Singing violin pre-school
Many of the songs and verses in Barbara Müller's teaching material provide children from the age of five with an easy and lively introduction to violin playing.
I looked through the new violin school by Barbara Müller from Bern with great enthusiasm: Song box 1 + 2. The edition was sponsored by the Swiss section of ESTA (European String Teachers Association). It is intended for kindergarten and lower school and contains a valuable collection of current children's and folk songs, mainly Swiss-German, but also from other cultures; songs that parents know and enjoy singing along to. All posture games and the basic movements that make the violin sound with the left or right hand are accompanied by songs or little verses and are thus always rhythmically determined.
Emotional design is required hand in hand with the playing techniques. The author responds sensitively to the receptiveness of children. She soon guides the left hand over the entire length of the fingerboard. All the bowing exercises on empty strings are done while singing songs. The bow is soon allowed to bounce, flatter and grip. She introduces fingering in the order 1-2-3-4, which can be detrimental to the holistic posture of the left hand if you do not regularly repeat at least the excellent plucking exercise in booklet 1, page 9, with the little finger and by progressing quickly you will soon be able to control the purity of the 3rd finger with the lower string and that of the 4th finger with the upper string. She applies many aspects of Paul Rolland's approach, which promotes whole-body balance and freedom. The characteristics of each scale tone are introduced very carefully with the relative tone syllables do-re-mi, with the absolute tones receding somewhat into the background.
I am surprised that only the first fingering, semitone 2-3, appears in the 86 numbers, although it would be advisable to avoid freezing the fingering by changing to minor by moving the 2nd to the 1st finger or using a leading tone 3-4.
The Toolboxto which the Song boxes is a lively solfège lesson with lots of musical awareness and a broad introduction to technique (harmonics, glissando, two-string playing, spiccato, staccato, chord pizzicato, arpeggio, cadences, syncopation, shaping rests, fast tempo etc.) with suggestions for drawing, laying out rhythm cards, conducting, sight-singing. It can accompany the children throughout their music school years. The fantastic drawings by Anna Will, Andreas Heiniger and the author herself will hopefully inspire many children to practise diligently!
Barbara Müller: Liederkiste 1, violin pre-school with many children's songs, M&S 2295, Fr. 35.00;
Barbara Müller: Liederkiste 2, violin course for the lower school, M&S 2296, Fr. 34.00;
Barbara Müller: Toolbox, M&S 2297, Fr. 34.00; Müller & Schade, Bern 2016
