How often do your students come in asking to play their favorite song from the radio? By the time they can hold the bow, kids are itching to connect their new instrumental knowledge to their previous musical experiences. Sure, there are good intermediate arrangements of movie soundtracks and but do you expect kids to wait two or three years? You don't need to wait until young musicians can read syncopated rhythms before letting them engage with their favorite music. Beginners can play simplified along with music videos and recordings right away, and giving them that opportunity will strengthen your program.
Occasionally with my bigger beginner classes, I find it simpler to only tune D and A strings while letting the class plays along with the cd that goes with the method book. That gets dull really quickly if you do it every class. Switch it up with a popular song that uses the D and A strings. Whether you teach pizzicato or arco first, you can have students playing full length songs right away and solidifying their concept of a steady beat. First, find a song in D or G so beginners can play open strings with the chord changes. Then write out the letter names of the strings for a simplified notation and have students play along with the recording or music video. They feel like they are playing a "real" song and you have a few minutes to tune or give feedback on posture and positions.
Here's a tune using only open D and A strings, with only whole notes for the verse, and a repetitive quarter note & eighth note pattern for the chorus:
Want to use a song that doesn't work with open strings? Find a karaoke version in your preferred key or alter the pitch using one of many software or app options such as Audacity or Anytune.
Alternatively, for students that are a bit further along, use fingered pitches within the chord structure when arranging the simplified part.
I will be making a few more of these to use as tuning songs and warm-ups going forward. Some will be pop songs, but I'd like to do some other genres as well such as Mariachi and Fiddle tunes. As a travelling teacher, I am hoping to hone resources that are projector-friendly so I don't have to print copies of warm-ups for each school or frantically write notes on the board before my students walk in the door. If you are interested in that kind of thing for your strings classroom, please subscribe!
-Laura Berra
