Tag: dear students

dear students

Monday Music Class

vettacj

While we’re waiting for MPR to release today’s music lesson, we can catch up on the Dance Party we missed yesterday. What a fun way to start the week! Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite classical piece in the lesson was and if you’re working on any dance music for your lesson. (This is almost a trick question – almost all music can be danced to, but which pieces in your lesson assignment were written specifically for dance?)

Monday morning also seems like a good time to lay out some expectations for practice under the absence of formal class schedules. So as an encouraging note to students, especially mine: homework is important, but so is lesson practice. Social distancing is an opportunity to catch up progress in music lessons that was delayed during the finish of the winter sports season. I’m very sorry that spring sports have been put on hold and extra curricular activities have been canceled because I know how much you enjoy them – but know that outside of dire circumstances (the kind where emergency calls are made and lessons are canceled) I will not be accepting “I didn’t have time” as the reason you didn’t practice. Every student, no matter their age or level of advancement, should have no problem practicing consistently for 30 minutes every day this week. (Notice I said practicing: this is intentional effort to improve your lesson material, not time spent experimenting with YouTube videos which is that is playing. Play is important, too, but needs to take secondary priority to practice.) I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes practice isn’t fun and doesn’t seem like it gets us very far very fast. But getting good at the basics is what makes music extra fun later; it is what lays the foundation for all those hard things we wish we could do now. Practice, even when it isn’t fun, is well worth the effort.

I don’t agree with Yoda’s insistence that the only options are “Do or do not – there is no try”. Try is how we learn. So keep trying students! If you are putting full effort into your practice you are going to be amazed by your progress when you compare where you are now to where you were in September!

You know where I am if you need me. You are always welcome to send me a text or a message on Google Hangouts if you get frustrated with part of your assignment, or you need just a little bit more to do. 🙂 I’m here to help.

dear students, music, practice, Uncategorized

Top Five Practice Tips

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Dear Students,
Congratulations – you did it!  You survived the first two weeks of a new school season and rolled through all the changes that happen at break-neck pace – new teachers, new classmates, new classrooms . . . all of the New Things All at Once . . . with in-process renovations.

I thoroughly enjoyed our first week of lessons – reconnecting with those who studied with met last year, and those who are just starting.  We are going to have so much fun this year!  To help us all stay on the same page I’ve put together a list of five practice tips to give us a good foundation to build on.

  1. Make practice part of your daily routine – just like eating breakfast and brushing your teeth before bed.  Find a time of day that you can consistently practice during, and ask your family to hold you accountable.  It might be right after you get home from school; or as soon as the dinner dishes are done; maybe even in the morning before school.  Find something that works for your family’s schedule do what is necessary to make it stick.
  2. Keep your instrument and books in the same place – that way you can find everything right away when you’re ready.
  3. Eliminate digital distractions – don’t practice where the TV is on, or audio stories are playing.  Leave phones/iPods/iPads in a different room so you’re not tempted to pick them up during your practice time.  This time is about practicing your music.
  4. Set a timer – it will take a while for you to get comfortable with the practice length we set during our first lesson.  If you sent a timer, you won’t have to check how much time you have left, and pretty soon instead of taking forever your timer will go off sooner than you expect.
  5. Maintain realistic expectations – and have fun!  Itzak Perlman didn’t become a world class musician over night – you and I are no different.  Practicing an instrument is really hard work.  Even if you understand the concepts we talk about in our lessons right away, it takes time and repetition to train your body to consistently perform the motions correctly.  You’ll enjoy it more if you give yourself grace to make mistakes and then try again.  Anything worth doing is worth doing well – and music is worth the effort, so enjoy your journey through it.

Practice well this week!

 

I’ve decided practice is practice, and progress is progress.  Hailee Maunu