Recently, I decided to learn the guitar. You would think that given my musical knowledge and background, my good ear and great fine motor skills from playing piano for over 40 years
…and the Consequence of Copies Call me old-fashioned, but I love using music books. I insist that all of my students buy them. To me, a music book is something you have for life, an addition to a library, a nostalgic possession that can be passed on to the next generation of musicians. However, I […]
If your child loves to practice, and never has to be reminded, ordered or bribed to do it, then that is wonderful. However, you are in the VAST MINORITY. Most children will baulk at practice, and below are the top 10 reasons why. 1. No routine If a child senses that practising is optional, most […]
It has been a while since I’ve instigated a competition of sorts with my students. In the past I’ve had things like the House Points system which tallied up minutes of practice and the 50-piece challenge which tallied up actual pieces learned. However I felt there needed to be something new, a bit of a […]
At the recent Piano Festival at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music I gave a presentation called ‘Teaching Digital Natives’, in which I discussed the ways in which technology has changed the learning styles of the current generation. There were 120 piano teachers in the room, of various ages and stages of teaching. We started the […]
Vicious Cycle The vicious cycle of theory study goes like this: Student dislikes theory because all their friends do or because they ‘just want to play’ => student avoids theory => student does not do well at theory => student dislikes theory How did this happen? I believe the main reason this cycle comes about […]
When you practice a musical instrument by yourself, it’s a pretty solitary experience. There’s no team spirit, no friends at the training session, no coach to tell you what to do. It can be REALLY hard to be disciplined in practice – that is, to tackle the stuff that really needs work first and leave […]
Studies show that if you invest 10,000 hours of practice into pretty much any field, you will be a master in that field. This applies to musicians, sportsmen, chess players, computer geeks, anyone. This comes from a book called ‘Outliers – The Story of Success’ by the economist Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a fascinating book that […]
Four weeks ago, my Harry Potter-obsessed 11-year-old daughter suggested I implement a ‘house’ system with my students. She said she thought they would all practice more if they were earning points for their house and competing for the ‘house cup’ (something which happens in Harry Potter, in case you didn’t know that). Even though it […]
As with anything in life, excuses are sometimes genuine and sometimes a force of habit. For example, I have a friend who is alwayslate, and there is always a good excuse for why. When she tells me her excuse it tends to waft over me like a familiar yet slightly irritating smell. In contrast, I […]