After my recent post on practicing tips, some
Musical Beginnings teachers had their own things to add. Read on for some great ideas…
Polly Schaffner,
Musical Beginnings piano teacher:
5
Tips for Successful Practicing
- Short bits – You really can do
something useful in two or
three minutes, so don’t give up because you don’t have a big block of time.
- Count everything - Theory homework, studying the music away from the
instrument, listening to a great artist play your instrument (with full
attention on the listening!), etc. all contribute to progress
- Feed your mind and soul – Pop culture idolizes
celebrities; some are great musicians, a lot are not. Teachers can make excellent
suggestions for listening, or YouTube videos, etc. Go to a concert, watch an
inspiring biography of a musician (or read one), or – one of my favorites
– watch a sports movie or movie about another art. The disciplines are pretty much
the same.
- Vary the diet - Review old favorites, work a little on one aspect of
technique, memorize something (try copying out the music by hand; it’s
truly humbling!), sightread, work on something a little too easy and on
something a little too hard
- Trouble-shoot the work you
need to do
- This one may be the biggest
timesaver of all. Work like a
great car mechanic or a great doctor: starting at the beginning and making
the same mistakes is a disaster. Admit your trouble spots
(the hard part), then be extremely gentle with yourself and patient as you
figure out how to fix them. Start with one or two of those every day.
Usually this will go a lot faster if YOU go a lot slower. Promise!
* * * * *
Nir Eitan, Musical
Beginnings piano teacher:
Questions and Answers about Practicing
"Is
it necessary for me, the parent, to practice with my child?"
Yes, it is.
At the beginning the parent should always practice with the young
student. This is because the student can not remember all of the instructions
the teacher gave. It is the parent's job to remind the student all that they
need to achieve until the following lesson. It is as well the parent that can
best communicate with their child so they would know how to “translate” the
teacher's instructions to the student so they can understand it fully. The
parent's involvement in the practice is also beneficial when problems arise.
The parent can quickly tell the teacher in the lesson the challenges of the
previous practice week and the teacher can direct the lesson quickly
toward tackling those challenges. Furthermore, when the parent is
involved in the daily practice the student does not feel alone during the
practice time and can better focus on the task at hand. This increases the
motivation of the student and prepares them better for the upcoming lesson. This,
in turn, will make it more likely that they continue their musical education.
"I
would love to help my child practice piano but I myself was never taught."
To help your child with their practice you need to be present
at the lesson time as much of the time as possible. By doing this you will
learn with your child and be able to help them in their practice. Who knows,
maybe you will want to take lessons of your own eventually.
"My
child does not have a musical ear. Should he take
lessons?"
There is no such thing as not having a musical ear. Everybody has a musical ear. It just
needs to be developed.
"How
long should my child practice for?"
At the beginning there is no need to practice too much. But what
is important is the regularity of the practice. You want music to become an
integral part of the child's life and that can only happen if the practice is
pretty much regular. You can always make exceptions for vacations and special
events; just make sure they stay exceptions rather than the rule. As time goes
by the student will need to practice more. This is because the songs will
become harder as well as more rewarding. At this stage the student should
already be used to practicing regularly and have some motivation
to do so. The amount of time that I recommend is as much as needed to get the
job done. If the student can succeed learning the material in twenty
minutes—good! If they need forty-five minutes--good as well. As long as they get
the job done that is what we are looking to achieve. Following a good practice
week like that the lesson becomes a sort of reward where the student can
demonstrate their hard work.
* * * * *
Willis Clow,
Musical Beginnings guitar and bass teacher:
On
Practicing Guitar
·
Don’t approach practicing without
any direction. Develop a Practice
Plan!
·
The basic Structure of my
Practice Plan: Warm up, Reading,
Repertoire, Technique
·
Warm-up: Do it! It will prevent injury and you will play better.
·
Reading: Read a whole piece without
stopping. It’s called music
reading, not music practicing!
·
Repertoire: Learn new songs first, then review and
improve the ones you already know.
·
Technique: This is the broadest category. It could mean practicing scales,
learning a new musical genre (like funk music!), or working through challenging
pieces such as Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo violin.
* * * * *
Rebecca Rice, Musical Beginnings voice and
piano teacher:
(The following is excerpted by permission from rebeccaricesoprano.wordpress.com)
10
Tips for Practicing Voice
Many new voice students do not have
a full understanding of what it means to practice between lessons. Singing
through your pieces several times may help you memorize them, but you won’t
learn how to correct musical and technical mistakes. Students should approach
each practice session as they should each lesson; with an open mind, and
willing to experiment. This list is by no means complete, but here are 10 tips
to incorporate into your practice time.
1.
Record
your lesson. This is useful for remembering what to work on between the lessons
since there often isn’t time for your teacher to make written notes for you.
You will also be able to hear the difference your practicing makes over time.
2.
Practice
often. It is much better to work on your singing a little bit each day rather
than one longer session the day before your lesson. Singers are like athletes;
we are training our muscles to perform special skills. Like athletes, waiting
until the last minute and doing one long prep session will get you nowhere.
3.
If
you are ill, feel pain in your throat, or if you begin to loose your voice,
stop singing. Singing should always feel free, not forced. If there is pain or
you become horse, you are doing it wrong or there could be a medical issue that
may need to be addressed by a doctor.
4.
Warm-up
using exercises your teacher introduced in the lesson. Take this time to focus
on different technical aspects of singing such as breath, posture, resonance
and diction. Often, each exercise is meant to work on a particular skill. If
you are unsure what skills go with each exercise, ask your teacher. If you work
better with imagery, use the image you’ve worked out with your teacher for each
exercise.
5.
Work
on pieces in sections of 4-8 measures. You can do various exercises in each
section to work on different technical aspects. For example: to work on breath,
sing a section on a tongue trill (rrrr); to work on phrasing sing legato on a
vowel instead of the words; or to work on rhythm, count a section while
singing. Once each section is perfected you can put the piece back together by
grouping sections together.
6.
Take
note of trouble spots. If you make a mistake more than once, go back and
correct it. Sing the notes on different vowels and then with the words. Then
put the trouble spot back into the rest of the phrase to give it context.
7.
Remember
that the way you say the words matters as much as the meaning. Work on correct
diction as part of your practice time. One way to do this is to speak the words
with a resonant voice, both with the rhythm and as you would if you were in a
play.
8.
Learn
to read music using solfeggio (do, re, mi, etc.) or another system. Learning
notation and music theory will help you learn pieces more quickly and you will
understand them better. Learning another instrument is a good way to achieve
this.
9.
Approach
each piece as an actor. Your job is to interpret the intent of the composer and
poet/lyricist for the audience. This means you must understand the meaning behind
the words and the notes. Practice time needs to include some time for research.
10.
Take time to listen to many other
singers in many different styles. You have a unique voice, so listening to
others, both those who have voices similar to yours and those who are very
different, will give you a better frame of reference for your own voice.
*
* * * *
Mark Balling, Musical Beginnings piano teacher:
On Practicing
I have
one simple philosophy when it comes to practicing: play every day. Of
course, we are burdened down with busy life schedules; deadlines with school or
work or daily errands. "How can I find time to practice?,” I hear on
a daily basis. And believe me, I'm in the same boat! You might even
find yourself on a family vacation, or world tour -- seemingly not having the
time in a day to grace the keyboard. Of course, I would like to have my
students (and myself) practice for thirty minutes every day. Forty-five
minutes would be healthy, one hour would be extraordinary! However,
seeing that I am also in that same group of folks who don't live in a perfect
world, I can appreciate the fact this may not always be possible. Yet, I
stick to my mantra: play every day. And I expect this of my students, and
musical colleagues. How? I'll occasionally ask someone: have you
brushed your teeth today; have you eaten; did you check the computer; did you
wash your hands? I hope the answer is "yes" to all of these!
Now bear with me: let's throw piano (or any instrument) into that daily
routine. This is novel: as soon as you get home from your lesson: open
those up books and put them on the music stand (some may want to get a music
page holder: $5 online). Boom, your done. If you practice right
then and there, excellent! But if not, leave them there. Now,
hopefully your piano, keyboard, guitar, or trombone is in a central area and
not cordoned off in the corner. Make it accessible, leave it set up, have
the keyboard lid open. On your busiest days, walk by and play that piece
three times a day. I promise, one run through or tough passage will not
take more than five minutes. Before you know it, you will have played
every day of the week! "But I was at a friend’s house, I was on
vacation, I was sick!" My reply: there's you tube (watch your
tunes), iPad keyboards, mini USB portables keyboards (as low as $50 at Guitar
Center, etc), friends'/school/hotel/church pianos. Play every day. Now
go out there and get some gigs! Because playing music is practice as
well!
* * * * *
Eleonora
Boreyko,
Musical Beginnings piano teacher:
How to practice
piano productively:
Students are overwhelmed with school homework and
are busy with various activities. It is almost impossible to remember your
piano teacher's suggestions after the lesson. Having a piano notebook will act
as a reference. I usually write a short comment on warm-ups and every song we
are working on. It only takes seconds to read, but it will help the student to
have a more productive practice. Warm-ups set the tone for proper hand position;
it is also a reminder to review the key signatures.
Comments on how to practice a fast passage will
improve the evenness of the tone. In the notebook, the student will also see
the importance of a metronome to keep accurate tempo. If during the lesson we
studied new material, it is even more important to refer to the notebook to
refresh your memory of the new music terms, etc. For those students who make
use of such a notebook, I definitely have seen the results of practicing
productively. Ultimately, it becomes a habit. Good habits lead to better
performances!
