Christmas Fun!

Parents,

Check out the group lessons on the right.  Each child has a Christmas piece to perform at their last group lesson of the semester.  Please help them practice for the performance.
Lessons will resume the week of January 4th.
I will be counting beads to give away $10 gift cards at the December group lesson.  Students need 65 beads to get a card.  There will be many gift cards given for incredible practicing....We will start the beads/punches all over again at the first of the year.  The next semester has more one more weeks, so 85 beads will be required to win another card.  This is a great incentive...Hope to see more win a card!  Theme for May Recital....A Celebration of National Parks in honor of their 40th birthday!

A CCHS RECITAL! WOW!!!

What an incredible recital we had on Saturday....It was Creepy, Crawly, Hairy and very Scary!!!
Thank you students for all your hard work!  It was amazing!  Group lessons are next week....Be prepared to play your ensembles, and check out our Clavier Composer of the Month!

PIANO MAESTRO S/R APP

By now all of you have received a link to download Piano Maestro.  If you haven't downloaded the app, do so ASAP.  We will be giving assignments from this program each week for the students to work on.... You do need an IPAD to work this.  If you do not have an IPAD, I've purchased a few off of KSL classifieds.  Make sure you get a 2nd generation of newer.  The 1st generation doesn't have an operating system that will support Piano Maestro.  Have fun watching your child practice!  THEY WILL NOT WANT TO STOP!

PERFECT PRACTICE TIPS

Practicing in Sections

In this post I'm going to review the main points I seem to be going over and over in each lesson hoping they will sink in. When you approach a difficult piece the only way practice it is to Divide and Conquer!

1.  Stopping mistakes before they start. When you practice in easily digestible sections from the very start, you are cutting your learning time in half by not making huge mistakes from the beginning. IS THE FINGERING, NOTES AND RHYTHM HOLE IN ONE?

2. Set Daily Goals. Make a goal to focus on one problem section a day and get it down really well. Be reasonable with yourself and limit your focus to 1, 2, or 4 measures at a time. Play as many repetitions, slowly, with your best concentration, as the section needs to improve. Mindless repetition just for repetition's sake won't help you improve. Review what you've done the next day of practice and then move on to fix the next section that needs attention.

3. Three Times in a Row Perfectly. You will know each section well if you will make it a rule to play it 3 times in a row perfectly (including no pauses!). Remember, a pause is a mistake! Fix it right away, otherwise you will keep pausing at the same spot. Keep it smooth!

4.  Sectional practice gives you safety spots, or good starting points. A safety spot will be your salvation in a performance if you somehow lose your way. Practice starting at the beginning of every main section. These are your "safety spots." The more difficult the piece, the more safety spots you need, even every 4 to 6 measures. If you can do this you know the piece very thoroughly.

5.  Don't skip hands separately! If you can't play the piece or section hands separately, you don't know the piece well enough to perform it in a contest. Even up to the day of the performance, practice hands separately, LH first. It is common to think you know the piece, only to have the memory fade during a performance because you didn't know the LH well enough. Then practice hands together.

6.  Start slowly, then build tempo. When learning, the perfect tempo for you is the tempo at which you can play with NO pauses or mistakes. Above all, GET THE FINGERING perfect,  along with playing the notes and rhythms correctly. You are not playing correctly if you have a sloppy fingering that doesn't work well. You will pay for sloppy fingering in time you'll have to spend later to unlearn it and then relearn the correct way. 

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT INCENTIVE CHAIN-PUNCH CARD

Parents,

I will be starting a new incentive program using beads for my younger students and a punch card for the older... The children will be rated each week 1-5 (see below) on their practice at lessons.  No more teacher looking at practice sheets!  Students will still mark the sheet and keep a tally of their own practice record.... I will know how well they practiced by their execution of the assignment in each lesson..... Here are the criteria:

1=Student was completely unprepared and likely did not practice much at all during the week. Progress may be lost. Supervised practice is necessary. 

2=Student may have practiced a bit, but was unable to demonstrate a minimum 50% of their assignment at the lesson. Progress was limited this week. Supervised practice is strongly recommended.

3=Student practiced, but could not demonstrate a mastery of the assignment. Home practice habits may need to be reviewed or the student may have failed to complete the assignment by forgetting written work, leaving a book at home, or forgetting to read the assignment instructions and could not demonstrate the instruction in the lesson. Progress may be limited.

4=Student practiced, completed the assignment, and demonstrated a satisfactory understanding of the entire assignment in the lesson. This was a job well done! The student will progress quickly.

5=Student not only practiced the assignment, but went beyond and played even better than I expected. Student may have looked ahead or practice more than was assigned. Student will progress VERY quickly.

Each student will want to achieve a 5 each week...  There are 15 weeks in the Fall Semester x 5 =75 beads or punches possible....After each lesson be sure to ask your child how many beads they strung or holes punched. 

This will be exciting for all students who practice because their reward will be a $10 amazon gift card for having either 65-75 beads or holes punched at the end of Fall Semester...(just in time for Christmas!) I will keep their bead chains at my house, teens will be responsible to carry their own punch cards.  

REMEMBER PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, BUT PERFECT PRACTICE WILL BE THE GOLDEN TICKET FOR AN AMAZON GIFT CARD!

Welcome Back Students!

FALL SEMESTER BEGINS SEPT. 8th... Labor Day's missed lessons will be made up on the Monday before Thanksgiving.

DATES TO REMEMBER FOR FALL:

HALLOWEEN RECITAL:   "CREEPY CRAWLY"  Tarantella, Bug  and Halloween songs.  Saturday, October 31st 10:30-2:30  Piano Gallery...Bring a monster munchie to share!

GROUP LESSONS:  October 12-14th  Fall Break
November 9-13th  Ms. Susan will be attending an ORFF Convention in San Diego
December 14-16th  Christmas Break

TEEN/PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES
September 27th....A Hymn Fireside 6-7...Ms. Susan's
December 15th...A Candlelight Christmas, performing for the elderly..5-6pm...Ms. Susan's

Olympic Testing! Group Graduation Party!

Parents,
Just a note to let you know that your child will be taking a theory test called PIANO OLYMPICS!
This is a way for me to analyze what your child learned as far as theory during their year of study.  I will help the child prepare in class for the test, and ask you to remind them to study at home as well.  Also remind them to review scales, arpeggios, M5FP's, and note flashes.  They will be tested on these as well.  
I will be giving a trophy to anyone that get's 100% on their theory test at the final group graduation party at the end of May.  I will also be giving trophy's for 100 days of practice, hand shape, curved fingers, rhythms, and various other things that need to be recognized.
Be sure to mark your calendars for their group lessons in May....I know it's a busy time of year!  I am so glad I had the final recital in February!  I have 6 graduations in 3 weeks time.  Jim and I have completed 2 last Friday and Saturday....We have 2 this Friday, and 2 the following week.  We are going crazy!
I will not be teaching on the 18th of May...This is Brigham's graduation...If you have any questions please email me ASAP...If the days and times are not compatible to your schedule, please email me and I will give you some alternate dates your child can come.

Las Vegas MTNA Music Teachers National Convention

WOW!  Such interesting new techniques and exercises I've learned today.  How to memorize more effectively, why music is so good for your brain, correct practice, repetition in practice, recreational music making, Russian Technique, master classes....It's only been half a day, and I'm so excited to use  new ideas in the studio... LOOK OUT KIDDOS!

SPRING BREAK GROUP LESSONS...

PLEASE LOOK AT THE GROUP LESSONS ON RIGHT TO KNOW WHEN YOU SHOULD COME TO GROUP LESSONS ON MONDAY MARCH 30TH....

FROZEN RECITAL...THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH....PIANO GALLERY

It will be a cold recital on  THURSDAY February 26th...full of slippery fingers and frozen memories!!! NOT!
Students will plunge into their FROZEN recital with warm hearts and hands to make this recital an event to remember.  Mark the date on your calendar and let me know which recital your child would like to perform in within the next few weeks.  4-5:30pm, or 5:45-7:30pm...Help your child through slippery passages of music so they  don't freeze when performing...Have your child make some snowflakes to decorate the hall... They can dress in frozen gear if they would like to be ready to play in the snow!  It will be a winter celebration of beautiful music!!!