Tips for a Successful Recital

8 Weeks Before the Recital

You want to be able to play through your entire piece with relatively few bumps. It’s normal if at this point we are still playing at a thinking tempo!
The next four weeks you should be working on slowly getting it up to full speed, and smoothing out the finer details and finding the spirit of the piece.

4 Weeks Before the Recital

You want to be able to play your song at performance tempo fairly comfortably even if you sometimes make mistakes. If you are making mistakes, that's okay! Remember that they are good if we learn from them! :)
It is useful to have a few points in the song where you can restart should things get tricky. This will save you from having to start all over should anything happen!

2 Weeks Before the Recital

Your recital piece should feel pretty comfortable now, and if we are making mistakes we should be able to recover from them quickly. Remember a polished piece has notes, dynamics, and spirit!
Practice playing for family and friends! The easiest way to simulate the nerves of a performance is to play for real live people. It is okay to be nervous! Being nervous for something means that you care a lot about it a lot, and want it to go well! If you have hit the milestones above you will do just fine. :)

1 Week Before the Recital

Just relax. You’ve got this! You know what you are doing and how to manage the odd “Oops.”
Play your piece for fun and enjoy listening to yourself. If you are enjoying what you are playing so will others!

The Day of the Recital

You have worked SO hard on your recital piece so take this opportunity to show off your hard work and enjoy yourself! Remember that everyone in the audience is so excited to hear you play, and wants you to do well! Plus there will be cookies afterward. ;)Plan to get to the recital location early to give yourself enough time for potential delays, plus any warm up time you may need. Always tune to the piano that will be used on stage, there should be someone nearby to help you should you need it. Remember also to have good manners while other children are playing, they worked hard on their pieces too! And while they play, remember to listen for something you love. :) 

25 Practice Tips for the Parent who has Run out of Ideas After the First Week of Practice

1. Vary the practice location. During the summer, practicing outside can make both of you enjoy the practice a little more.

2. Pick a different location for each task on your practice list. (Example: Warmups in the laundry room, one review song in each bedroom, new song in the bathroom, etc.)

3. Play for stuffed animals, super heroes, favorite dolls, a blanket, etc. Serve refreshments after you perform.

4. PRACTICE EVERY DAY. If possile in several short sessions, especially for the young.

5. Surprise your child by telling him that you want him to pick 5 things off his practice list and just give you a concert that day instead of practice. Remember NOT to give any criticisms since its a concert.

6. Use something to count the number of times something is done perfectly such as rocks, colored paper clips, pennies, beans, buttons, popcorn, raisins, anything.

7. Keep a practice log. At the end of 25 hours do something special. For very young children you may want to make the goal achievable by the end of one week.

8. Number all the tasks on your practice list from 1-12. Roll the dice to see what number comes up and do whatever corresponds with that number.

9. Give young students a ticket each time you practice. Tickets may be cashed in later.

10. Make slips of paper to put in a hat and the child draws them out. The slips offer specific suggestions.

11. Occasionally have a treat after a good practice or before a practice session. Do it as a surprise. Don't bribe the child by saying “if you practice, we'll have some cookies.”

12. Prepare a concert for another parent or Grandparents. “Let's show them what you can do!” or “Let's surprise them!”

13. Take some time to plan your practice session

14. Be sure to take and keep good notes in your Lessons Notebook.

15. Praise, praise, praise! Specific, enthusiastic, and sincere!

16. Ask your teacher to borrow her violin version of the Chutes and Ladders game for a week.

17. Perform a concert for your video recorder and watch it afterwards.

18. Break up your practice session with exercises such as somersaults, sit-ups, cart wheels, jumping jacks, etc.

19. Check out books in your teacher's studio. These are on loan at any time and there is a wealth of information and motivation there.

20. Have a calendar that the child gets to draw something or glue something on each day after practice.

21. Do anything that works.

22. Nothing works forever.

23. Remember that YOU should control the practice.

24. Remember that your child is NOT likely to “take ownership” or responsibility of their own practice. Most children are not self motivated to work.

25. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen! To your CD. It will solve many problems.

101 Ways to Practice One Note, One Measure, One Line...

By Sue Evans

1. Play it your age.

2. Tape it.

3. Pick an UNO Card.

4. Throw the dice or die.

5. Wear a funny hat.

6. Wear funny glasses.

7. Left foot in the air.

8. Right foot in the air.

9. Eyes on the ceiling.

10. Eyes closed.

11. With toothbrush in mouth.

12. With gloves on.

13. With Kleenex on keys.

14. Write a story to sing with it.

15. Imagine you’re on an island.

16. Imagine you’re on skies.

17. Imagine you’re in the ocean.

18. With a cookie in mouth.

19. While smiling.

20. While winking.

21. While crying.

22. With a frightened look.

23. While undressing.

24. While dressing.

25. With high octaves.

26. With low octaves.

27. While sitting on the floor.

28. While standing up.

29. While blowing a bubble.

30. Making up a rap.

31. Making up words from other languages.

32. Making up nonsense words.

33. Sing in a baby voice.

34. Sing in a dad’s voice.

35. Sing in different animal voices.

36. Have a relative accompany you with sound effects.

37. Have a relative play another song at the same time.

38. Play it and reward yourself with an M&M or candy.

39. Play it and give yourself money.

40. Parents play one hand.

41. Parents play another instrument at the same time.

42. Play it at different MM markings.

43. Wear a wig.

44. Wear a Tie.

45. Flip your wig.

46. Moo like a cow.

47. Oink like a pig.

48. Invite friends over and act it out like a play.

49. Invite friends over for a Piano Party.

50. Put ear plugs in.

51. Wear earmuffs.

52. Wear a coat.

53. Set an alarm clock for 5 minutes of play.

54. Clap your feet.

55. Play it with a damper pedal.

56. Play it with the sostenuto pedal.

57. Play it with the soft pedal.

58. Play it on another piano: church, school, store, friend’s.

59. Play it backwards.

60. While reading a book.

61. While balancing a marshmallow on head or toe.

62. While gargling.

63. While on the phone.

64. While whistling.

65. While wearing a crown.

66. With the Suzuki tape.

67. While lying on the bench.

68. While kneeling.

69. While standing on one foot.

70. In the dark.

71. With one eye shut.

72. While telling a joke.

73. While watching TV.

74. Cross hands.

75. Create some lyrics .

76. While balancing a textbook on head.

77. At midnight.

78. In your head while lying under the piano.

79. Play it while singing DO, RE, MI.

80. While saying “I Love You.”

81. Have parents or friends dance.

82. By candlelight.

83. By flashlight.

84. With a baby on your lap.

85. Blindfolded.

86. Sing your name to the melody.

87. While writing a letter.

88. Hands separately.

89. While drinking.

90. While eating.

91. At different times during the day.

92. Play it on a dummy piano.

93. Play it on the back of your parent.

94. Play it on your lap and say the melody notes or harmony notes.

95. With a pencil in your hair.

96. With another CD going.

97. With your parents tapping the steady beats.

98. Play an ostinato pattern on kitchen instruments.

99. On the phone with your teacher.

100. While bouncing a ball with your other hand.

101. At 15-minute intervals.

102. DONE!

Daily "Chore" or "Joy?" Why Listen?

By Janice Peters

Our lives are all so busy so it is easy fall prey to the temptation of skipping daily listening or daily practice or both. So think of what happens when we skip? Why do we need to be faithful to both?

Imagine trying to learn a foreign language without ever having heard it spoken. Now think how much easier it is with an “immersion” experience. When Suzuki devised his “mother tongue method,” he capitalized on the fact that learning the language of music works much the same way as learning any language.

So why listen to the recordings? Here are a few good reasons:

1. First, listening to good quality music is enjoyable. It increases our musical sensitivity and this enjoyment motivates the listener to continue listening.

2. It is so much easier to master the rhythms and use correct intonation (playing in tune) when the correct example is already stamped on the mind. This also enables self-correction as the learning takes place. Once imprinted, the music enters the subconscious mind and a “musical intuition” (brain- finger connection) forms.

3. Listening actually allows the brain to experience the music before you play it. This is like “practicing for free” without doing the work! (However, this cannot substitute for the consistent daily practice!)

4. Being able to hear or sing the piece in the mind makes learning easier. Listening gives us this ability. It is akin to visualizing a perfect golf swing or a well-executed tennis serves prior to playing. Research has shown this really works!

So help make your child’s learning easier. Play the work piece on endless repeat each morning. Also include the previous (“polish”) and subsequent (new) pieces. This music will remain playing in the brain all day. (How many of us have had an annoying radio or TV jingle play over and over in our mind wishing we “could turn it off?”) Also listen in the background other times during the day (as in the car), concluding at bedtime.

Need a reminder? Put a clothespin or a hair clip on your bathroom towel, toothbrush, or pajamas to remind you to turn on the music at bedtime. Stick a sticker on the light switch of your child’s room. Tie a “reminder ribbon” on the car steering wheel instead of around your finger. Use a twist tie on a kitchen cabinet, breakfast coffee or cereal box, or in the silverware drawer. You can have fun with this, too. Hide clues and have a daily “treasure hunt” or draw from a hat each day to see who turns the recording on and off. Have a family contest to see who comes up with the most creative suggestions. Also, those automatic timers (for turning on lights), which can be set to turn on and shut off at predetermined hours, work well.

Play the entire CD or tape on a regular basis as well. You can have fun with it, too. Try dancing the rhythms or “head, finger or feet dancing” or make up your own fun. Be creative!

You have chosen to give your child the gift of instrumental music. Imagine how much quicker and easier you’ll both enjoy this treasure as you listen each day.

You’ll make new discoveries each time you hear the music, and your child will be on the way to experiencing the joy of finer playing with ease, coupled, of course, with diligent daily practice. So, HAPPY LISTENING! Start now.

Resistance: Some Ideas for Getting the Job Done in Spite of it

By Edmund Sprunger

Cover the basics. Make sure the technique works well enough so the child can feel successful in the short and long term. Attend group classes and concerts. Listen to the Suzuki tapes. Listen to lots of other music well. Take careful notes at lessons.

Give the child lots of choices. A child must be given genuine choices, or it doesn't work. Craft your questions in such a way that the child can have a real choice. (e.g. If you know a child needs to practice “Allegro,” do NOT ask “Do you want to practice 'Allegro'?” INSTEAD – “Do you want to practice 'Allegro' before 'Song of the Wind,' after we practice 'Song of the Wind, or after we practice 'Perpetual Motion'?”) When you give children choices and are flexible at every opportunity you possibly can be, it makes it easier not to give choices when you can't (there may be times when it is crucial to play “Allegro” after “Song of the Wind”).

Request what's working well. Ask children to do what they're already doing well. This is difficult to resist. Catching kids goofing up is a no-brainer.

Consider ignoring it. Remember that ignoring some behaviors may be a wise move.

Don't just do something, stand there. Let the child struggle. Praise the process later. (Parents: This move is not just to show the teacher you know how to praise, but to give genuine praise. Kids can smell the difference miles away.)

Sing! SING! Make sure you're both thinking of the same song.

Be honest about cooperation. “Co-operate” doesn't mean “do what your parent or the teacher says,” it means “We work together.” Ask the child to report on the work you're doing, and you report on the work the child is doing.

Ask; don't tell. Ask the child to report whether the desired outcome happened (“Play 'Long, Long Ago,', and then I'm going to ask you if the bow colored one spot on the string.”) If the child's report does not accurately reflect what happened, before labelling the child a “liar”, consider the following possibilities:

1. The child may not have understood the instructions (I always consider this a graceful and polite place to start)

2. The child may need to save face (What is the child risking if he admits he did it incorrectly?)

Ask yourself “How does the child benefit from this behavior?” Know that the child is working to get something, not simply trying to make the parent work harder. If he were, what would be in it for him? Remember that the child may not consciously know what he hopes to get, in which case he won't be able to tell you what he wants directly (See “...resistance as a gift”).

Play games. Play games the child can and wants to win: Cards, Pennies, Peel-off stickers

Use the resistance. Ask for it. (“Push your head into my hand.”)

Allow the child to pick the practice time. Play is the child's work, and getting interrupted can be a big irritation. If the child still fusses, develop a full picture for the child of the behavior you want. Instead of saying “Don't fuss” you say “Quietly stand in rest position and get ready for a bow when the timer goes off” (or whatever “NOT fussing” means to you). If child fails to produce the desired behavior when it's time to practice, the the parent gets to choose the practice time the next day.

Discuss goals. Talk to the child to see if you both want the same thing. (e.g. “You know, I would like nothing better than to have you be able to do it by yourself. That's why I'm doing it with you now.”)

Discard words like “concentrate” and “focus”. I usually consider these words to be useless with anyone under the age of... well, with anyone of any age. Instead, give the child something to focus on ( “Stay in rest position while I count to five” ---or--- “Listen for evenness in the sixteenth notes in the l ast movement”).

Ask yourself questions. “When a child resists me I feel ____.” “A perfect child would always ___ and never ___.” “a person who wanted to make me resistant could ___.”

Think of resistance as a gift. Consider that resistance might be the child's way of helping you. Resistance may be the child's way of cooperating by showing the adult what doesn't work. In this sense, it may be a gift. (It may be a gift and irritating!)

Remember that slow practice is difficult. This does not mean that a child can avoid doing it. What it does mean is that it's o.k. For a child to be frustrated and to loathe doing it --- while at the same time the child does the slow, careful practice. You can't control feelings.

Follow through with consequences, both negative and positive. If you tell a child you will take her to the zoo on Saturday if she practices every day this week, be sure to take her to the zoo if she holds up her end of the bargain. If she doesn't hold up to her end of the bargain, don't take her to the zoo. A promise is a promise, and kids thrive on stability and dependability. A child whose parents don't follow through on consequences (including negative ones) is likely to become angry and / or scared. (See Clarke, Jean: Growing up again)

Know that children can't understand our frustrations. It's more likely that we can understand theirs. We can go down to their level, but they can't come up to ours.