Practice Sins, Winter Piano Seminar, Try Before You Buy
Hi there Blitzers,
I recently posted a blog called 'Information is Power', which touched on reasons why students may not practice as much as we’d like. This got me thinking that it would be very useful for parents to have an actual ‘list’ of the things that can prevent good practice...
The Seven Deadly Practice Sins - Part 1
Children get so much out of learning a musical instrument, both academically and socially. Having piano lessons is a joy. However, the practice that needs to take place between lessons can often be a stumbling block on the road to success. The following ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ of practice are mainly to do with piano practice, but the information given can be applied to any instrument.
1. No routine
The average child does not naturally gravitate towards piano practice (or practice on any instrument!) at home. This is completely normal – just like they don’t naturally gravitate towards doing homework. There is no point waiting for the magical time when a child will ‘feel’ like practising. Practice needs to be timetabled in, and it should be a compulsory part of the daily/weekly routine, like brushing teeth. If a child senses that practising is optional, most times they will opt out.
An ideal practice routine would consist of at least four practices per week. This means that practice is at least taking place on more days than it is not! Five sessions per week is ideal, and any more than that... well, the teacher will be in heaven. As for how long the practice should be, that all depends on the level of piano, the age of the child, and the efficiency of the practice! Sometimes 10 minutes of really solid practice is more effective than 30 mins of just playing through pieces without listening or fixing. The key is to have a consistent time each day for practice to take place, for example Monday at 4, Wednesday at 7:30, Thursday at 4, Saturday at 9, and so on.
2. Too isolated
If the piano is tucked away in a room at the back of the house so that the noise won’t disturb anyone, this can make it a very solitary and unappealing activity for the child. Sometimes the piano or keyboard is kept in the child’s bedroom, which can also be isolating and can be a deterrent to practice – often there are too many tempting distractions in the bedroom. The best location for practice to take place is in a family room, or near the kitchen, where there tends to be a hub of activity and where a parent can keep track of what is (and is not) being done.
3. Inadequate instrument
This can be a tricky one. Not every young pianist’s family can afford an acoustic piano, either in terms of money or space in the house. A digital keyboard is absolutely fine and there are many fine instruments on the market.
Many families make a small initial investment in a half-size keyboard, rather than spending a lot of money only to find that the child loses interest in playing after a term or so.
A small keyboard is fine for the first few months but after a while it will be fairly limiting in what it can produce, and the child may be less enthusiastic to practise on it. Another thing to consider is that small keyboards do not usually have weighted keys and this is not great for learning piano technique. The difficulty for parents in this situation is that the child appears to have lost interest, so why invest in another instrument... but often it is exactly that investment that will re-ignite the child’s enthusiasm!
Continues Next Month...
Make sure to look out for our September Newsletter where I'll finish this article and cover the final 4 Deadly Practice Sins. Or, if you're especially keen you can read the full article here on the Blitz Blog.
Winter Piano Seminar a Big Success!
Our recent Winter Piano Seminar held in Sydney on July 16 was a big success. More than 100 motivated teachers, students and parents attended and benefited from our expert speaker line-up and fabulous lunch!
The evaluation forms were filled with tons of great feedback and teachers in particular commented that they found the panel discussion with AMEB examiners enlightening and useful. A couple of important points that came up on the day were that students are officially allowed to put their hands on the keyboard when preparing the sight reading in an exam (as long as no sound is made), and that the AMEB always work hard to make sure that no student has the same examiner two years in a row.
Thanks again, Samantha & Co for organising such an informative day. I thoroughly enjoyed the Winter Piano Seminar and was able to begin my teaching term with renewed enthusiasm. My students have been able to begin each lesson giggling at the 'karate chop test' and to mockingly moan loudly with the "Don't clap it back" rhythm pattern game. It's always great to be able to hear and implement great new teaching ideas. See you at the next seminar!
- Dianna Denley
Try Before You Buy
We're updating the BlitzBooks web site with previews of all our books - so you can take a peak through the titles online. It's an excellent way to evaluate whether BlitzBooks can help your child, music students or school departments.
So far the following titles are available:
Blitz For Beginners
Grade 1 Music Theory
Grade 1 Musicianship
How To Blitz Sight Reading Book 1
(Scroll down on the web page to view the book embedded in the page)
Do you have a headmaster or purchasing manager you need to convice that BlitzBooks are the best music resources available? Send them links to the pages above so they can see for themselves!
To your music education,
Samantha
Samantha Coates
BlitzBooks
PS: We hope you like our new monthly email newsletter. Let us know what you think (please email me). If you've been enjoying our regular snail-mail newsletters don't worry - we'll still be sending those out too.
PPS: Make sure you read my BlitzBitz blog - where I regularly discuss music theory, upcoming workshops and new downloads.
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Community
Upcoming workshops in NSW and VIC
The MTA NSW's 'Refresh and Recharge' will be an excellent weekend in October. Go to Music Teachers' Association Event page for more details.
Samantha will be presenting two sessions at the VMTA’s Professional Development Day on Tuesday September 21. For more information go to Victorian Music Teachers' Association Events page.
Learning Repertoire
We've mentioned Elissa Milne's excellent music blog before, but it's worth recommending again. These recent posts are valuable reading:
How (not) to Learn a Piece of Music
What does it mean to ‘learn’ a piece of music?
Aural Tip of the Day
Did you know that the sound you hear when you plug in a USB is an ascending perfect 5th? And that when you take it out it’s a descending perfect 5th? This is worth bringing to the attention of music students everywhere!
Got a recommendation?
Got something worth sharing? Please email me with your recommendations and I'll add them in to our next newsletter.
About BlitzBooks
BlitzBooks is the series by Samantha Coates that has revolutionised music theory teaching. Students are no longer bored with their theory books! Since January 2001, music students have been able to ENJOY their theory education with fun, user-friendly texts. The conversational, easy-to-use format has made BlitzBooks incredibly popular with students as well as making teachers’ lives easier.
The BlitzBooks series covers the AMEB syllabus for Grades 1 to 5 in both Theory and Musicianship as well as offering fantastic publications in the areas of beginner music theory, sight reading (piano) and general knowledge (any instrument).
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