A curious question for all of those in the string teaching arena! Some teachers prefer to use tapes on the instrument to guide the fingers into place while others feel all students should learn by ear.
I myself as a student, had tapes on for the first few years and when I traded up to a larger instrument the tapes vanished. However, I started the instrument at a young age. I’ve come to develop my own way of doing things. I generally put on tapes for the first three fingers. I leave off the 4th finger as it is a reach. Most students extending their pinky all the way will hit the mark for that finger no problem.
As a student progresses, I take off the second finger marker after the lowered second finger is introduced. The student is now left with third and first markings. The second finger will learn that it touches first in the lowered position and touches third in the higher position. I leave things this way until the student is playing in tune for the most part with the second finger. I then remove the first finger tape. I then begin to teach the lowered first finger. Teaching this many times pulls the hand back thus flattening the entire first position, but students adjust after a while.
All that is left is the third finger tape……….what a fantastic time to introduce third position! To play in third position, go up to where your third finger was and put down your first finger. Once we have been doing a few exercises in third position, I introduce the others and then add them all into the scale work. So you could say that my students learn with the tapes but also by ear, just a little more gradually.
I’ve recently seen these large fret stickers on some student instruments that make their violin resemble a guitar. They are the most confusing things I’ve ever seen…………so many lines in such a small space. I would not recommend using them. They very much become a crutch in some students and I can’t see where these are at all helpful.
Just my thoughts for the day………….oops night!
