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The Magic of Productive Practicing
by Mary Gae George
Music is one of the largest subjects
that students study. As teachers, we must guide students into
understanding and enjoying this vast subject in just a few minutes
each week. How much do you think your child would learn about
math if they saw their math teacher for only 30 minutes once
a week?
This makes the home practice time the most important part of
music study. Students become their own teachers during this time,
and their progress and enjoyment is directly related to the quality
and consistency of their practicing. This is a significant reason
why scientists have determined that music study develops the
total person more than any other activity.
THE TEACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY
As a teacher, I consider it my responsibility to show students
what it means to practice effectively. These are the guidelines
I give each student at all levels of study:
Look Before You Leap!
Do not start to play until you have marked how the piece is put
together, located the most challenging parts of the piece,
and planned how to break the piece into easily managed goals
to accomplish. To do this, start with:
- A letter plan to show
the form of the piece. This helps you find the parts that
are the same, the parts that are similar,
and those that are different. (See www.ArtistryAlliance.net
Form in Music.)
a. Letter plans also show you where the phrases begin and
end, dividing the piece into “musical sentences.” Know
what each form these phrases are so you know how to play
them. (Is the phrase a uniphrase, a period, a short-short-long,
etc.?
See Five Basic Phrase Forms, How to Read and Compose, Artistry
at the Piano, Musicianship 1, pages 55-59.)
b. Letter plans also speed up your learning of a piece:
Practice only the parts that are different. Get them all
equally secure
so that you can put your performance together and know
you can succeed.
c. Your most important practice session is the one right
after your lesson. So yes, you do need to practice after
your lesson!
i. Go over your assignment and plan your priorities for your
practicing.
ii. Set goals you can accomplish for each day so that you
come to your lesson prepared and confident.
Speed Limits
Practicing then begins at a slow enough metronome speed that
you can think ahead to the next note, plan its rhythm,
interval, fingering, sound, and how it helps to shape the
phrase.
b. This work is done in small enough sections to control
and it begins with hands alone practice. It is useful to
first:
i. Using the metronome, count aloud and tap the rhythm
with metric stress,
ii. Sing the interval name (“Space 3, up a second” for
example) in the correct rhythm,
iii. Sing the note names (such as “Treble C up to D”),
always in the correct rhythm,
iv. Sing the finger numbers (“Right hand 2 up to 3”),
bringing out the metric stress,
v. Give special preparation to any changes of hand position,
before you start to play. Work until you can do them accurately
with eyes closed!
c. Repeat each small study-part at least three times in
a row without error. This is your “accident insurance!”
d. Then you are ready to begin increasing the tempo, using
the metronome to avoid mistakes. Work step-by-step up to
a performance
tempo, or the goal set at the lesson.
e. When this is secure and musical for a section of the piece,
begin hands together practice of that section, but be sure to
start again at a slow enough metronome speed that you can plan
ahead for each beat of the measure, feeling comfortable and confident.
(Otherwise, if
you feel rushed, you teach yourself to worry about what comes
next instead of that great “I know what comes next” feeling!)
Work up to performance tempo, hands together and with expression,
for that study section.
f. Always start with the most difficult part (or parts) of a
piece. They will take longer to master so they need to be learned
before the easy parts of the piece. It is exciting to be able
to play the hard parts better than the easy parts! But you will,
of course, get the entire piece under your control at the same
metronome speed. This is an exciting accomplishment, very much
like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.
The Tortoise and The Hare
Some pieces will take longer to learn than others. My instruction must help
students realize that they need some easier pieces that are quick-to-learn
and easy to play well, so that they feel their accomplishments growing. But
each assignment should also have some more difficult challenges. These pieces
take longer to learn, but they also teach us the most important skills and
accomplishments – the ones we don’t yet have control over. These
are the pieces that help us climb the ladder of accomplishment.
THE STUDENT’S RESPONSIBILITY
How Much Can You Accomplish Each Day?
The student must be encouraged to accomplish real progress in
a short amount of time. This is a victory. This is pro-active
work. This requires focus, judgment, and determination. This
helps the student “learn how to learn,” which is
a tool for life.
Be Consistent
The student must realize that consistent work gains exciting
progress. One cannot “cram” for a lesson or for
any other performance. So their day-to-day progress is their
responsibility and their reward.
Each student needs to work out a daily practice schedule, the
same way they attend school at a pre-determined time—not
when they feel like going to school. Most students excel by practicing
before school, when they are fresh. Some students do better with
several shorter practice sessions rather than trying to cover
everything in the same session. Older students with large homework
assignments from school can use these short practice breaks as
a reward in between their schoolwork. They can then return to
their studies refreshed and determined—looking forward
to earning their next practice break at the piano.
Be Determined and Be Responsible
But music students grow and develop in exact relationship to
their own determination to be responsible about their music
study.
Students need to work on their assignment daily as described
in the above section for the Teacher’s Responsibility.
They may also work on other music, but not to the extent that
their assignment is overlooked.
It is the student’s responsibility to arrive at each lesson
or class with all necessary materials in a tote bag.
Roadmap to Success
The ArtistryAlliance.net Weekly Assignment and Daily Practice
Log forms guide students to achieve exciting progress each week.
Not every youngster is inclined to be this organized, but they
all benefit by doing it.
Perhaps the most important thing for students to realize is
that they are responsible for bringing their assignment thoroughly
prepared. Lesson time must not be wasted on correcting mistakes,
or doing the students’ thinking or practicing for them.
Nor should lesson time be spent on what the students have already
learned. With so little time together, we must be moving forward
each minute of each lesson or class!
For this to work, students must promise to always ask questions
about anything they do not understand.
Transfer Student Camp
It is also necessary for students transferring from one studio
to another to realize that a period of review and discovery
is required before a balanced assignment is possible. This
is best accomplished with an intensive Music Camp designed
especially for this purpose. Here again, students need to assume
responsibility for accomplishing what is assigned in the manner
that was shown at the lesson or Camp.
THE PARENT’S RESPONSIBILITY
Parents provide the third essential leg of this triangle of
music study support group. Not only do you provide the lessons
and materials for your child’s music study, but you get
them to their lessons and classes on time, ready to work hard,
and you remain eager to hear of their steps forward.
This is similar to having your child participate in a sports
event. You bring them to each scheduled practice and you are
there at the game to cheer them on to accomplish their best efforts.
Practice Co-Pilot for Young Students
Parents of younger students will also need to serve as a practice
coach at home. This can be a special bond between parent and
child. It continues until the child matures sufficiently to
be able to make definite progress according to the steps outlined
above. I encourage the parents of young students to attend
lessons so that we are speaking the same language to the young
student, and so that the parent understands the goals and methods
the teacher assigned. Though this is not always possible to
schedule, we do record each lesson so that both the parent
and student have a complete record of what happened at the
lesson.
The Helping Hand and Voice (usually from the kitchen!)
By working out the daily practice schedule with your music student(s),
make sure they realize that they can take charge by getting
themselves to the piano at the agreed upon time. It may help
to post a chart marking the days they accomplish this. If they
have not “arrived” at the piano within an agreed
upon length of time, the parent is free to gently remind the
student what time it is.
Accomplishment vs Duration
Notice that the emphasis has been on consistently getting to
the piano and accomplishing specific goals as efficiently and
successfully as possible. Asking most children to sit at the
piano and repeat their assignment mindlessly for a certain
amount of time each day is counter-productive.
Be Generous, Be Positive, Be Encouraging
As adults, we must realize that it takes patience and hard work
for a young person to succeed with music study. They therefore
need generous amounts of encouragement and support. They also
need to know exactly what is expected of them and, when appropriate,
helpful suggestions about how to reach their goals.
Well-earned praise is worth any amount of effort on our part,
because—
SUCCESS IS THE GREATEST MOTIVATION!
the ArtistryAlliance.net Weekly Assignment and Daily Practice
Log forms
will also soon be available from www.ArtistryAlliance.net
This site will be launched in March 2006.
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