Cami Shaskin

Violin Blog


About


This blog is about all things violin. It is meant to educate, inspire, and provide resources for parents, teachers, and students. The author takes full responsibility for the viewpoints expressed here. In instances where she quotes ideas from others, she pledges to cite her sources as fully, responsibly, and accurately as possible. Topics will include book reviews, technique tips, entertaining anecdotes, quotes, jokes, educational findings, instrument care suggestions, violin in the news, repertoire lists, etc.

Cami J. Shaskin graduated with her master's degree in Music Education in 2008. Violin has always been her primary instrument, since beginning private lessons at age five. See camishaskinviolin.com/info for her music résumé, or click on Spotlights for historical recordings. Cami has enjoyed an array of experiences in writing, from penning award-winning articles as a journalism staff writer in high school, tutoring peers at BYU's Writing Center, earning a Writing Fellows scholarship and a minor in Language and Computers, and later becoming a published author. She recently picked up web programming as a hobby, earning a certificate in Web Programming and Development from the local community college. This blog has been a collaborative effort between her and her husband, who is a Web Developer by profession. Together, they designed and coded this blog and its original content "from scratch."

Updates



Quick Access


Link: Welcome Post


Archive


2021
    Jan
        16 - Welcome to My Blog
        23 - Violin Teaching Kits
        30 - The Power of Inspiration
    Feb
        06 - Valuable Techniques
        07 - From the Top
        13 - In Honor of Valentine's Day
        20 - Violin Jokes
        28 - Beginning Orchestra Teaching
    Mar
        06 - Singing in Orchestra
        13 - Nurtured by Love
        21 - Helpful Websites
        27 - Unique Case Uses
    Apr
        02 - Favorite Music Quotes
        10 - All About Tone
        17 - Unique Composer Stories
        24 - Teaching Values
    May
        02 - Believing Teachers?
        15 - Violin in Art & Architecture
        23 - A Solo Repertoire List
        29 - Our Quartet
    Jun
        20 - Theft and Other Lessons
        26 - Violin Bridge Tips
    Jul
        07 - Clever Violin Memes
        20 - Horses and Lions
    Aug
        04 - Music During Covid
        16 - Favorite Music
    Sep
        12 - Being There
    Oct
        16 - Sight Reading Tips
    Nov
        05 - Why It's the Frog
    Dec
        20 - Bach on the Brain
        30 - Impact for Life
2022
    Jan
        23 - Tendonitis Helps
    Feb
        21 - An Old Performance
    Mar
        23 - Cars3 & Coaching
    Apr
        28 - Buying a Violin for Dummies
        29 - Preferred Brands
    May
        27 - Love: A Calling
    Jun
        20 - Gratitude for Idaho Shop
    Jul
        19 - Violinist Interviews Books
    Aug
        08 - Music Opens Doors
        23 - Top Classical Tunes for Violin
    Sep
    Oct
        11 - 100 Days of Listening
    Nov
        27 - Useful Analogies
    Dec
        28 - A Humorous Anecdote
2023
    Jan
        14 - Favorite Concertos & Sonatas
    Feb
        15 - Our Commonality
    Mar
        10 - Extras
        18 - Autopilot
    Apr
    May
    Jun
        06 - Motivation
        07 - Starting Lessons Again
    Jul
        08 - A Tale of Three Cloths
    Aug
        26 - The Ink
    Sep
        23 - Raw and Real Recital Reactions
    Oct
        18 - In Honor of Halloween
    Nov
        26 - Music Copyright
    Dec
        13 - Memes: Fun Facebook Finds
2024
    Jan
        15 - Fame and Fortune
    Feb
        05 - Details and the Big Picture
    Mar
        14 - Intermission
    Apr
        18 - A Day in the Life
    May
        02 - Oops!
    Jun
        14 - A Science or an Art?
    Jul
        15 - A Difficult Post
    Aug
        01 - Character Transference
    Sep
        20 - Anxiety Interview
    Oct
        02 - Sounds of Italy
    Nov
         No posts to display.
    Dec
         No posts to display.


Posts


Violin Teaching Kits
23 Jan 2021

I live in a county with no music store. Thus, I had the idea to create kits of common materials I require for my violin students, to save them a trip across the mountains. Some items I require are not sold at music stores and are expensive or more difficult to find (even online) if you don’t buy in bulk. I am making these kits available for purchase to those who see the value of them and don’t want to buy from multiple stores themselves. Colors vary between kits.

The first kit is a Beginner Kit ($6) and contains the following items:

Corn pad Like my first teacher, I refer to this as a “Pinky House.” It can be stuck on the bow (as pictured), as a place for the right hand pinky finger to rest. This encourages proper curvature and placement, which is often difficult for young beginning players.

Mini Rosin Rosin can get chipped or shattered when dropped. I’ve even seen it melt when left in hot temperatures for a long period of time (which is highly discouraged; worse consequences can happen to an instrument in that scenario). It helps to have a spare rosin when starting out, and this type of rosin is the best quality “cheap” rosin I have found. You can also opt to do various bow exercises on the rosin, as the edges of the wooden casing for this particular rosin keep the bow moving straight.

Mechanical Pencil This is actually one of those pencils that was popular in the 80's. You remove one piece of lead when it’s dull and push that piece into the bottom of the pencil to move the next lead canisters up. Besides the novelty of having a unique pencil to mark music with, the clip on the pencil is important. When a long bow is hard for a student to hold onto and get used to balancing at first, a pencil is great for practicing “bow exercises” on. Use the clip to brace your thumb against. It will later transfer much easier to a bow hold on the actual bow.

Microfiber Cloth It’s important that a child learn to wipe off the rosin that collects under the strings on their violin after they practice. Parents often ask me what type of cloth to buy. While any lint-free cloth will work (even a piece of an old T-shirt or glasses cloth will do), a microfiber cloth may be the best option.

Cotton Balls These help maintain a nice, open, round space in both hands (as pictured) during practice. Good for posture, they also help remove tension in the hands.

The other kit I make is a Vibrato and Tone Kit ($8):

Treble Clef Straws So many students who don’t start with a private teacher develop bad habits, particularly in bow placement. Even private teachers may struggle with a brand new student. You’ve probably seen that student whose bow will not stay straight, or who prefers sliding over the fingerboard (off-roading, as it were) rather than staying between the fingerboard and bridge where they belong.

Between the bridge and fingerboard is where a good solo tone is developed. These straws are small enough in diameter that they can be placed in the tops of the f-holes on the violin, creating a barrier that the bow can’t cross, forcing the student to practice straight bows closer to the bridge, and thus, developing better tone. The straws can be cut down if too tall, or placed in the wider part of the f-hole and then moved up, on a smaller violin.

The picture shows them without any trimming, in the top of the f-hole (on a full-size violin). I tell my students that once we decide they no longer need the straws for this purpose, they can use them as drinking straws. They are also useful for tracing the curves of the treble clef, when students are learning to write down their own music.

Mute Useful for orchestra in particular, the timbre change when using a mute is definitely tone-related. This type of mute clips onto one of the strings (a slight difference from the one pictured) and rests behind the bridge until used.

Egg Shaker One very common preparatory vibrato exercise involves holding an egg shaker in the left hand and shaking it slowly, in rhythm, with the hand going from a flat position, palm up (holding the shaker) to flopping “back,” and then coming back to the flat position, repeating the motion over and over. During my childhood, we used film canisters filled with rice. Shakers are more practical for the 21st century.

Super Ball This is also for vibrato. Students roll the ball under their fingers along the strings of the violin so their wrist gets used to the required flexibility and motion.

Scales This would be considered a bonus or add-on item to the kit. Before I teach my students vibrato, I make them learn all the major scales in first position, so I know they can play every note in tune. While it is possible to buy a book, it’s cheaper and more convenient for me to have the scales written down according to my own specifications. Sometimes I will make a student write the scales out themselves.


Have I convinced you? If you are interested in ordering some of these kits for your child or studio, please click here!


Love it Interesting Inspiring Want to share
0000

    <    >   

        

This content has been proven to be completely dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, and made from code not treated with rBST. No animals were harmed in the making of this blog. The views presented do not necessarily represent the views of Ms. Shaskin's neighbors, kin, the U.S. government, or a mysterious worldwide network of musicians. Any reproduction, retransmission or reposting of content without crediting the author (basically me) is prohibited. Free Wi-Fi not included. If this is a life-threatening emergency, close your browser and dial 911.

Home  •  More Info  •  Trio  •   Spotlights  •  Testimonials   •  Blog