Awesome performance guys!

On Friday, June 9th we had our annual Spring Recital at the church. Not everyone was able to attend, but we still had twenty four students play which was awesome. I'm constantly impressed by how professional everyone acts and the level at which players are able to perform. 

As always, students introduce themselves and their piece, working to tell the audience something meaningful about the music. It could be what they learned, something about the composer, an interesting fact or something the audience should listen for. I work with students on their introductions prior to the performance and remind them the three rules for public speaking:

1. SPEAK LOUDLY

2. SPEAK SLOWLY

3. SPEAK CLEARLY

Public speaking is an important life skill to learn and develop. Many (if not most) highly successful adults need to address large groups of their peers regularly. I like to get them started early! 

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Performances are an invaluable learning opportunity. I have two recitals each year for students - one in the spring (mid June) and one in the fall (mid December). It gives each student a chance to prepare and play a solo piece and also for group class to perform as an ensemble. It usually draws a large crowd of parents, family and friends. Good stuff! 

I really enjoy working both with students in their individual lessons and also in the group class setting. Private lessons gives me a chance to tailor an approach and methodology to each individual student and parent. We form a "triangle" of sorts between myself, the child and the parent, all working together towards a common goal of advancement on the instrument. I also get to know students and their parents very well which is great! 

As musicians, we are almost always playing in a group setting - even if it's just a solo with piano accompaniment. There are so many skills that must be developed and fostered to be a successful musician. Group class affords us the opportunity to learn together (which is so fun!) and to develop our ears and technique as ensemble players. Group class is one of the hallmark differences between the Suzuki Method and a more "traditional" method. 

Getting ready for the upcoming recital...practice, practice, practice!

I generally ask my students to make several videos of themselves playing their recital piece in the weeks leading up to the performance. This accomplishes several things... 

1. They always record it a number of times before selecting one to bring to their lesson. Repetitions are good! 

2. They can hear the sound they are getting when not focused on the task at hand. In other words, as performers we often think it sounds a certain way or we're doing a great job of this or that. Sometimes in reality it's very different than our perception while playing!

3. We can silence the video and notice whether anything looks awry. For instance, are funny faces being made? Are we swaying back and forth like a snake charmer? Does our posture look good or is there room for improvement...?

Sometimes the best teacher we can have is a video recorder!

On making mistakes and failures...

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
- Denis Waitley

Remember that when a child drops their bow, we pick it up and try again. We should always strive to be lifelong learners…

The Happiest Most Joyful Thing You Can Do...

So I have several woodworking blogs that I enjoy reading. There is such a wealth of talent and information that people are willing to share at just the click of a button! 

I saw this posting the other day and see a lot of crossover to what we do as musicians. I just figured I’d pass it along…

I heard this quote from a radio program about craftsmanship. Grayson Perry is a British Turner Prize winning artist.

“A lot of young people are somehow put off struggle and difficulty. Boredom thresholds now because of the nature of entertainment, people are adrenalin addicted and I think that one of the big unspoken addictions in our society is adrenalin. We are addicted to drama, everything has to be exciting, black and white there’s no middle ground, we’re all being gradually pushed into this area where our attention span is that of a gnat. Difficulty, learning a skill that might take 10 years over 10,000 hours is something that frightens to death, when in fact when you attain that it is probably the happiest most joyful thing you can do”.

Grayson Perry BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed April 2008.

Followup on "A Helping Hand for Parents..."

With permission, I would like to post some thoughts that Niku (Erika and Audrey’s mother) had after reading Helping Parents Practice.

I guess the main thing that I took away from the book was that, from my kids’ perspective, I was being pretty negative. Even though I tried to give lots of praise during practice, there are always tons of things that I saw to “correct” and I think this was pretty exhausting for the girls, particularly Audrey. There is a method in the book where the parent gets three strikes before they have to remain quiet– each time I was frustrating Audrey with what I was saying or doing, she could turn over a card. After four cards I had to stay quiet. This helped me see what I was doing that was frustrating for her (not always what I thought it would be) and it gave her some control over our practices. We only did this a handful of times, but it really seemed to help. 
Besides that, here are some main things that I took away from the book:
  • The book says to just give the child one thing to focus on at a time, so now I hold my tongue on most mistakes and save my breath for the bigger issues. 
  • Make a mental note of mistakes the child is making and then praise when they don’t make the mistake, instead of criticizing  when they do.
  • Don’t jump in when they play the wrong note or interrupt in the middle of a song. This was a big one for Audrey. If she was struggling to remember the notes to a song I would sometimes jump in and help in. This really frustrated her (I found out with the card game) and she really did much better if I just gave her the space to figure it out herself.
  • I think another thing that helped me was what you said about things being cyclical and that sometimes you just have to give time for a particular phase to pass. I’m so glad that you talked with me and we stuck with it because Audrey really seems to love her cello again.

A Helping Hand for Parents...

It is a certainty that all students - and therefore all parents - go through rough patches in their studies. It’s not a matter of if, but rather when it will happen. The question then becomes how to deal with it and keep it from happening too often. 

There is a terrific book that I often recommend to parents who are having trouble with at-home practice. It is by Edmund Sprunger - a Suzuki teacher/Suzuki parent/psychotherapist. His background allows him to bring many different perspectives and levels of insight. It is a worthy read and would be a great addition to any family bookcase. 

I recently told a parent about it and they came back a few weeks later exclaiming that “it should be required reading for all parents - whether they have a Suzuki student or not!”

http://www.sharmusic.com/Accessories/Books-DVDs/Helping-Parents-Practice-by-Edmund-Sprunger.axd#sthash.vkwMQxZG.dpbs

Home practice is almost always the thing that both parents and students struggle with the most. The good news is that you’re not alone. There are many resources available. Make sure to talk with other parents for their helpful hints. 

Most things in life worth pursuing can be a challenge at times…