I often struggled in the past with keeping my students’ materials organized each week. Loose sheets of paper clipped to books, folded up in violin case pockets and floating around tote bags often got lost, crumpled, or neglected. My students became much more organized and prepared once I issued colorful binders with dividers for each section of our lesson. Now students had a one-stop-shop for keeping lesson notes, assignment sheets, and exercises, and parents knew when to look when monitoring home practice.
I set up each student’s binder in the basic order of our lesson: a section for assignment sheets comes first, followed by warmups, scales, etudes, repertoire, and special sections for recital music, reading exercises, music theory, and music history.
Here is a set of divider pages for your students’ lesson binders. You may not need the whole group, and I included a blank one in case there is something you need I left out! Not all my students utilize all these binder sections, but here are some tips about each and some suggestions for what to include.
Cover Sheet: This can be copied on card stock and hole punched or put in a sheet protector and used as a cover page. It can also be used in the clear cover pocket of a view-style binder. Students can add their name to personalize.
Practice: This section can be used for a lesson assignment sheet, practice log, or repetition chart. Lately I have been using and loving the Colorful Notes Practice Planners from Dolce Strings.
Warmups: My beginning students do many physical warmups, including finger and bow, and vibrato exercises, so this section can include handouts or scannable QR code links to videos. Later we include exercises from the Step by Step books, Fingerboard Geography, or Mastery for Strings. Need some warmup ideas? Check out some previous Violin Club posts:
Scales: This section is pretty self-explanatory! Use it for scale sheets and rhythmic and bowing variations. Bookmark the Scale Sheet library below to get simple scale pages for beginners to advanced students.
Etudes: As your students progress you can include their etudes here, as well as any etudes they need to learn for region and state auditions. I usually introduce Wohlfahrt etudes once a student reaches Suzuki Book 2. Check out the Mimi Zweig StringPedagogy site to see a great progression of etudes by level.
Repertoire: If you don’t use a method book or prefer to print out copies of your students’ repertoire you can keep it in this section. I also included a special separate Recital divider to keep music for upcoming performances.
Reading: If you start students out in a Suzuki or rote approach, you can use this section for sight reading or note drill practice once you’re ready to introduce notation. I have been using RAPid Note Reading from Dolce Strings this summer along with the Note Rush app and String Training worksheets.
Music Theory: Once your students start music reading you can include more in-depth music theory studies. I use the Piano Program music theory series with my students who will be preparing for the TMTA theory tests. Here are some more music theory resources:
Music History: Many of students also participate in the TMTA World of Music program, so I use this section for preparatory materials and practice tests. You could also use it for composer biographies and listening maps. Check out some ideas for including music history in your lessons here:
Bonus: I included an extra divider page for Notes as well as a blank one for any other lesson activities you would like to include. Let me know what goes in your lesson binders! Leave a comment below or join Violin Club on social media.