Flashcard Club

January concluded the Flashcard Club in my studio.  I really like making sure all my students know their notes and flashcards are a great way to do this.  However, I don't have a lot of time to spend in the lessons to do this, so I just focus on it for one month out of the year.  Each January we dust of the flashcards and I give everyone a goal - and if they accomplish their goal they are part of the Flashcard Club and I put their name on my wall.  It's nothing fancy, but it sure gets the students motivated and I'm happy at the progress they are making.

Some people love flashcards and zip through them and some people just aren't flashcard people and it's not their ideal way of learning.  This is why I make everyone's goal different.  I use these flashcards for violin because they have the note name and the position of the finger on the back. This is perfect for parents who don't know the notes very well.  It also has all the main notes that are played on the violin; not the whole chromatic scale, but the ones they will be learning up to Book 4.  After that, they can easily find a D-flat on the A string if they need to.

I also like these flashcards because they are divided by each string in a different color.  This is helpful for students who struggle with flashcards.  I let them mix the notes up within the color, but they can focus on one string at a time.  Most of the other students have the flashcards are all mixed up.

The student must say the name of the note and then pluck the note on the violin for each card.

Here are some goals we had this year:

*All A Scale (upper octave) and open strings in 1 minute or less.
*All notes played on tapes in 1 minute or less.
*All natural notes in 1 minute or less.
*All notes in 2 minutes or less.

After the students can do all the notes in 2 minutes or less I move them onto different flashcards.

*All major key signatures in 1 minute or less.
*All major and minor key signatures in 1.5 minutes or less.
*All 3rd position notes in 2 minutes or less.

Some students got their names on the wall more than once.  Year after year the flashcards get easier and I find that my students know their note names pretty well.

Twinkle Flashcards

For a twinkler, flashcards are very versatile.

I start teaching the young twinklers to recognize a twinkle rhythm. As soon as they master this we do it to break up practice sessions. There's something fun about flashcards for a 4-year-old.

The twinkle flashcards are also a good way to decide what to play next during practicing. My 4-year-old has learned all variations of twinkle and we have to play them all every day. However, she HATES when I tell her what to do, so she chooses a flashcard and plays that particular twinkle.


Other flashcards that I use to break up practicing or lessons are note value cards (quarter note, half note, eight note, quarter rest, etc.)

I'm also starting note flashcards with my early twinklers and they are really picking it up. I start with the open strings, then the A string notes, E string notes, etc.

I don't do flashcards every day, but it is a great excuse for a child to put her violin down and have a little break - but still be learning.

You can download these twinkle rhythm flashcards here at The Practice Shoppe.