Primary Music Magazine
Issue 3.2 Summer 2019
Finding a Musical Path
Kip Pratt discusses his song-based approach to whole class violin teaching
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The violin is a complex instrument. We have to do one thing with one hand, while doing a completely different thing with the other. We have no frets to help with pitching, holding the instrument comfortably is a challenge and holding the bow with any semblance of flexibility is the work of many months. On top of all this, we may be required to read and interpret visual symbols! Perhaps it is no surprise therefore that the most common reaction to a whole class violin lesson from support staff is I’m off to the other side of the playing field! Enticing these colleagues back by achieving a beautiful sound is hard enough in a one to one situation, but when we are teaching 30 Year Four children, the likelihood of aural and postural anarchy racks up exponentially. How, therefore, can we ensure that, rather than frustrating and disfiguring a generation of potential string
