PRACTICE TIPS

Holiday Assignment:
Enjoy your Christmas Songs! That's it! 
 
2013 LIFESAVER TIPS:

WEEK #1

The key to finding practice time is to plan, plan, plan! Regard your piano lesson as one of your school subjects. List "PIANO" in your planner each day so you won't forget to do your piano homework.

WEEK #2 

Study your music silently just like you study for other classes. Write-in notes and counting on your music. Highlight expressions through your song. Tap out rhythm passages. When you take time to prepare ahead, before actually practicing the music, you'll be better acquainted with it, you'll know what to expect and as a bonus, don't be surprised when you have your assignment learned and perfected more quickly!

WEEK #3 -  

"Think 10 times and play once"stated by Liszt, a famous composer. Which do you do?

Mistakes come first from your brain. Your brain directs your finger muscles! Use your brain to help erase mistakes! How does this week's tip relate to Lifesaver Tip 2 about studying your music before you play it?

Think! Think! Think! 

Think especially when you've made an error and you're trying to correct it. Don't make 3, 4, or 5 more errors trying to fix it. 

Please! Please! Please!

Please think first and get it right on the second try! 

WEEK #4 - 

Listen to your parents and do what they ask and advise. They will help point you in the right direction, remind you to practice and help you establish your priorities. 

WEEK#5 -

About this point, you may need to re-evaluate your Practice Plan. Is is working or not? Maybe you need an alternate plan for heavy homework days or test weeks. One thing you can do is take advantage of extra time when you have little homework or early dismissal days. Assess your after school hours. Do you need to regain control of play time, computer game time, friend time? Keeping all things in balance will give you time for all your favorite things.

WEEK #6

ALWAYS practice with the correct fingers! Follow finger guides on music! Decide what fingering works best and NEVER change it. Play it the same way every time. Your brain will learn the pattern and you won't make mistakes. Try it! It works!

WEEK #7

Do NOT waste time practicing the whole piece until you've attacked the most difficult measures first. Mastery of a song will never happen until the most challenging passages are worked out. Practice the toughest music at the beginning of your session when you are fresh.

WEEK #8

A half hour of serious, intensive practice is worth more than any number of hours wandering over the keys with no particular aim in view. Think! Focus! Set a practice Goal for each song!

What do Math and Music have in common besides the M's?
Math and music are very closely connected and most studies indicate that children who are trained in music at a young age demonstrate improved math skills. That's because music is  organized in mathematical ways. All those symbols on a sheet of music - sixteenth, eighth, quarter, half and whole notes - are actually mathematical formulas that describe the melodies, rhythms, and harmonies of the music we love.

Play with your whole heart!

Get beyond the black and white notes!

Express yourself and listen to your music come alive!

Start by highlighting the dynamic markings in your songs. They often are hiding in the music. "Practice-in" expression until it comes naturally rather than adding it after you've learned the song. In the beginning, exaggerate louds and softs so you can hear the contrast. You'll love how your music sounds and enjoy playing it more when you begin to feel it with your heart.

  

Let the beautiful fall season inspire you to turn your black and white music into color masterpieces by adding expression to your songs!  Your music will be ever more beautiful!

13 Tips to get the most out of your practice session!

1. Choose a regular time to practice each day.

2. Eliminate distractions around you.

3. Don't miss a day. Practice if it's even for a few minutes.

4. Set a reasonable length of time, when mind wanders take

a break.

5. Resist temptation to make up for lost time.

6. Wake up muscles and brain with warm up on scales,

arpeggios, technique studies.

7. Zoom in on hardest parts. What makes it difficult?

Rhythm? Moving Positions? Fingering? Take it apart

break it down. Figure it out.

8. Go super slow.

9. Look for common notes and recurring patterns.

10. Separate hand practice!

11. Circle passages you need teacher help on.

12. Reward yourself!

13. Play beyond the notes. Make music beautiful in each

practice session.

If you are one who likes to play through your songs from beginning to end and think you're practicing, guess again! "Playing" is NOT "Practicing". Practicing is focusing on specific measures of the music and drilling them over and over and over and over. You will NEVER get rid of your mistakes by playing your songs. Practice means repetition, repetition on measures you DON'T know.

Make practicing a new experience this week by circling the places in your songs where you continually make mistakes. Each day, play each of these circled measures 5 times. Get it right? Great! Now play it 5 more times correctly. Still having trouble? SLOW DOWN and keep at it. Most kids practice too fast! Go s-l-o-w-l-y! Next add in the measure before the measure that gave you trouble. Now you're practicing 2 measures with multiple repetitions. Keep at it until you can play these measures accurately, then proceed to your next tough spot and begin anew.

Line practice is also very effective. Each day focus on one line from each song in your assignment with 5, 10, 20 repetitions. If you're only learning 1 line, you have more time to get it right. One line a day means you'll return to your lesson with a song well learned. Be sure not to overlook any details like dynamic markings! Give it a test run! If you hope to achieve greater accuracy and fluency, this is the way to go!

Students are busily learning the Olympic Theme to be ready to celebrate the beginning of the Summer Games in London. This famous tune is to be played with energy, spirit and American pride. Is there anything pianists can learn from the Olympic athletes? Do you think they set goals? Do you think they organize their practice time? What can we learn from their dedication to always do their best? Here's a few ideas from your coach! 

• Set Practice Goals. Working toward goals is a good way to improve quickly and feel rewarded while doing so. Rather than telling yourself that you want to sound better on a song, you can set an extremely specific objective like counting a measure correctly, playing a line of music faster, touching the keys more lightly on a soft phrase.    
• Organize your time. Begin your practice session with a clear outline in mind of what needs to be accomplished. Most often, you won't have time to practice each new song from beginning to end or too much of your 1/2 hr. will be used on just one piece. A simple way to divide your time if you have 3 books is to spend 10 minutes in each book. This means practicing the most difficult or the newer songs first. 
• Priorities! Part of organizing your practice is prioritizing most important to least important songs. Address trouble sections first. To find them, play through your piece and mark measure that give you trouble. Practice these spots a lot more than the other easy measures. You will find that this not only improves the organization of your practice time but helps you conquer new musical challenges. 
• Don't rehearse your mistakes. Hammering away at a difficult section you can almost play at a fast tempo usually does not deliver the best results. Play at a manageable speed and gradually work up to the speed you have in mind. This also helps promote finger control and good technique. 
• Cramming is not a good idea. It is preferable to work in small but frequent increments, even for shorter periods of time, as opposed to cramming in practice hours the last day or two before your lesson. You'll get better, more accurate results by practicing 5 days for 30 minutes rather than 2 days for several hours trying to make up for lost practice time. 

• Think about how you learn best and develop individual practice strategies to get your assignment learned. Talk to your parents for ideas. During lessons each week, your teacher gives you ideas to help you learn your songs. Listen good and go home and try her suggestions. They really do work! Each day you practice, you make progress toward perfection of each song. With desire and good practice habits you'll be a gold medal pianist!