Hi Cillian,
Today we started work on John Ryan's Polka.
We discussed our 2nd finger positions and how we know where they need to go. This piece has an F# in it (the # at the beginning of the piece has the F line going through its tummy).
This means:
on the G string we need to play B (high 2)
on the D string we need to play F# (high 2)
on the A string we need to play C (low 2)
on the E string we need to play G (low 2)
We discussed how this is the same pattern as the G major scale we've been practising.
We identified all the 2nd fingers, circled and arrowed them. Please practise these notes first, just play through all the circled notes and focus on which string it is on and whether it is high or low.
We then worked on bars 2, 4 and 6. In my book these bars have a blue line underneath, you're welcome to put a colour under yours as well.
Please practise bar 2 by saying the note names (D B D B), finger numbers (D 2g D 2g) and then play it.
Please do bars 4 and 6 in the same way. Notice that these 3 bars all start the same way (D B).
Posture - please remember to keep your left wrist down away from your violin.