Happy birthday MacKenzie!

Here's the birthday girl at her lesson.  Birthday crown looks great on the glitter cowboy hat!!

Faculty Recital

The Fall Faculty and Friends Showcase recital will be held this Sunday at 7pm.  Tickets are $10, but all ticket sales go towards student scholarships.  Quite a few of us are performing (although the concert should not last much beyond an hour) and we'd love to see you all there.  Please invite your family and friends - there will be some great music that night!  

Tickets may be purchased at the door, but you may want to get them in advance.  Click here to purchase tickets online.

Thanks to all of you who came to Zoosical last weekend!  We had a great time and hope you did too.

Zoosical

I'll be performing in the Music Academy's presentation of Zoosical! A Children's Concert this weekend.  It's a family-friendly concert aimed at young children, so this would be a particularly good event for those of you with very young children.  Dress as your favorite animal and bring a blanket to sit on - tickets are $5 each.

Friday Students:  Since the first performance is this Friday, Sept 21st, I have had to reschedule many of your lessons.  I have contacted everyone affected by this, but if you'd like a reminder or confirmation of your lesson time just send me an email.

Lesson Swap Schedule

Parents and students:

I have not yet published the Lesson Swap schedule for Fall 2012, but I plan to this week.  If you would like to include your information and see others' contact information in the event that you could benefit from trading lesson times please let me know as soon as possible.  If you have questions about the swap schedule please let me know, but if I don't hear from you I will assume you'd rather not participate.  Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Susannah

The updated fall calendar has been posted! Check under 'calendar' tab.

Music Mythbusters

To all aspiring adult music students:

So you are currently taking lessons or interested in studying music, but there are too many things getting in your way?  Here's some music mythbusting for you.


I wish I could take lessons/music class, but...

....I'm just not musical (I had lessons when I was a kid and couldn't do it)

Everyone is musical: humans are just made that way.  If you think you aren’t musical, it’s much more likely that you had a less-than-positive experience with it as a child.  Music is personal and tends to bring out our (often carefully tucked away) expressive, emotional side.  That makes us feel particularly vulnerable and, in the wrong hands, easy to permanently discourage.  Even in the best setting music study is not all sunshine and rainbows – more often than not it is hard work - but telling anyone (child or adult) that they are incapable of musicality is simply inexcusable.

...I don't have the time

Effective, daily practice of 20 minutes is far more effective than several hours of unstructured practice once a week.

Did you hear that? 20 minutes.  That’s about the same amount of time that you spend watching commercials during an hour of television.

Now, I’m sure you already have many important commitments throughout the day that demand your attention, leaving little time to anything else. If this is the case, you will already know the importance of time management and if you are truly dedicated to learning an instrument, you will already be thinking of how to maximize your schedule in order to make the necessary progress. You will also appreciate how every moment spent learning your instrument is an important investment that will pay you back over many years to come.

....I don't know if I want private lessons, but I hear you'll make slower progress in a group

It is often wrongly assumed that private lessons are the "best" way to learn an instrument and that group lessons are somehow a "watered down" version of this. This is not the case for a number of reasons.

It should be understood that one on one lessons are indeed a very good method of learning but this does not mean they are better.  Group lessons have many benefits that private lessons just cannot replicate. Private lessons can be very useful in terms of individual attention and having personalized educational experience.  However, group lessons are an extremely powerful tool because music is very much like a language in that it is also a method of communication between human beings. If you are learning a language, a great way to learn is by total immersion in that language and culture. By visiting that country and speaking to as many different people as possible you will learn on a deeper level and far more quickly. Similarly, if you are learning an instrument, it is within your best interest to play with as many different musicians, whether at your own or differing levels. If you are lucky enough to begin your musical journey in a group, you will never feel daunted by playing with others. Your appreciation of rhythm will be learnt on a deeper level. You are also likely to learn a lot from your peers who will ask questions that you might not have considered and you will also feel empowered by a community of likeminded people. You will also learn how players of differing levels can communicate musically and that this is a very useful skill to master.

(Have I convinced you yet? Let me know if you are interested in starting an adult beginners class with your friends. Or maybe you should just keep reading.)

...It's too late for me; you need to start when you're a young child

It’s just not true.  There is no "right age" for when you should start. (In fact, the only prerequisite is that the desire is present.) Sure, if you wanted to become a world class, virtuoso classical musician, it would be very difficult if you hadn't started early. Of course, one of the most satisfying facets of learning an instrument is the potential for continual growth and you will be amazed by the results that you will be able to achieve with continued, dedicated study. There is an abundance of music to enjoy, the only limitations being your imagination and dedication. Which brings us on to....

...I'm tone deaf

I bet you aren’t.  No, really.  

Can you tell the difference between a bird call and a car horn?  Congratulations! You aren't tone deaf.

How about this: Can you express yourself by the way you say something vs. the words you use?  Can you hear emotion in someone else’s voice?  With slight changes in inflection we can alter simple statements to mean many different things.  (Imagine a parent talking to their teenager: “You’re wearing THAT to school?”  Technically it’s not a question, but the meaning is clear.)  Part of our human musicality is the ability to express ourselves through tonal variation.

In other words, you aren’t tone deaf.

...I've got no rhythm

A few questions: can you walk, breathe evenly, and does your heart beat on a regular basis?  If you answered yes to any one of these then you’ve got potential.  Remember when I said all humans are musical? This is part of that.  Rhythm can be taught, practiced, and improved.

I am extremely keen for my students to have good rhythm (it is after all one of the most important things in music) and have developed many useful exercises that are hugely successful in nurturing rhythmic ability.

...will it really make me (my child) smarter (i.e. The Mozart Effect)?

Okay. Mozart was an amazing composer, and listening to his music is fantastic and enriching.  But listening to Mozart will make you good at listening to Mozart (or potentially tuning him out).  In the same way, studying music will make you (your child) improve at music.  Stay in school! Piano lessons alone are unlikely to raise anyone’s AP test scores.

Here’s the good news: studying music does develop lots of skills we use in other areas.  The physical aspect of playing an instrument or singing requires coordination and spatial awareness.  Performing music with and in front of others helps with emotional development and social skills.  Music requires attention over time and focus on detail and precision.  Learning the language of aural and written music parallels the kind of skills children use when learning to read.  Presumably you study music because you find some satisfaction in it, and happy people are more receptive to learning new things.  The list goes on- you get the idea.  Many activities (sports, hobbies) have side benefits, but few (none? I can’t think of any) cover as many areas as music.  (But for some reason nobody ever brings one of those huge foam fingers to our concerts…)

Bottom line: Music won’t make you smarter, but it will help you to develop skills in many, many areas.  Also you might just have fun.