Performance

anxietynervesIt’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Actually, not really. If you’re a music teacher, you may find that this is a pretty tricky time of the year to keep students motivated.

It’s the time of the year when students who were new in August start to lose some of their initial excitement about learning a new instrument.

It’s that time of the year when parents are stressed out with all their holiday obligations and getting their kids to practice is just “one more thing” on the list.

It’s that time of the year when students’ after-school schedules are picking up — sporting seasons have begun in earnest, girl scouts is underway and school holiday performances are on the calendar.

by Jennene Estes I happen to love holiday and Christmas music, and it is not just that the melodies are so classic and they conjure up wonderful old memories of enjoyable times growing up with my family and church in a rural Virginia farming community. What I’ve discovered as a piano teacher is the power of one of those old melodies to actually change a young...

Read More

By Alyssa Cowell There’s no two ways about it, the year is winding down and we’re heading into the holiday season. While everyone knows that means Christmas songs will be on the radio imminently, I recently found myself wondering what kind of music the attendees of the first Thanksgiving might have enjoyed. To my disappointment, and admittedly, the small amount of research available, I find that the...

Read More

By Drew Holcomb Navy Seal training is considered some of the toughest military training in the world. With such high dropout rates, the Navy decided to find out what makes a successful candidate. What neurologists found is that it’s not always those who are physically strong, but more importantly those who are also mentally strong as well. To improve the candidate’s success, neurologists created the “Four...

Read More

Written by Sarah Haughton I’m in the process of training for a half-marathon. During the final days leading up to the race, part of my training includes what I like to call “race simulation”. Simulation allows you to practice enduring fatigue, maintaining form, and regulating your body chemistry. All of these elements find their equivalents in performance preparation. The goal in race and performance simulation is not to...

Read More