Sammie Cohen

YCP Lesson Plan

I. Objective/Goal
A. Students will learn their D major scale and basic finger placement
II. Procedure
A. Students will be given handout
B. Students will play their open D string for around 5-10 seconds (no rhythmic
value)
C. Students will play the “blue note” (E) as seen on their handout
1. Instructor(s) will go around helping them all play relatively in tune and
correct left hand position
D. Previous step repeated up the scale
III. Assessment
A. Learning will be assessed by whether or not students make adjustments pertaining
to their posture, left-hand technique, and intonation
IV. Learning Standards
A. K.14 The student will communicate personal response to expressive features of
music through movement.
V. Materials
A. Violins
B. Bow
C. Handout
Sammie Cohen
YCP Handout

Blue Note and Green Note are played with First Finger

Yellow Note and Pink Note are played with Second Finger

Purple Note and Orange Note are played with Third Finger

Red Note is played with Fourth Finger

Sammie Cohen

YCP Reflection

My experience at YCP was very brief, but I learned a lot about teaching pre-K children

music and the classroom environment. Although it was hard to get the kids’ attention as a whole

class, it was very interesting to work closely with one or just a few of them. I noticed that it is

very necessary to be able to physically adjust their fingers, arms, bow, and instrument position.

With elementary, middle, and high school students, it’s easier to simply verbally explain the

position and perhaps show some diagrams. However, the children at YCP are just barely starting

and need a lot of individual, physical help for getting the fundamentals. I also noticed myself

adjusting my voice to be higher and slower in order to communicate with the kids. I don’t

believe this is really one of my strengths, but there were a couple times where I was able to talk

to a couple of the children and show or explain something to them. I certainly was challenged as

I don’t have any experience teaching this age group outside of this experience, but it was a really

interesting insight into pre-K education in general. Overall, the time I had at YCP was really

lovely and it was so nice to see kids of such a young age already beginning their musical journey.