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0:00/2:27
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0:00/3:14
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0:00/1:28
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Brahms Sonata #3 9:010:00/9:01
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Bach Cello Suite #5 23:450:00/23:45
'Once Upon My Cheek'
'Flight of the Bumblebee'
End of Year Dances
Upcoming Performances
The Road to Independent Practicing
Everyone who responded to a study said that practicing is difficult!
Also, everyone indicated that it is an immensely valuable arena to learn life
skills. Numerous studies keep finding how practicers benefit academically as well as artistically from their instrumental music.
- At first, for the “Twinkler” stage, simply copy the lesson together with your child. (See note taking at lessons) Do this daily as well as you can, creating a routine for practicing and listening.
- Next, you may learn in lessons with your teacher four ways of practicing: Tonalization, Review, Preview and Repertoire. When it’s time, we will add two more ways to practice: reading and Improvisation.
- Your next goal is to have practice patterns and listening routines well established in your household. Aim to become productive in each of the categories at home.
- With your teacher, you start cultivating independance. You can begin by having your child practice one category on their own for a week. How did that category play out in the lesson? Next, have your child prepare a different category. Later, practice all the categories one day on your own that week. This requires clear, specific notes including numbers of repetitions, and/or a number of minutes for each category. Work with your teacher on this. It’s fine, of course, for you, the parent and practice partner, to be close by, folding laundry, cooking, chopping vegetables, reading the news, etc.
- Have your child begin to use some of the practice techniques in the practice room (See practice techniques below) Over time, we continue to cultivate habits of daily listening and practicing. We continue to support a young player to make appropriate decisions in the practice room. We cultivate the ability to evaluate oneself. You will learn about this in lesson and class time.
YOU CAN PRACTICE ALL BY YOURSELF IF:
-You can decide to practice at least 5 days a week without being reminded
-You can remember to listen at least 4 days a week without being reminded
-You can tune your cello accurately
-You can use practice techniques other than “Play Through” most of the time
-You can come to your lesson having improved somehow in all the categories
-You can repeat things in the practice room at least 3 times before doing something else
-You can make adjustments in posture, tone, or intonation without helpful support
-You can evaluate what you are doing and what you are hearing.
Which of these skills
would you like to develop this year?
Practice Techniques
Tonalization-Review-Preview-Repertoire-Reading and Improvisation
Each category is different way to practice
Experiment with the “texture” of a practice session…Start with easiest? Hardest? End with something satisfying and successful
Some very common practice techniques are:
Spot Practice
Phrase practice
Section practice
Tempo of Control
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Creative Repetition
Concentrating on:
best intonationrhythms
best intonation of ___fingerdynamics
ringersshifting
bow placementvibrato
bow planningmaking it easy
bow holdrelaxed weight
bow armswinging elbows
best toneFeet planted….etc.
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You can also try:
Starting somewhere other than the beginning
Play the sections of the piece out of order, scrambled
Practice “Backwards” phrase by phrase, or section by section
Play something 100X
Create a “workout”
Listen and Play
Some Advanced practice techniques:
These all require lesson and/or class time, when you’re ready
Technique of the Pie
Cross Training
Revolving Concentration
Technique of “success at any cost”
Architecture of a phrase
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