Course Content by Unit
Unit 1: Teaching bowed string technique to children and young people learning bowed stringed instruments
- Posture
- Position of, and with, the instrument
- Bow
- Musculature
- Making the sound
- Left hand-Right hand
- Vibrato
- Shifting
- Tension and how to avoid it
- Pizzicato
- Warm-ups
- Slurred and legato bowing
- String crossing and legato bowings
- String crossing and double stops
- Bowing: detache, portato; spiccato; martelle; sautille
- Harmonics
- Repairs
Unit 2: How children and young people learn to play bowed stringed instruments
- How learners learn
- Simultaneous Learning
- Learning spiral
- My learners now
- Understanding, assimilating and consolidating
- Skills, knowledge and understanding
- Learning music musically
- Developing aural awareness/perception and acuity
- Pupil/teacher relationships
- Learning scales and studies
- Starting a lesson
Unit 3: Teaching strategies for teachers of bowed stringed instruments working with children and young people
- Understanding my teaching now
- Preparation for teaching
- Expectation of teaching outcomes
- Diagnosis of learners’ needs
- Audio-Visual-Kinaesthetic learning
- Aptitude for learning
- Motivation for learning
- Simultaneous learning (P Harris)
- Assessment
- Exams/Festivals/Competitions
- Tutors/methods
- Teaching whole classes/small groups/individuals
- Proactive and reactive teaching
Unit 4: Developing a bowed strings teaching curriculum for children and young people
- Understanding what is meant by a curriculum and a syllabus
- Preparing and implementing schemes of work
- Short/medium and long term planning
- Personalising learning
- Becoming a reflective practitioner
- Communicating as a musician
- Playing and performing
- Chamber music
- Special Needs
- Rolland – Suzuki – Colourstrings
- 11. Alexander Technique
Laura Ritchie
Deputy Director of Academic Studies
