Essential Elements: A commonly used book in the public-school systems, Essential Elements aims to introduce the violin, technical skills, and music reading step by step. Orchestra is typically introduced as an elective for students in Middle School, though many students may start learning violin, viola, cello, or bass a few years earlier with a private teacher. Students begin by briefly learning about the instrument and its parts. We will go over proper care for the instrument, posture for holding the instrument, and the different ways we can make sounds on the instrument. It is important to have some understanding of how the violin works, how to care for it, and how to take care of ourselves so that we can make the best sounds we can without causing damage to ourselves or the instrument. As we proceed through the Essential Elements books, we will introduce notes and skills song by song. We will go over each piece of notation and each term as it is introduced starting from the construction of the music staff, concepts of beat and rhythm, notes, and rests, and so on. The very first songs are simply one-note. Each song introduces one note on a string and we steadily progress to playing each of the notes we learn together. When we first start playing the instrument, we will begin by learning how to pluck the strings with our right hand and put our left fingers down to make new notes. As we get used to putting our left fingers down with good posture, we will slowly introduce using the bow through bow exercises separate from the instrument. Putting the left-hand and right-hand skills together takes some time but it especially takes practice. While practicing at home, the student may either use the CD that may come with the Essential Elements books or there will be information on the book so that the student may go online to find recordings and play along with the assigned songs. Frequent and consistent practice is the key to success! 10 minutes a day is much better than 2 hours once a week. In lessons, we will proceed through the book focusing on the necessary skills needed for both the violin and practice at home, including - Posture - Intonation - Tools we can use and how to use them (pencil, metronome, tuner, recordings, etc...) - How to practice - How to perform