Olive Branch Music Studio

Olive Branch Music Studio
Summer Newsletter
June, 2010

News

• Summer, one of my favorite seasons (the others being Spring and Fall ☺) has fficially arrived, and I am determined to reflect that fact by getting my newsletter out early!
• Duet Party The duets are in full swing, with all students enjoying at least one duet along with their regular study. I have looked at my lesson calendar to try to determine what date would be the best for having a duet party. There aren’t a lot of dates open when no one has a planned vacation, but it looks like July 9th might work. Please pencil that into your calendar. I say “pencil” because of the following item.
• Pansy’s Due Date As most of you have probably already noticed, our little shih tzu, Pansy, is pregnant. She is due to have puppies somewhere around July 9th. This is her first litter, and I will need to be available to monitor/assist with the birth of her puppies. As I understand it, this can take several hours throughout the day and night. It is also difficult to predict the exact due date. Her puppies may begin to arrive anywhere within a week before or after July 9th. Because of this, I plan to keep the duet party planned for July 9th, but if the pups do arrive on that day, I may need to reschedule the party. Please stay tuned.
• Lessons the weeks of July 7-15 Because of the unpredictable nature of Pansy’s whelping schedule, I may need to reschedule lessons on a moment’s notice if she goes into labor on a music lesson day. I will keep you informed as closely as possible and make every effort to either hold your lesson as scheduled or reschedule. If necessary, you will receive tuition credit for a cancelled lesson. Thanks for your understanding.
• Practicing with your duet partner Many of you are playing duets with a sibling or parent, but if you have been matched with a student outside your family, it would be great if you could schedule some time to get together with your partner to go through your duet(s) before the party. Let me know if you need phone numbers in order to contact your partner(s).
Practice Makes Perfect?
Nope!
(Adapted from “Practice Makes Perfect”, by Simon Horsey

In last quarter’s newsletter we talked about a talent for preparation. Many people talk about ‘talented’ musicians... but it is tenacity, not talent, that wins the day. We have all heard that “practice makes perfect”. However, that’s not exactly true. What is truer is that “perfect practice makes perfect”.

Efficient practice makes a huge difference to your enjoyment when playing an instrument. Imagine you could make three, four, five or even ten times as much progress on your instrument as you do now... and all in the same amount of time or even less! How is this possible? By developing some good practice habits.

Here is one very important practice habit:
• Always play with 100% correct notes, right from the first time!
This is because our brains learn patterns. When we learn to play pieces of music our brains are actually learning the patterns within them. Each time we play 100% correct notes the pattern is reinforced. Each time some (even one) of the notes are wrong, it isn’t. In fact, the more times we play something wrong, the more our brain learns the wrong pattern! Better not to play at all than to play incorrectly, at least that way you aren’t reinforcing the wrong notes!
Educational psychologists currently believe that a pattern is learned after it has been repeated 7 times correctly. If a pattern is learned incorrectly first it takes an average of 35 repetitions to unlearn and learn the correct way! So if you want to make faster progress let this be your encouragement for getting it right first time, and every time!
How to get it right every time
It is very simple to play 100% correctly every time. Here is the secret

PLAY SLOWLY,
and stop if there is something you are not sure of.

That’s it. Play slowly. Stop if you find there is something you can’t play, or a note or fingering you don’t know. Work it out - don’t guess. Mark it on the music. Yes, this will interrupt the flow of the rhythm a few times as you stop to figure out what you are doing... but it means your brain is learning the correct pattern of notes and the stopping will stop very soon! You can even stop before a complex section and take it at a slower speed. As long as the notes are 100% correct at all times. It is often a good idea to use a metronome when practicing slowly to make sure you are not speeding up when playing.
If you make sure you have 100% correct notes all the time you will begin making faster progress almost overnight.
But I could play it at home
Getting notes 100% correct can also help with curing this problem. If you find you are getting things right at home and wrong in your lesson making sure you have 100% correct notes at all times can help.
Think about your practice. Does it follow this pattern?
Play something. Get it wrong. Play it again. Get it wrong. Play again, a few less mistakes this time. Play again. Same mistakes as last time. Play again a few less mistakes. Play again...almost there. Play it again...EXCELLENT! All notes correct. Got it! On to the next section.
Look back at the previous paragraph. Six times wrong. Once correct. And you wonder why things go wrong in your lesson? If that was each session for five days you’d think you had practiced 30 times... but you would have played the piece wrong 25 times and correctly 5 times! Something to think about?
When you’ve ‘got it’
you are beginning to practice it
There’s always a point when practicing a section that we think... GOT IT and move on.

STOP!

This is when the most valuable practice is done. It is at this point that you are strengthening the myelin nerve sheaths. Make the most of it. For faster progress, when you think, ‘got it’, play through that section another five times. At least! Since you are playing it correctly it won’t take long, and the small time investment here pays off hugely in terms of progress and the speed at which you learn pieces... and in the HQ (Happiness Quotient) of your teacher next lesson!
"I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music." -J.S. Bach