Tips from Teachers

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

1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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!

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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!   

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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!