Hello Everyone!
Here are a few of the things that we talked about in our meetings this week. We mostly focused on practice ideas, and how to keep your child motivated as they learn the violin/viola. If you haven't filled out a feedback chart for me yet, please do. It gives me a lot of good info to work with as far as how I can help you in your home practice, and how I can help your child to achieve their musical goals.
Practice Ideas:
1- Have a 3-ring binder or other folder to help keep track of assignment sheets. It's important for your student to review their weekly sheets and use them in their daily practice. You can also include things like Note FlashCards, the Suzuki book, and any other non-Suzuki songs I give you copies of. This helps the student to remember what they need to practice each day, and it creates a good system for Review. Just have them play through everything in the book every day, and Review is easy!
2- Draw faces on the practice chart to tell me how that day went. This is especially effective for younger students. A smile means good practice, no fighting. A frown means the practice was a struggle. Eyes with a straight line means it was somewhere in between. This way I can see what areas of practice your student enjoys, and where you might need ideas to help practice be smoother.
3- Remember that Review and Listening are THE MOST IMPORTANT parts of daily practice. If you don't have much time some days, or if it's not a happy practice day, just do the Review and Listening. These days are okay periodically. Try to let your child have some control over what they're practicing- as long as they do what's on their chart, it doesn't matter too much what order they do it in. I recommend saving their "favorite" thing to do at the end of practice... it's the dessert, the reward for practicing well. Also, remember to use those practice charts and ideas I've given each of you. If you don't have any more, or never got them, let me know.
Motivation:
In the packet I give out when you start with me, there is a sheet called "Fun Practice Ideas". This has lots of good motivating ideas on it for you to use with your student. I will be incorporating some of the Practice Charts into our lessons and offering rewards for them.
Another great way to motivate students is for them to see musical performances. I will be posting information about the concerts available at Institute in a couple of weeks. I believe they are available to the public, and are free. I would especially encourage you to take your student to the Jenny Oaks Baker concert. She is an amazing and very accomplished violinist.
Whenever I hear about good performance opportunities for your students to see, I will let you know.
I will also be giving out Christmas music to start learning over the summer. I would like to have a Christmas Concert in December after I have my baby. So, we need plenty of time to practice before I take maternity leave.
We will not be having group lessons during the summer. I will let you know how group classes will be in the Fall.
Also, remember that the SLC Area Violin Graduation is in January. You must be a member of SAU to participate. The fee is $30 for the whole year. There will also be an activity in the fall, and I'll let you know when I get info about that.
Happy Practicing, Keep up the good work, and Remember your goals as you work with your child! Harmony in the parent-child relationship is one of the most important aspects of the Suzuki Method, so keep that in mind.
Here are a few of the things that we talked about in our meetings this week. We mostly focused on practice ideas, and how to keep your child motivated as they learn the violin/viola. If you haven't filled out a feedback chart for me yet, please do. It gives me a lot of good info to work with as far as how I can help you in your home practice, and how I can help your child to achieve their musical goals.
Practice Ideas:
1- Have a 3-ring binder or other folder to help keep track of assignment sheets. It's important for your student to review their weekly sheets and use them in their daily practice. You can also include things like Note FlashCards, the Suzuki book, and any other non-Suzuki songs I give you copies of. This helps the student to remember what they need to practice each day, and it creates a good system for Review. Just have them play through everything in the book every day, and Review is easy!
2- Draw faces on the practice chart to tell me how that day went. This is especially effective for younger students. A smile means good practice, no fighting. A frown means the practice was a struggle. Eyes with a straight line means it was somewhere in between. This way I can see what areas of practice your student enjoys, and where you might need ideas to help practice be smoother.
3- Remember that Review and Listening are THE MOST IMPORTANT parts of daily practice. If you don't have much time some days, or if it's not a happy practice day, just do the Review and Listening. These days are okay periodically. Try to let your child have some control over what they're practicing- as long as they do what's on their chart, it doesn't matter too much what order they do it in. I recommend saving their "favorite" thing to do at the end of practice... it's the dessert, the reward for practicing well. Also, remember to use those practice charts and ideas I've given each of you. If you don't have any more, or never got them, let me know.
Motivation:
In the packet I give out when you start with me, there is a sheet called "Fun Practice Ideas". This has lots of good motivating ideas on it for you to use with your student. I will be incorporating some of the Practice Charts into our lessons and offering rewards for them.
Another great way to motivate students is for them to see musical performances. I will be posting information about the concerts available at Institute in a couple of weeks. I believe they are available to the public, and are free. I would especially encourage you to take your student to the Jenny Oaks Baker concert. She is an amazing and very accomplished violinist.
Whenever I hear about good performance opportunities for your students to see, I will let you know.
I will also be giving out Christmas music to start learning over the summer. I would like to have a Christmas Concert in December after I have my baby. So, we need plenty of time to practice before I take maternity leave.
We will not be having group lessons during the summer. I will let you know how group classes will be in the Fall.
Also, remember that the SLC Area Violin Graduation is in January. You must be a member of SAU to participate. The fee is $30 for the whole year. There will also be an activity in the fall, and I'll let you know when I get info about that.
Happy Practicing, Keep up the good work, and Remember your goals as you work with your child! Harmony in the parent-child relationship is one of the most important aspects of the Suzuki Method, so keep that in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment