We have the most control over the progress of our students when we start them from the very beginning. However, sometimes along the way we may encounter a student who seems to have missed out on an important aspect of their training despite our best efforts, or we may have students come to us from other teachers that we need to assess.

Even if a student is already playing intermediate repertoire when them come to me, I always evaluate them to see if this is really the level at which they ought to be playing. Sometimes we need to go backward before we can move forwards.

Here’s a list of things I believe a student should be able to do before moving on to intermediate rep.:

• Play all dynamics with a strong tone and good bow control
• Play a correct detache and staccato stroke
• Consistently play with a correct bow hand
• Consistently play with correct left hand technique
• Be able to name all notes in first position and find them on their instrument
• Be able to count quarter, 8th note, 16th note, half note, whole note, and dotted note rhythms themselves

While this is not an exhaustive list of what a student ready for intermediate rep. should be able to do, it’s a great start!

Questions about whether or not your student is ready to move on to intermediate rep.?

 

Don’t know what to do with a student who struggles in one or more of the areas listed?

 

Let me know your questions/problems and I’ll do my best to answer them!

Emily Williams is the creator of Strategic Strings: An Online Course for Violin and Viola Teachers

11th October 2015 Instrumental Skills, Music Lessons, Teaching Leave a comments

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