A most famous melody… I will sometimes play its opening notes in order to lighten the mood of a lesson. Of course, I play it badly with my bow going in every direction — except the correct one 🙂
When teaching the simpler pieces of the repertoire, whether for a young student or adult, it is very important to introduce more advanced skills. This should be done in a slow and progressive pattern throughout the student’s study.
With this short example, it is my wish that you gain a little bit of insight on how to do so.
We all use open strings, like “pedal tones,” to assistant training our focus and accuracy of intonation and tonal quality. This is to be a lifelong method — refining our skills on a daily, hourly, even minute by minute basis.
Combining basic skills of excellent intonation, we additionally learn the necessity and gain the skills to vary the balance and posture of our left arm, hand and fingers — technique required per a given passage.
It is my wish that you find this of benefit — enjoy!
God bless,
Drew
Original melody is the French folksong, c.1774:
“Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”
French lyrics:
Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman, Ce qui cause mon tourment. Papa veut que je raisonne, Comme une grande personne. Moi, je dis que les bonbons Valent mieux que la raison.
English translation:
Ah! I shall tell you, mommy, what causes my torment. Papa wants me to reason like an adult. I say that candy Is better than reason.
Perhaps we could substitute chocolate for “candy” 🙂