January Embers is a Level 3 piece intended to help students transition from fixed finger strokes to IM alternation in the right hand. It should be the first piece that students learn together after mastering the Level 2 repertoire. Use the January Embers Technical Sequence for more on transitioning from fixed finger strokes to alternation. This is an important moment in a student’s progression, because alternation is the standard technique for playing successive notes on single strings. As always, despite the fact that January Embers presents an important technical benchmark, our primary focus will always center on expressive music making and performance.
Opportunities for Social Emotional Learning
Because of the technical nature of a piece like January Embers, its texture is relatively sparse. As a result, it is a great candidate for including a student voice over it. Make it a goal to perform or record January Embers with student narration, using words that students create in class. The prompt can be simple, “write five lines of poetry about a good memory”, “write about something coming up in the next few months that is worrying you”, etc. The prompt can be anything to get students sharing their thoughts and emotions through words. Celebrate their contributions and use what they write as a beautiful narrative addition to a performance of January Embers.