Keepviolinin

Yay!!! Spring is here once again in the bay area:) I’ve been pre-occupied after coming back from the Asia trip that I seldom blog anymore.  However, I should start again and share with all of you the success stories of my pre-twinkle students and book 1 graduates, since that’s the main purpose of starting this website:)

One story that I want to share with you which I found extremely encouraging is how one of my students went from playing Twinkle for almost a year with me to getting passed Perpetual Motion within 2 months.  This student was struggling with being consistent with the daily practice and listening for a very long time.  I really want my students to be able to play all of the twinkle variations fluently before moving onto the rest of Book 1.  If students are able to grasp all the concepts from the variations, they should not have too much problems getting through the rest of the book.  I want to encourage all the teachers out there to really spend quality time with your students on these twinkles before moving onto other repertoires in Suzuki. It does take quite a bit of patience though from both the parents and the teachers. 

Recently, our Mountain House Suzuki Strings students performed at the local Lunar New Year celebration. Here is a photo of me with the twinkle group getting ready to perform ‘Painted Face Role’ from an excerpt of a Beijing Opera:

Happy Spring Everyone!!!:)

Here’s a set of photos that summarized my group lesson at the Suzhou Industrial Park Youth and Children’s Center:

I really enjoyed my time at the center and saw some of my old students from Dulwich College in Suzhou.  I’m so happy they continued to learn the violin and never quit after I moved.

I’m all rested and ready to teach!:) I have a very special performance lined up for my ensemble group on Feb.16th in the Lunar New Year celebration hosted by the Mountain House Asian-American Association.  Stay tuned for photos of our Lunar New Year celebration performance in February!!!

~ Keep Violinin’

CLICK HERE for photos from our Mountain House Suzuki Strings Winter Recital held on Dec.8th, 2012.

After returning back from China and Taiwan, I’ve realized how lucky I have been to be able to obtain such thorough trainings during the Summer Suzuki Institutes on how to effectively teach violin to our students.  Teachers back in Asia would love to travel thousands of miles across the ocean just to attend these trainings so they can bring the joy of playing the violin to their students.  However, they can’t afford to fly to the states every summer, so I’m really thankful for the opportunities that I have been given while living in America and through the Suzuki website.

2013 is approaching shortly, so I wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with joy and laughter:)

~ Keep Violinin’

Mountain House Suzuki Strings had the privilege to perform at our local Girl Scout Rock Out concert this past Friday night:) The kids had fun playing for their own community and in their own school:)

Click Here to watch our Thanksgiving Performance at a local Chinese Church here in town:)

Enjoy, Eat, and Exercise!!!:))))

Yesterday I went for my violin lesson at University of Pacific with Ann Miller and she told me a great way to make our pinky stronger, especially those of us that have shorter pinkies.  Basically, you would pluck the open strings with your pinky nail pushed against the string and then pluck the open strings.  This exercise can be done everyday to strengthen our violin hand’s pinky.  I hope this will allow my pinky to become stronger so I can make my vibrato sound better on that finger:) Hope it will help you as well:)

Here is a photo to show you what I mean:

Here’s me and my stand partner during intermission at the Robert Livermore Community Center. What a FUN night!!!

I recently read an article on how to improve your violin or viola vibrato.  Here are some tips that may help you:

1. Release your hold – instead of using both touching points on your violin hand, release the base of the index finger touch and allow it to move freely away from the neck of the violin.

2. Create a smooth ‘siren’ sound – Use the 2nd finger in 3rd position on the A string to find the same E as your open string and slowly roll back and forth to make the smooth ‘siren’ sound.

3. Listen to the vibrato choices of other players – listen to the phrasing of a passage, determine its mood, and use vibrato to bring this message to light:)

Vibrato takes time to experiment, so be patient and enjoy this process of learning different types of vibrato:)

“Beautiful tone, Beautiful heart.” ~ Dr. Shinichi Suzuki

I love how helpful this little handy video recorder is with my lessons…I highly recommend this for both teachers and parents to have:)

Click Here to see the video of me leading the Suzuki students from the bay area on Thomas Gavotte from ‘Mignon’.  I was really impressed with the students especially with no rehearsals prior to this performance.  The students were great!!:)