Danse Rustique: Lesson Ideas
Completion requirements
1. Pitch
Meet Ana! From an early age Ana developed a strong passion
for teaching and since 2008 she has been teaching cello and conducting string
orchestras at different independent schools and institutions in Berkshire. In this resource Ana shares some ideas about teaching Danse Rustique from our Grade 6 syllabus.
After making your pupil aware of the two different key, look at the following passages separately. At bar 31, you can suggest your pupil plays the passage just with the left hand, thinking about the map of tones and semitones to follow, particularly while reaching sixth position. When bowing it out, you can work on coordination by stopping the bow on the string briefly, while the left hand reaches the new position. This will help focus on the coordination of right and left hand. This exercise is not to be played in time.
When reaching bar 51 and a new key, it is very common for students to get mixed up between the B flat and B natural (circled below) as well as the E flat while extending backwards in fourth position. Go through these carefully at the start of the reading process. The first note at bar 51 is a difficult note to pitch properly at the start of this section as the key has now changed. It tends naturally to be to high. Play the chord in the piano accompaniment and ask your student to tune the F carefully.
At Bar 21 we reach a double stop section with open strings - carefully practise the octave intonation of the notes circled below as the low D is an open string.
At the end of the piece we finish with two forte chords - remind your student of the importance of shifting to third position for the last three notes of the F major scale and remaining in the same position to the end of the piece. The fifths are tricky to tune, spend some time discussing the correct way of approaching these double stops.
After making your pupil aware of the two different key, look at the following passages separately. At bar 31, you can suggest your pupil plays the passage just with the left hand, thinking about the map of tones and semitones to follow, particularly while reaching sixth position. When bowing it out, you can work on coordination by stopping the bow on the string briefly, while the left hand reaches the new position. This will help focus on the coordination of right and left hand. This exercise is not to be played in time.
When reaching bar 51 and a new key, it is very common for students to get mixed up between the B flat and B natural (circled below) as well as the E flat while extending backwards in fourth position. Go through these carefully at the start of the reading process. The first note at bar 51 is a difficult note to pitch properly at the start of this section as the key has now changed. It tends naturally to be to high. Play the chord in the piano accompaniment and ask your student to tune the F carefully.
At Bar 21 we reach a double stop section with open strings - carefully practise the octave intonation of the notes circled below as the low D is an open string.
At the end of the piece we finish with two forte chords - remind your student of the importance of shifting to third position for the last three notes of the F major scale and remaining in the same position to the end of the piece. The fifths are tricky to tune, spend some time discussing the correct way of approaching these double stops.