sacrifice excellent Suzuki music education!

These are some areas where our Suzuki music families drive from:

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