Virtual Matinee December 13
It is the month of Halloween! 🎃 👻 👽 🤖 🧙
Hard to believe it is almost November and even harder to believe we are still in the throes of this virus. I hope everyone is doing OK, although I know that is probably not totally the case. I am fine in spite of my age and have been so fortunate as to be healthy and still working. I think about my students all the time and I know for some it is really difficult especially the high schoolers, and the youngest ones.
Halloween: I am so sorry about no trick or treating for Halloween! I will not be receiving visits from monsters this year and will not be handing out candy, sad to say. But I wonder if students could send me photos of themselves in their Halloween costume! I am pretty sure most are going to dress up and I would love to see you all.
Students: I am really pleased with the progress students have been able to make in spite of the difficulties of learning totally online. All students have been patient and cooperative, and I thank you so much. I am working on the idea of a Zoom concert or two in December although I understand a lot of students are not terribly comfortable with the idea of yet another Zoom meeting, but I will talk to people about it. With the virus still rampant I am not hopeful about the Spring being in person as yet.
Fees: November fees will be due next week. Monday students will have 5 weeks in November; Tuesday and Wednesday students will have 4 and Thursday and Friday students will have three because of Thanksgiving. In December there will be either 3 or 3 weeks of lessons depending on which day you normally come. Please look at next week’s emails for clarity. Some students and parents are opting to pay November and December and that is fine either way. Please let me know if there are days around thanksgiving other than the usual Thursday or Friday that you might be away. Thank you all for keeping me employed!
Vacation: I will be on vacation for two weeks over Christmas from December 21 to January 1. In addition over the next two months I might have to reschedule a few lessons on the day they are going to put on our new roof. It will be incredibly noisy but will save us from the all too frequent roof leaks. In addition, I might have to accompany my partner to a procedure on a date possible in December but again I will reschedule the lessons involved. The Spring Semester will begin on Monday January 4, 2021.
Stay safe and well
October News 🎃🕸️🦇👻
Fall semester is almost here!
The semester is about to begin but Fall weather has yet to arrive! Hopefully some cooler weather will come for the labor day weekend and…
How to practice a musical instrument effectively and efficiently
Later this year, in December 2020, I will have another larger online concert for all my students who would like to participate. Of course everyone will want to play or sing at their best, and of course this takes practice. However your performance will depend not on how much practice you do, but what kind of practice.
There are two ways that students can practice. The first way is when you practice on “auto-pilot”, just repeating your piece over and over until it eventually sounds right. You start playing and all goes well until something sounds not right, so you stop and play that part over and over until it gets better. This kind of practice is super inefficient and worse, you are practicing stopping to correct yourself once you have started to play your piece. Guess what? When you want to play for an audience you will automatically stop to correct errors! So in the end this kind of practice leads to lack of confidence and nervousness. It is also very boring to practice this way.
What you need to do is practice deliberately and mindfully. I am sure everyone knows this term “mindfully”. We get told all the time to be mindful and stay in the present, not dwelling on the past or anticipating the future. Deliberate practice involves identifying where you are hesitating or consistently playing erroneously, and looking closely at the section or note or phrase. (My experience is that it is almost always that the fingering needs to be adjusted, but I also experience a lack of identifying certain notes in relation to others around them, which means I need to pay extra attention to letting my muscle memory learn these relationships).
I have been reading the work of Noa Kageyama on his website: https://bulletproofmusician.com/. By “bulletproof” he means able to play your selected piece from beginning to end correctly and in a relaxed manner.
Here is his model for deliberate practice:
Deliberate practice “problem-solving” model
1. Define the goal (What do I want this note/phrase to sound like?)
2. Go for it
3. Analyze the result (Did I achieve my goal? If not, what is the problem? What did you do that made the note/phrase sound like it did?) Try recording!
4. Identify potential solutions (What adjustments can I make to make the note/phrase sound more like I want?)
5. Test potential solutions (What adjustments seem to work best?)
6. Implement the best solution (Make those tweaks permanent – i.e. mindful repetition) Record again!
7. Monitor implementation (Are these adjustments continuing to get me the results I want? Or do they need to be refined? If they seem to work, write down your new insights in a notebook so you don’t forget and have to rediscover them tomorrow)
This is hard work! I know because I have done lots of inefficient practice in my many years of practicing; at the Conservatorium in Sydney Australia I was required to practice 6 hours a day minimum. I did not know about deliberate practice and as Noa says, I would have achieved the same or better results in half that time.
It takes practice (ha!) to practice deliberately – how about you try it out?
(I will attach a pdf with more details from Noa)
Reflecting about online teaching and learning
We find ourselves in a new world of online teaching and learning that we had no time to prepare for in March this year, but now it is time to reflect a little. I have been thinking about the pros and cons of online learning, on the grounds that this is how it is going to be at least until January next year. However I am giving serious consideration to much of my studio continuing to be online at least for 2021 and maybe beyond.
The Pros:
Some years ago maybe during the ice storm or a snow storm (can’t imagine that now!), I had to teach students on skype. A parent just loved not having to drive the student here and being able to go on with her work at home while I taught the student. At that point I was not interested in online teaching. But thinking about it now, I can imagine many parents would appreciate not having to schlep to my place (even though we now have that lovely waiting room).
I have also had many students say “I can play that piece perfectly at home but I come here and your piano is so different to mine that I can’t play it the same”. Now students can have a lesson on their own piano in their own comfortable space, and apart from me watching it would be just like practicing. They can perform their prepared piece as they describe!
Anyway, at the moment we have no choice about online teaching given the prevalence of the virus and my age – I am very healthy but I am 75. I cannot take the risk of getting the virus by having people come to the house. Conversely I do not want to give it to anyone.
The Cons:
Three of my students found it very difficult to listen to instructions emanating from a screen; two had to quit and one might soon. Being next to the teacher for them meant being able to understand and respond. Being able to see me play a certain piece in real time was necessary for them.
Learning music, piano, guitar, ukulele, is such a solitary activity and this is enhanced by it being taught online. Students long for the interaction with their friends.
Also the internet transmission has a delay which means I cannot effectively play and/or sing with the student. I have to play or sing, and then they have to repeat the same after me.
Singers who cannot accompany themselves are having a very hard time even though I record their accompaniments on the piano. It is not the same, singing to a recorded accompaniment compared to standing beside me so i can adjust my playing to their singing.
After consideration I think that some students actually benefit from online tuition, and some do not. Some benefit from being in their homes away from the stress of school, and the classroom schedules, but some need the in-person interaction with their peers and their teachers. However, right now, all I can offer is online music lessons.
During the pandemic I have accepted new students who began their tuition online, and it seems to have worked well for them. Several live in cities too far to travel to my house for lessons, so they will always continue online, although I have ideas of hosting small group “campus visits” here on one or two occasions in the Spring semester.
Result of my reflection:
I need to build some sort of community among the students and I am going to seriously think on that. In the meantime as Fall commences soon, I am going to ask students to respond to a question – I will send a sheet on which they can respond and hopefully then send or email to me.
I am going to plan some December virtual holiday soirees, so watch this space! The first Virtual Summer Soiree was wonderful. My neighbor David Dodson, a singer and pianist himself, participated in the concert and said it was the highlight of his week. So sweet to see my students play so well, and also sweet to work with my daughter Rose.
In the months up to December I am going to give students a project to give their family a concert and I will send instructions for this! It will involve getting dressed up and serving refreshments made by them!
I need everyone to update their information sheet. It’s surprising how quickly they get out of date. Please fill out the attached sheet and email back to me or send in the mail.
I am going to remain positive and encourage students to be positive.
I have also upgraded all my equipment and now have a blue yeti microphone and wifi boosters everywhere. I know from testing that my setup works well. I teach now on my mac laptop and I have the new microphone and good speakers. However, much depends on the device a student is using, and their internet connection. I am fortunate to have fibre optic cable and very fast speeds here as well as up -to-date devices. I know this is a tremendous burden for families who I am sure have had to buy more phones, ipads, and laptops and spend money on internet connections. I can highly recommend stands for phones and ipads and laptops; propping up phones can lead to interruptions and broken devices. I will send a separate email with advice about online music lessons’ setup conditions.
August (we are still here ): There are two more weeks of teaching and a few people owe fees. I would really appreciate it if I could have all August fees owing in to me before I leave on Saturday 8/22, if possible. You can pay with Zelle or through the mail or in my letterbox. I will try to email each person over this week. I will be on vacation from 8/22 – 9/8.
Fall Schedule:
I really need to try and see where I am with the schedule. If you are not coming back to online lessons please let me know as soon as possible. That is the most important piece of information. If you need a different time, that is not quite so critical at this point, but if you are continuing and you want your same time I need to know that asap. Thanks to the people who have already responded.
Website: Have done some tweaking of the website, changing the order of the pages and revising the text. The schedule is as good as the information I have received so far, and I will continue to update it even while on vacation. Remember to look at the student performances – I hope to have more up there soon.
Advice about set up at home for online music lessons
I know that some of this will not be possible with financial restraints, however this would be the ideal:
- An up-to-date device with a good built in camera. Phone is OK – ipad if it is up-to-date is probably better, laptop is ideal but not necessary.
- A stand to support the device – I need to see the instrument and the student’s hands on it. For ukulele and guitar, I am going to adjust my devices so i can stand to teach these instruments and I would prefer students to stand too if possible mainly because of posture and because of future performances – much better standing.
- Few distractions. Most students’ home situations are fine and have few distractions but it is hard if there is a lot of noise – we both need to hear and concentrate for me and for the student to have a good lesson.
- Most students have been amazingly well on time. It is important to be ready when I call (and for me to finish lessons on time ready for a student to call me).
- Internet – we are at its mercy! Even with a great connection there are interruptions and freezes. The better your wifi connection of course the better the lesson. Some students get upset if the lesson is constantly interrupted.
- Please charge your device before the lesson. I have to remind myself also because I have had the laptop run out of juice and had to switch to phone!
Thanks everyone – I know you all do your best under these trying circumstances
Virtual Summer Soiree Video link
Here is the link to the Virtual Summer Soiree 8/1/2020 which was conducted on Zoom. Please watch the unedited concert if you have time! It was the first on-line concert for my studio but hopefully not the last!
Watch the Virtual Summer Soiree
The password is: FMSoir3#
Enjoy!
