Violin Forum/Message Board

[Amalia]

Does anyone here use flashcards to teach violin concepts such as finger patterns? When my son was beginning the violin, I made up flashcards for the first position (key of C) finger patterns for him. He is now starting the 3rd position and asked me to make up more flashcards for 3rd position. He said the 1st position cards "really helped" him. Now that I think about it, this son seems better than my other sons at sightreading and playing new material in tune. He knows where his half steps are and where he is aiming his fingers, rather than just plunking the right finger down and adjusting for pitch later.

[Mat Roop]

Amalia, sounds interesting... if you want to practice alone I suppose you could creat a powerpoint on the computer and set the speed for the cards to change.
What does your flash card look like and how big is it?
Cheers, Mat

[Amalia]

Hi Mat,

The biggest problem I had making the flashcards was drawing 16 pictures of the finger board over and over without them looking awful! (Now it's 32 pictures since I did them for both 1st and 3rd position.) I solved that problem by using graph paper (card stock actually) that I bought by the sheet at an art suppy store. The squares on the graph gave me a good guide to aid my drawing. The card stock I bought was called "Artword Board I" by Graphic Products Corporation. The grid was 1/8th inch. I cut 12 cards out of each sheet so the finished cards are about 1/2 the size of an ordinary playing card.

I'll try to explain what the cards look like. My 1st position cards all have a picture of the finger board such as you might see in a beginning technique book, showing all 4 strings with circles in the appropriate spots on the strings representing all 4 fingers on all 4 strings. On each card I colored in only one of the circles. On the back of the card I wrote the name of the note represented by the colored in circle. On the back of the card I also drew a small picture of that note on the staff. The idea is to look at the front of the card and quickly be able to name the colored-in note. The goal here is to aid the student in forming a mental picture of the fingerboard (something that I have always had trouble with despite having played violin for many years).

My 3rd position cards show all the fingers in the 3rd position. All my cards were made showing the finger pattern in the key of C. I may try making some for other keys, at least in the first position.

I thought about making computer flashcards, but not being a techie, it didn't know how to do it myself.

[Becky]

Amalia, I agree that flashcards can be a big help. The flashcards I made were pretty much identical to yours. One other thing that I did with myself when I started and now with students is tell them the name of the note and then have the student find all the places that note is (e.g. the A on the G-string, 4th finger on the D-string, open A, 3rd finger on the E-string)...same sort of flashcards only start with the note name and multiple circles will be filled in on the back.

[Mat Roop]