March 15 Update

Last week, Teresa and I started teaching our three students one of the simpler well known pieces, Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. In the previous weeks, we had still been instructing them in some basic techniques such as finger placement and dynamic control. We believed that they were ready to move on to this song because it is a slow and relatively easy piece to learn. We had our first rehearsal with everybody present for the first time in a long time on Friday. Because of our everchanging and dynamic schedules, Teresa has been teaching on Mondays, and I have been teaching on Fridays. One thing we did notice about teaching is that it is a lot easier and a lot more productive to do one on one lessons rather than in groups.When we have personalized lessons, they seem to learn more and progress faster. This may be due to a disparity in some of their skill levels because some of them have been a lot more consistent in attending than others.

As we wrap up this project, Teresa and I are most likely going to make a video displaying their progress. In the video, our students will be playing the song that they are learning.


(I have some pictures that I have taken that I will upload later if I remember)

MAD update Jan 11

Last Friday, I started teaching a new student. I had to teach Michael and Matthew alone, as Teresa had a basketball game and couldn't come help. It was a lot harder to handle both students simultaneously and I ended up focusing more on Matthew than I did on Michael, because it was his first time picking up the violin. An advantage that Matthew has over Michael is that he has his own violin, which allows him to practice at home. I'm very excited for him because he seems to be learning very quickly. Michael also learned to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars" in various rhythms and variations this week.

MAD Update Nov. 9

Teresa and I have been working on our MAD project most Fridays teaching a couple students at a time. However, we haven't been able to continually work every Friday due to clashing schedules, sports, and various other circumstances. It's been great watching them steadily improve week after week. Michael has just most recently learned how to play a scale. We taped up Teresa's violin so he would know where to put his fingers and that seems to have helped him greatly. A way that we could speed up their learning processes is if they could somehow practice at home. I would be open to the idea of lending Michael my violin over the weekends, but the only problem would be that he would have to bring it to and from school because I need my violin at times as well.

Update #1

Teresa and I started our MAD project a couple of weeks ago. We've been teaching three students every week on Fridays after school and each session is about 1.5-2 hours long. Typically, we each stick with our own students so that they will have a more stable teacher and wouldn't be jumping around from technique to technique. The teaching is going pretty slowly (for my student at least, Teresa says that her student is quite fast), as our students are brand new to the violin and know very little about it. However, it's really nice to see them developing some skills, even if it is just basic skills like holding the violin and the bow. As we progress, we are going to need a special tape to put on the violin to mark their fingerings as well as some practice or theory books. I think that we are going to need to either ask Ms. Weldon for supplies or go buy them ourselves. Teresa had an idea of expanding this MAD project to other people. We want to try and expand this project beyond just violin and beyond just a few students, but maybe include people who play other instruments and other people who want to teach their own instrument. To do this, we need to find people who are willing to teach and learn. The people who teach need to be of a considerable proficiency in their craft.

2016 MAD Project

Every time I've tried to start a new blog, the message "The page you requested is invalid" always pops up. So, I deleted everything off of this blog and am reusing it for this 2016 year.

This year, I am doing a similar project to last year. I will still be tutoring violin with Teresa on Fridays, but this year, we will be expanding our focus to not only middle schoolers and people who already know the violin, but also new beginners. Some people might include Michael Ting, Jonas Tai, and Livia Lau.

Why are we completing MAD projects? What is the purpose? (hint: ICS core values) Reflect on why we do this and how it can move you closer to God.

We are completing MAD projects to give back to the community. Service is an important part of our lives as Christians and Jesus tells us to give back to Him and the people around us. Service also allows us to humble ourselves in spite of everything and get closer to God.