Holding Your Bass By Matthew Baldwin, Fairfax County Public Schools

Transcription

1 Holding Your Bass By Matthew Baldwin, Fairfax County Public Schools 1. Stand behind your bass, holding the bass at arm s length with your left hand on the Shoulder Joint. 2. POINT THE F HOLES AT YOUR DIRECTOR 3. Spread your feet so they are parallel to your shoulders 4. Step forward with left foot, approx. 6 from center of bass 5. Step forward with right foot, keeping parallel with shoulders

2 6. Turn your right foot out at a 45 degree angle 7. Bend your knees slightly 8. Let the bass fall into your left hip. The right upper bout should be cradled by your upper thigh and waist. This is the only point of contact with the bass besides your left hand. 9. Re-adjust your entire body so the F Holes are pointed at the director 10. Check to see if your endpin is the correct length a. 1 st position, 1 st finger A on the G String should be directly across from your left eye.

3 Making the Bow Hold on a Pencil or Stick Cello (Revised Nov., 2007; Feb., 2010) 1. With the right hand, make a circle with the longest finger and the thumb. Your thumb should be bent so you can see the bump the knuckle makes. Move your thumb so it is touching both middle fingers. Move the tip of the thumb so it touches the middle of the middle two fingers. Hold up your pinky and first finger so they look like a bunny s ears. The middle two fingers are past the end of the thumb and make the bunny s BIG teeth. Tap the tip of the thumb on the fingers right in the middle of the fingers. Munch, munch, munch; what s for lunch? 2. Hold the pencil or stick with your left hand so it is level with the ground. Hold the stick near the middle or the pencil at the eraser end. 3. Touch the pad near the TIP of the RIGHT thumb to the stick or pencil. The thumb goes right toward the pencil or stick. Be sure the thumb is bent and it touches near the tip. Do this several times. KEEP HOLDING WITH THE LEFT HAND 4. With the thumb touching at the tip, wrap around the middle two fingers so they touch in the middle of the middle two fingers. The fingers hang over a lot KEEP HOLDING WITH THE LEFT HAND 5. Let the other two fingers wrap around gently. Spread the fingers a little. Check the thumb to be sure it is touching at the tip and bent. 6. The bunny ate a lot of carrots for lunch, so he is sleepy and needs a nap. Lean your right hand on the side of the first finger. KEEP HOLDING WITH THE LEFT HAND Permission granted to copy. Nancy Kredel, Orchestra Director Greenbriar West Elementary School, Fairfax County, VA Please suggestions for improvement to nkredel@verizon.net

4 Making the Bow Hold on the Bow Cello (revised, Nov., 2007, Feb., 2010) Point the tip of the bow to the left and grab the bow in the middle with your LEFT HAND. Make the hair face the ground. Get your bunny bow hold with the right hand (in the air). Touch the tip of your thumb to your middle two fingers. Pinkie and first finger point up, making the bunny s ears. Move your thumb to the middle of the middle two fingers so the bunny has BIG teeth. Tap your thumb at the wrinkle. Munch, munch, munch; what s for lunch? Point to the spot on your bow where the thumb will touch the bow, right next to the bump on the frog. Put the pad near tip of your thumb on the stick, hitting the brown part of the bow. KEEP HOLDING THE BOW WITH YOUR LEFT HANDALSO Put your fingers on top of the stick, with your middle two fingers on top of the stick. Let all of the fingers gently hang over the stick. Check to see if your thumb is touching near the tip and is bent. Spread out the fingers a little. Wrap around the fingers so the end of the second finger hits the metal clip on the bow. The third finger will wrap around the frog and the pinky will go slightly over the top of the stick. Lean your hand toward the first finger so the bunny can take a nap. Permission granted to Copy. Please Comments or suggestions for improvement to nkredel@verizon.net

5 Beginning&Songs& Learning&the&Strings:& Each,Each,Each,EachandEvery Ant,Ant,Ant,Digginginthe Dirt,Dirt,Dirt,Allthewayto Greece,Greece,Greece,jumpinginthe C(Sea),C,C GDG&Song& GDGstomp GDGstomp GGDD GDGstomp DAD&Song& DADstomp DADstomp DDAA DADstomp Halloween&Rag& GGGGDDD GGGGGGD GGGGDDD GGGGDDG Andrepeat Quadruple&DAD&Song& DDDDrestrestAAAArestrestDDDD rollyourbow rollyourbow Quadruple&GDG&Song& GGGGrestrestDDDDrestrestGGGG rollyourbow rollyourbow Ode&to&Joy&Harmony& DDDDDDDDDDDDAAAA(12Dsand4As) DDDDDDDDDDDDAADD(12Ds,2As,2Ds) Nowthatwehavelearnedhowtoholdthe instrument,andhowtousethebow,weareready toaddthelefhand