I have long been a fan of Mary Cohen’s pedagogical works. Like the music books of Caroline Lumsden, they make me want to grab some children to teach! If you haven’t yet seen them, let me echo the words an older colleague once said to me about another Brit: “Oh, to be young and have all of Dorothy L. Sayers ahead of you!” I promise that the prolific Ms. Cohen will provide you with marvelous discoveries for some time to come.

Mary Cohen is a British violinist who studied at Royal College of Music (piano and composition in addition to violin) and was a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She also plays viola and cello, and is a passionate advocate of chamber music for students from the earliest possible moment. Ms. Cohen has been deeply involved with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, especially with their Music Medals program. Her books are full of humor—let me repeat that, FULL of humor-- and opportunities for creativity. She incorporates a wide variety of styles, including jazz, ragtime, 20th century compositional techniques, and many dance forms. Half-string harmonics are introduced early on, as are more “sophisticated” rhythms and bowings. Faber Music publishes her books, and her website, Mary’s Music Cupboard (http://marysmusiccupboard.epartnershub.com/Default.aspx#), offers some free materials in addition to purchased music downloads. 

You can get a good idea of the flavor of Mary’s works in this progression chart of her books:    

Cohen dispenses crucial information to students in ways they won’t forget, such as this list from the first edition of Superstart, Vol. 1:

Seven Useful Tips
(to make you one of the worst pupils in the world)

1.     Always arrive at your lesson with filthy, sticky hands and long fingernails which need cutting.

2.     Forget to put your bow/violin in your case after practicing, so you have a good chance of leaving one of them at home.

3.     Leave all the pieces you are working at on your music-stand after practicing so even if you remember your violin/bow, you will probably forget to bring your music.

4.     Lose your practice notebook the second you arrive home—so you don’t have to read it and you can aim for the world record of the pupil who has the most notebooks with only one page of writing.

5.     Never look in your practice book (if you’re being kind to trees and haven’t lost it yet) to remind you what it is that you are supposed to be working at this week.

6.     Always play pieces with as many of the mistakes you made first time round as possible, and definitely don’t try to remember what it was you worked on in your lesson which solved this week’s problems.

7.     Don’t practice until the day before your next lesson and if possible make sure you’ve left either your violin, bow or music with your teacher.

Have you any other great tips to pass on?


Like those in the "Words and Music" blog posts (January and February 2013), Ms. Cohen is another great advocate for using words to teach rhythms, particularly in the earliest levels of development. Bags of Fun, a book for the “absolute beginner,” is a collection of one-line “pieces” where the rhythm reflects the title. Students also get to play col legno, behind the bridge, and accents; do retakes; and even go up for the half-string harmonic. All four strings are used, fingers are limited to 1 and high 2, time signatures are 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, and combinations of eighth and quarter notes contribute to the fun. Here are a few examples (apologies for the lag time after hitting record):

Energetic elephants down at the gym.

Sometimes words are used to reinforce concepts instead of rhythms, such as in “The good sound guide” on page 13 of Superstart (“If you grip you’ll make a scritchy scratchy sound,” sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic). When low second fingers are introduced (page 40 of Superstart), the tune “All mixed up!” has these words:

Oh.. sometimes I feel happy

And.. sometimes I feel sad.

Oh.. sometime I behave so well

And.. sometimes I’m just bad.

I’m.. all mixed up (I’m a mixed up pup) but I want to be quite or-di-na-ry

So today I’ll just feel happy

And.. then we’ll all be glad (Hooray!)

Here is the D string version of the tune, which the book presents in A string and G string versions as well. The accompaniment is from the cd that comes with the book.

Egbert’s Circus Games manages to be an etude book incorporated into a story! The short studies are similar to the targeted technical work in Sally O’Reilly’s Fiddle Magic. There are several pages of excellent Teacher’s Notes at the end to clarify and elaborate on the exercises. The story is a follow-up to The Adventures of Egbert, telling what happened when (spoiler alert) he joined Mr. Bim Bam’s circus. 

Whew! That’s just some of her beginning repertoire. More to come!

The books explored in this segment are really the reason I chose this topic in the first place! They are some of my favorite works for children, and it is a toss-up as to which wins the award for most adorable illustrations.

The first (chronologically) is Sally O'Reilly's Fiddle Rhythms (originally String Rhythms). For anyone unacquainted with Ms. O'Reilly, her official biography reads as follows: "Sally O'Reilly is known throughout the music world as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. Professor of Violin at the University of Minnesota School of Music in Minneapolis, she studied with Ivan Galamian at Curtis Institute and with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, where she was his assistant. Later she studied with Andre Gertler and Carlo Van Neste in Brussels, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. Her chamber music coaches included Janos Starker, Gyorgy Sebok, Artur Balsam, William Primrose, and Felix Galimir." (https://music.umn.edu/people/faculty-staff/profile?UID=oreil004) 

While Ms. O'Reilly doesn't use specific lyrics throughout the book, she equates each rhythm with a mouth-watering pie filling as a clever mnemonic device. For example, "apple" (as in apple pie) represents two eighth-notes. Each rhythm has a page devoted to its exploration. First, the rhythm is used by itself to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and next reappears in a variation of this tune called "I Like _____ Pie." Then two or three short familiar tunes which use the rhythm put the cap on the lesson.

Ms. O'Reilly's pie fillings are often ingenious. "Orange" represents a sixteenth and dotted eighth (she is from Texas-- give it two syllables!), "banana" = 16th-8th-16th, "chocolate" is an eighth-note triplet, and so on. "Mixed fruit pies" are pages with tunes that combine the rhythms, and "Lopsided pies" use asymmetrical meters. A final page has a quiz on the different rhythm types, with the opportunity to compose a little. I love this book, even though it makes me want to head for the nearest diner for coffee and pie.

Next up are two of my all-time favorite books. They make me want to run out and lasso children to teach so I can have the joy of using them. Both are by British violinist and teacher Caroline Lumsden, author of the "Musicland" series, widely used in the UK. Ms. Lumsden studied at the Guildhall School of Music, and has spent much of her career specializing in teaching children. She is the director of the Beauchamp Music Group (named after her house), which is a registered charity that has taught hundreds of young people in Britain. Ms. Lumsden imbues her teaching with a great sense of fun, which is readily apparent in these two books. 

The first, Witches' Brew, is a collection of pieces for open strings and first finger. Yawn, you say? Not with the collection of rhythms, bowings, special effects, jazzy accompaniments, and hilarious words (were you wondering when I'd get to that?) that comprise the music. Put out in 2002, the books got to ride in on the Harry Potter wave, but stand the test of time now that he's all grown up.

Each piece uses words to reinforce the rhythms, and the words  all lie in that range of grossness that delights children so. The first of the tunes, "Witches' Brew" (pictured here; I don't know who stretta music is, but I can't think that they have any copyright claim to this), has the following lyrics:

Witches' brew, witches' brew
do not drink the witches' brew
Tail of rat, eyeballs too
toes of toad and nose of shrew.

Witches' brew, witches' brew
do not drink the witches' brew
Rotten eggs, lumpy goo
nasty odor, smells like stew.

Witches' brew, witches' brew
drink drink drink


Practice suggestions at the top read: 
Whisper and sing along; Clap with time names; Clap and sing note names; Practice the final noise.

The book comes with a cd which includes both performance and accompaniment tracks for each piece. Here is "Witches' Brew":

The second volume, Wizard's Potion, continues the fun with "16 spooky pieces to play and sing." Like the first, it includes a cd, adorable illustrations, and a summary of teaching points for each piece in the piano part. This time the player's range is extended to first and second finger patterns, and chromatic alterations are common. Children are weaned away from the reliance on words to learn rhythms, with only the first five pieces including lyrics. However, the "rhythm" of the title is generally found in the first measure or two of the violin part. One of my favorites, "Melted Mouse & Roasted Rat in Choc'late Sauce," comes off as a delightfully dirty blues. Just to imagine a little cherub getting down and swinging away on this makes me start looking around for younger students again...

I am a huge fan of Ms. Lumsden, if you couldn't tell. Both books are published by Peters, and are also available in a version for cello. Word use is certainly more fun in her hands than it was a century ago!

One final note (and chance to show you another adorable illustration from Wizard's Potion): The covers and illustrations were found online and are used without permission. Ditto with the sound files, which are from the cd's that come with the book. I use them all only with the intent to introduce this wonderful material to others and to sell lots of copies for Ms. O'Reilly and Ms. Lumsden. Hopefully that will keep me out of trouble!