Paul Rolland’s Shuttle Game
Fifth-grade violinists and violists have been playing games to develop the motion needed for vibrato and shifting. Notice how the elbow scoops under the violin and how the thumb comes under the fingerboard.
I learned this exercise many years ago from the Paul Rolland films, “The Teaching of Action in String Playing”. If I remember correctly, this exercise is called the Shuttle Game. Games like this encourage fluid motions, and a soft, round hand position. 
Debut of the 2009 Beginning Orchestra
The WI Beginning Orchestra is busy getting ready for our big moment … on Wednesday, June 3rd at 9:00am, we will play our first formal concert! The show opens with “Super Twinkle”, followed by the Suzuki tunes, “Lightly Row” and “Song of the Wind”. Last on the program is our first non-unison piece, “Dance in D”, by Richard Stephan. Unfortunately, we only had enough time to learn the first part of “Dance in D”. Stay tuned for next fall when we will learn the piece in its entirety.
Here is a photo of a beginning violinist working on the bunny hop from “Song of the Wind(z)”.
