Kingsbury Strings

Group Class Schedule

Spring Term: May 1 - June 23, 2016

 TIME: 3:00-5:00 PM

LOCATION: Eatham Methodist Church

DATE: Sunday's

Spring Term: 2016

May 1

May 15

June 5

Summer Term: 2016

 Begins: July 5-August 25

Concert Dress:
Ladies: White Blouse (no-Logos or prints), Black Dress Slacks (No-Skirts or Jeans), Black Dress Shoes (No-Boots, Sneakers or Flip-Flops)

Gentleman: White Dress Shirt w/ Neck Tie (No-Logos or prints), Black Dress Pants (No-Jeans), Black Belt, Black Dress Shoes (No-Boots, Sneakers or Flip-Flops)

*If students are not appropriately dressed, they will be asked to change before the performance. When that is not possible, they will be asked to sit in the audience.

Group Class

Group Classes are an intergral part of the Suzuki Method. Students learn to play in groups to reinforce their skills. In addition to private lessons each week, students meet twice a month to participate in group class activities.

A majority of the pieces covered in Group Class come from the Suzuki repertoire, a teaching method and philosophy that emphasizes memorization, using the mother-tongue approach. We adopt the mother-tongue approach to learning music - through listening, imitation, review, repetition and positive reinforcement. All pieces are carefully sequenced to develop the students' technique and listening skills.

Group Classes at Kingsbury Strings help to reinforce many of the concepts that are introduced in the weekly private lesson. Group classes give students the opportunity to make music together, developing ensemble and performance skills.

Benefits of attending Group Class:

• Develop Ensemble Skills
• Develop Musicianship
• Review skills learned in the private lesson
• Review Selected Repertoire
• Participate in Studio Community
• Share Music with Others

Group Class Repertoire:

Current Group Class Repertoire for Winter Term 2015

• Suzuki Books 1-2
• Bohemian Folk Song
• Voluntary
• Welsh Air
• Dawning of the Day
• Swallowtail Jig
• Mayo Morrins
• Doodle Dots
• Dragon Hunter
• Somwhere Over the Rainbow
• Lovers' Waltz
• Canon in D
• "Pax" from Rose Quartet

• Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
• Amazing Grace

             NEW Repertoire

        New Tunes for Strings:

     Volume-1/2 by Stanley Fletcher

• Argentine Tango
• Blue Lullaby
• Cradle Song
• Fiddler's Blues
• Jig
• Persian Song
• Puppet Ballet
• Slumber Song
• Song for the Open Air
• Song of the Waves
• Sweet Eyed Sue
• Sweet Melody



 Review

Group Class is especially valuable for reviewing skills through the playing of familiar, comfortably learned pieces. We continually play the pieces we know well, raising our competency and mastery level with each performance.

For true development of skills, review must be done daily, in individual practice at home. Playing pieces together in the group environment enhances the home practice and gives a further reason for continuing the review outside of Group Class.

Additionally, group instruction provides further opportunities to learn and develop important skills of ensemble playing and refinement.

In Group Class, we learn the discipline, language and expectations of ensemble playing. Working on the skill of playing together and learning how to make a group of individual players sound like one musical voice.