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. :) 

Attitude

By Charles Swindol

The longer I live, the more I realize that the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftnedness, or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

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!

The Five Things That Matter Most to a Successful Suzuki Experience

by Ann Montzka-Smelser

Have faith in your child, your teacher, and yourself.

Every child grows at a different rate. It is important to respect your child's efforts and not compare his rate with the rate of others. Put your child first by focusing on the quality of the journey more than a destination. One of the best ways to demonstrate faith and respect to your teacher is by allowing one teacher at a time. Be a silent observer during group and private lesson. A child hears the quietest parental sigh much louder than anything his teacher could say or do. Give the discipline up to the teacher at lessons unless they ask you to step in. Follow through with assignments and listening at home.

YOU are the most important and influential teacher your child will ever have. One of the most important lessons to help learning is that it is okay to make mistakes. Give yourself the many tries needed as you learn to play the instrument you are helping teach to your child. The more proficient you get at guitar, violin or piano – the more confidence and empathy you gain.

Be consistent with listening, practicing and lessons.

The more you play the recording, the more internalized the music, the easier it is to produce a beautiful ringing tone with expressive musicianship. Students that consistently listen learn and memorize pieces with much more ease than those who do not.

When practicing is a daily habit, much of the struggle is eliminated. Do not say, “we will make the practicing up tomorrow.” Five minutes is better than nothing... and you can always find five minutes.

Treat private and group lesson as a special event... not to be squeezed between many other activities (where you might come late and leave early). Your child will know this activity is important if you treat it that way.

Communicate with your teacher and other parents.

Let your teacher know if you are struggling in the practice sessions at home. Since some conversations should not be had in front of your child, use email or phone (ask your teacher which method is best for them).

Be sure to talk with your private or group teacher if you have questions or concerns about assignments, behavior, expectations, anything! We know you want the best for your child; we do too!

Other parents are vitally important for sharing joys and struggles and solutions together!

Take notes and mirror your lesson in practice.

Though you should not interrupt the flow of the lesson (and break important focus) it is important that you are clear about all assignments so you can follow through in home practice. Have your teacher check over your notes before you leave and reiterate the instructions for the practice week ahead. You are the “home teacher” but are expected to do only what is covered in the lesson. Your teacher is very careful not to move forward before a specific level of mastery is achieved. Do not move your child to the next step until your teacher gives the green light to do so.

The practice packet is extremely helpful for the teacher to know what the child has been doing all week, and asses and adjust assignments accordingly.

This is also helpful for a parent and child to see what is ahead and stay on task with daily expectations.

Be creative and enthusiastic in practice!

It is hard to be creative and enthusiastic when you are tired, hungry, stressed, rushed, etc. This holds true for your child as well. Find the best time for both of you to enjoy some time together. Many families find several short practices are more successful while others find one dose a day does it. Be sure physical needs are met so you and your child can focus. Your enthusiasm will be contagious... here are some creative ways to begin practice since “once begun is half done.”

• Treasure hunt: write pieces or practice assignments on popsicle sticks then hide them around the room and have your child find them and do them.
• Beat the clock: Who can be ready to practice by a certain time each day?
• Practice candle: let a candle burn during practice time. Agree on a celebration of time together when the candle is used up.
• Set a goal: of 50 (or 100!) days of practice in a row and celebrate with a family activity of your child's choice.
• Count repetitions: with raisins, peanuts, or skittles.

Some other helpful tips in working with your child and keeping them actively engaged are to “ask” rather than “tell.” Praise the effort. Look for what is working, and most importantly, focus on one point at a time. (This usually means ignoring other factors).

It is easy to get frustrated or overwhelmed. Taking a breath and remembering why we want this for our children can center us. Thank you for letting us work together for you and your family. Enjoy the journey!

Home Practice Essentials for Fostering Independence

adapted from the book Expanding Horizons: the Suzuki Student Grows Up by Mark Bjork

The dynamics of the Suzuki Triangle change from year to year and sometimes even day to day. Eventually, your child will need to become responsible for their entire home practice.

Analysis by the student should be part of every practice at home to help your child later assert independence in their violin practice.

Here are some sample questions that when asked in this order will foster in your child the maturity to decide what and how to practice. Use this like a script until you and your child have comfortably integrated these questions (or your own version) as a part of your daily practice.

1. How do you think you played?

2. What do you think you could improve?

3. What did your teacher suggest to take care of that problem?

4. How many times do you think that should be repeated for it to become easier?

5. How secure does that feel now?

6. Are you ready to try that section/piece all at once?

It is assumed that you will give your child ample time to answer your query.

Please be sensitive to your child's thought and response time. Remember that this is a chance for them to learn to analyze how to practice problem areas.

Parents must also be sensitive to when the child tires of the responsibility of making the decisions and needs the parent to take over. Maturity such as this is not achieved all at once, so use this practice method a little bit each day to grow their independence slowly over time!

This will prove to be an invaluable skill later in their violin practice.

The Practice Process

Mr. Bjork outlines as an interesting approach to decide what to practice using the analogy of a doctor's visit.

1. The Examination: Play a piece, decide if anything can be improved.

2. The Diagnosis: After identifying the problem, decide how to correct it.

3. The Medicine: Do the necessary work to affect a “cure.”

4. The Check Up Exam: Play the piece/section again to see if the cure has been achieved.

5. The Follow Up Exam: Decide if the medicine needs to be administered again or if the cure should be reviewed at the next practice in order to maintain excellent health of the piece/section.

The Ins and Outs of Progress

by Lamar Blum

Our recent Recital Week gave all who attended a glimpse of music students in action. Pieces had been polished and rehearsed. Students dressed up. Parents provided tempting treats. The excitement of wanting to hear each student play buzzed through the group. An anxious look at the program told students when they would play. Every recital was filled with the same agendas and expectations. Every recital held beautiful music played by students with little experience as well as those who have been playing for many years.

A comment that surfaces after a program is, “Hasn’t Janie progressed a lot? She was in Book 2 last year, and here she is playing a Book 4 piece!” That is a great thing to recognize, but I’m wondering about the student who hasn’t covered so much obvious musical ground. Are they still progressing? The outward signs of a student making progress are clear. The student learns many pieces, plays with more expression, has more and better control of how to navigate the instrument, looks like he/she enjoys what he is doing, and is able to communicate musically with the audience.

Let’s set these wonderful elements aside for a moment and take a look at some not-so-obvious things that can still be called progress. It is difficult to determine inward progress as it is happening. Let’s say a student played on recital this year but played a piece only two pieces farther than last year’s piece. Did this student progress? Yes, but it doesn’t seem like very much. In this scenario, the parent might become discouraged. As a teacher, I would not think there is a lack of progress if the attitude of the parent is one of patience and trust in what the teacher is doing. If the parent has the child’s best interest at heart and if practice time is a regular event, something is happening inside the child.

Progress is usually defined as movement. Movement isn’t always forward. It will be sideways, backwards, diagonally and sometimes up and down in the learning process. The important learning goes on inside each of us no matter what the subject. As adults, we are capable of telling what goes on inside. It is more difficult to discover what is going on inside your child.

Suzuki tells of the persistent patience of a mother working with her child. A mother working with her child was having trouble with the bow flying from her hand. The child was able to play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” within six months. However, control of her bow hold eluded her for a long time. It seemed this skill was impossible. The mother and the teacher did not give up. When the child was at last able to hold the bow throughout the song, the child and parent were very happy.

I quote from Suzuki, “An invisible growing faculty helped to breed a new ability until it finally became visible to all.”‘ It maybe a long time before we can tell what our child’s “invisible growing faculty” is, but it’s there. As was the case in this child, what keeps a student from outward progress is not usually instrument related. She had suffered from infantile paralysis and was finding her way back to health by using the violin.

I enjoy challenging a student when I believe that their mind is on something besides the piece to be played in a lesson. I remind them that our mind is like a CD with lots of information on it. I ask that the student take out that CD—we sometimes push the imaginary eject button—and put in a blank one. Then, I ask them to play their piece. It is amazing how well they can play when an entertaining visualization is used.

As I perused Webster’s Dictionary to clarify the definition of progress, I found words like “gradual, steady improvement,” “an official journey [of a sovereign]” and “to continue toward completion.” I would hold each of these phrases up for your consideration. We are looking for gradual, steady improvement. That is the kind that runs deep and holds meaning for you and your child. You are on an official journey with your child through life. We don’t have to be kingly for this role to be relevant. But life is official and Suzuki wanted your child to benefit the most from making beautiful music. And, lastly, the phrase “to continue” sounds important to me. I have heard many people state their regrets about not continuing a child’s music lessons. Once we find ourselves in the “regret zone,” it is difficult to retrieve the momentum of the musical experience. I believe it is better to continue while evaluating ways to make the situation enriching for your child. Even when children are resisting, there is something of benefit going on inside.

All of this is said to encourage you to focus on the inward journey of your child’s musical experience. It’s our job as adults to help our children make headway, rise, grow, gain ground, step forward, forge ahead, shoot ahead, dash ahead, go ahead, move ahead (according to Roget’s Thesaurus) and most of all…KEEP GOING.