music Tag

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 this affects the sound/tone of the note. Fingerings are important for...

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An inevitable part of being a musician is performance anxiety. From accomplished performers and teachers to beginning students we all experience it to some degree. Even those who say they do not deal with it still have a physiological reaction when performing. It is important to have techniques ready to teach students how to deal with the anxiety they are experiencing. One of the first things...

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By Wayne Estes Oftentimes I feel that I’ve gotten bogged down in my own practice with technical studies, reading, scale work and I see my teaching style starting to go in the same direction.  But many of my students aren’t in grad school and studying to become a professional musician, so I must remind myself what they are coming to study with me for.  I can...

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A couple times a year I have an adult student (usually) come to a crisis point in their lessons. Frustrated they always tell me that they think they are not doing well and are even regressing; losing skills and knowledge where they used to be strong. This is something that happens to all students regardless of age or skill level. It is important to let students...

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