Strings Curriculum Grades 3-12
Grade 3
Students will:
Grade 4
Students Will:
Grade 5
Students Will:
Grade 6
Students Will:
Middle School and Beyond
Students Will:
Students will:
- Learn basic posture, bow hold and left hand position for playing the violin, viola or cello
- Learn basics of note reading, especially on the D and A strings
- Learn to play with fingers 1,2,3 and 4 (violin and viola) or fingers 1,3 and 4 (cello)
- Work on basics of ensemble playing, first in rhythmic unison and eventually in a polyphonic texture
- Learn one-octave G and D Major scales (also C Major for viola, A Major for violin)
- Learn basics of string crossings, bow directions (up-bow and down-bow) and slurring notes
- Learn basics of quality sound production
- Learn basics of left hand efficiency
- Learn to play legato and with a basic staccato stroke
- Begin to play with dynamics and shaping of phrases
- Play rhythms with half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and quarter rests.
- Memorize short songs
Grade 4
Students Will:
- Refine and perfect posture, bow hold and left hand position for playing the violin, viola and cello
- Refine and perfect note reading skills, especially on the G and E strings (violin) or C and G strings (viola and cello). Students will also refine sight-reading skills
- Learn to play with the 2nd finger (cello) or a low 2nd finger (violin and viola) and low 1st finger
- Play ensemble music that is in multiple melodic and rhythmic parts
- Learn all Major one octave major scales up to two sharps and flats and two octave G, A and B-flat (violin) or C, D and E-flat (viola and cello)
- Learn minor one octave scales up to two sharps and flats
- Refine rhythmic skills by playing triplets, dotted rhythms, etc.
- Refine skills of crossing strings, slurring multiple notes and awareness of bow directions
- Refine legato and staccato strokes, learn martele and detache strokes
- Refine sound production skills with attention to contact point of bow on string, bow speed and bow weight
- Play with a more sophisticated sense of dynamics and phrasing
- Memorize songs of 16 measures or more
Grade 5
Students Will:
- Further refine rhythmic skills by playing songs with syncopated rhythms, songs in mixed meters and songs in compound meters
- Learn all one and two octave major and minor scales up to three sharps or flats and begin to shift to 2nd, 3rd or 4th position in two-octave scales: C, D, E-flat and F Major and C, D, E and F minor for violin; F, G, A and B-flat Major and F, G, A and B minor for viola and cello
- Begin to play two-octave arpeggios up to three sharps and flats
- Memorize songs of 24 measures or more
- Begin to play with vibrato
- Begin to play songs that require shifting to 3rd position
- Begin to pay attention to style and how this is effected by the bow contact point, speed and weight
- Sight read songs with complex rhythms and scale/arpeggio patterns
Grade 6
Students Will:
- Continue to refine rhythmic skills by learning to notate rhythms and sight-read songs with compound meters, syncopation and and mixed meter
- Learn circle of fifths and chords
- Be able to identify melodic intervals
- Sight read songs that require shifting
- Learn to shift to 2nd, 4th and 5th position
- Refine vibrato skills
- Learn three octave scales: G and A major (violin) or C and D major (viola and cello)
- Begin to work on more advanced bow strokes, such as ricochet, spiccato and upbow staccato
- Further develop sense of musical style throughout the history of Western music
- Memorize solo performance pieces
Middle School and Beyond
Students Will:
- Learn all three octave major and minor scales
- Learn all three octave major and minor arpeggios
- Sight-read music with a high level of proficiency
- Play with a highly organized left hand and shift to and from higher positions with ease
- Play with a relaxed and appropriate vibrato
- Play with a great personal sense of musicality and command of bow strokes, dynamics and style
- Continue to learn music theory and ear training
- Perform in community outreach concerts
- Participate in local, regional or even national competitions