With the school year about to begin, it might be time to give students some new goals to motivate them and refresh their interest in music lessons. Here are a few skills to consider nurturing as school gets back in session: Build Your Sight-Reading Skills! Focusing in on sight reading practice is a great way… Read more »
I have not met many students who love playing their scales. Scales are the green vegetables that are left on the plate and passed off to the dog under the dinner table. Here are some quick tips to help inspire your students to enjoy their scales: Change up the rhythm: If one of my students… Read more »
by Robert Song Fisher (Catoctin School of Music) The sound of splashing water at the community pool, sun-filled days with the dusk light stretching late into the evening, beach escapes, camping trips with the family, summer camps galore – it’s summer! Unfortunately, daily structured practice time can become difficult to maintain and less enticing with… Read more »
by Jamey Mann One of the most important things when studying an instrument is consistency in both the teacher and student. Without consistency in a student’s studies and attendance of lessons a student’s ability will take a downward turn. The same is true for teachers who cancel lessons or rely on substitutes often to the… Read more »
Set aside time to practice this summer! Summer is a great time to make strides in your musical studies – give yourself a chance to grow as a musician by scheduling practice time along with all those other fun summer break activities! Here are some tips for making the most of your summer free time…. Read more »
by Jordan Taylor Before I really get into what this topic means to me, let me give the caveat that there are many aspects to successful practicing. What I’m specifically talking about is what I believe to be the two broadest factors that foster successful student development: consistency and efficiency. Consistency of practice– on… Read more »
One of the problems we have as musicians is a plateau in development and drive. It’s happened to almost everybody I know in one way or another and it’s the most frustrating thing to deal with. Over the years I’ve found that the most common reason for a plateau is a lack of clearly defined… Read more »
by Jamey Mann When a child is taking music lessons the role the parent needs to play cannot be overstated. The younger the student the more important this role becomes. In the Suzuki method the parent is referred to as the home teacher. In this role the parent is taking lessons with the student; taking… Read more »
by Wayne Estes Just recently, I spent an entire weekend video recording and editing the videos for a few of my advanced students to submit for college auditions. We discovered a few things that I feel are worth sharing… It is never too early to start to record yourself performing and practicing with audio and… Read more »
Every instrument comes with a system of fingering to help the composer illustrate how the piece should be played. This goes beyond tempo markings and dynamics and tells the performer exactly which finger to use to play a note, what position the student should be in, and what string the note goes on. All of… Read more »
