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One of the most difficult aspects of teaching music and art is the ambiguous and subjective transmission of abstract concepts to the learner. Teachers often fail to communicate the concept of musical interpretation effectively, due to the subjectivity of language and delivery. How can one identify the feeling of "calmness" in music? Furthermore, ho...
What is Interleaved Practice? Repetition is the most time-honored method of learning anything new, be it basketball, math, or piano. Practice! And practice some more. But how do we structure practicing? How musicians or math students organize their practice and study time is not frequently discussed or thought about in great detail. Music...
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This is absolutely fascinating. Looking forward to implementing these ideas. Thank you!
Saturday, 15 June 2019 07:04
It happened again this week. I had used the word "heartbeat" to suggest the way the left- hand chords in the B section of Burgmüller's Ballade should sound. Every teacher knows the usual klunk-klunk sound most students first make when playing them. Owen had immediately responded to this image with exactly the right two-chord phrasing. Ah, success,...
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Thank you so much for this great article. This was very helpful and very timely. I have a student working on the Burgmuller Ballad... Read More
Sunday, 22 September 2019 19:26
Healthy Playing, Healthy Teaching, Vanessa Cornett, EditorMany teachers are unsure of the best way to respond when a student first utters the words, "I feel nervous!" Young students experiencing anxiety for the first time may mistakenly feel that their symptoms should be eliminated entirely. Yet, in order to perform we...
Our student, Maria Willertz, recently stood on the stage of Steinway Hall in Cincinnati proudly displaying her certificate for having practiced 100 days in a row, an accomplishment we achieved together by providing a positive environment in which to practice, conveying clear expectations of how to practice, and evoking encouragement to help keep he...
Dear Editor,The Editor's Page ("Who will save the guitar?" July/August 2017) commented on the 10,000 hour rule of thumb. This has been rumbling around in my mind for a little while as a confluence of discussions that all reference this "law" have been keeping the idea active in my head. The comment about taking 10,000 hours to reach expert or maste...
In recent years, there's been a lot of discussion about the state of the piano teaching industry. We know that piano sales have declined dramatically, but has there been a decline in the number of people studying piano? In the absence of thorough data, we can only look to anecdotal evidence, which seems to be highly variable. I hear from teachers w...
Bonnie Blanchard set out to discover the reasons students don't practice in the last article. Here are some of her remedies!
Here are the reasons. Click at the bottom of the page for Bonnie's superb ideas for engaging students! They didn't sign up to practice.They don't think you care.They don't believe they can succeed.They don't know what to do.They don't know where to start.It doesn't work.They can't figure out how to fit it into their already busy life.Th...