Solo ICP Reflection: 2/10/2018

The first session of my solo ICP sessions went quite well. Since I had a semester of solo teaching
behind my back, I was more easily able to observe and decide on what aspects of technique to
work on. The first two students I had were younger, and the third student was a high school
student working on the C minor Casadesus concerto. The first two lessons went just as all of my
past ICP lessons went. Both students were struggling with bow technique, playing in rhythm and
in tune. I used a metronome, and helped the students by experimenting with auralizing notes and
playing with a drone pitch. Unsurprisingly, this helped them significantly, and actually
progressed them on their pieces. To set a steady pulse in their body, I played a metronome, but
had them walk to the beat while playing at the same time. This solved a lot of their issues, and
made them self-aware of any blatant counting/rhythmic errors that were taking place.
My third student, who was older, was having difficulty with bow weight, bow placement, contact
point, and intonation in some parts of this concerto. The Bach-Casadesus concerto has many
precarious moments, and I helped devise some fingerings and play for her in order for her to
understand how to draw and play a better sound. I exemplified the fact that being able to play a C
minor/major scale cleanly, up and down, would make playing this concerto much easier. On top
of this, I really tried to discuss finger patterning in different positions, as some parts of the
concerto move from high ranges of the instrument to low (quite rapidly). Being aware of where
each finger should be diatonically, and where each finger should be in terms of what is written
on the page, definitely helped my last student in finding out what she specifically needed to work
on.