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We've got a lot to talk about

Practice Space

9/28/2020

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We have started using an app to help our students with their practice. And, we want to help you get started!

Once you receive an email, it will look like this:
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Log in by using an email address and the studio code. 

For families with more than one student, the options are:
  • have to log in and out with different email addresses on a device to both be able to use it on one device
  • If they don't have an easy way to use two separate emails to log-in, one option would be to use their normal email address with +1 and +2 inserted right before the @ symbol. Example:info+1@practicespaceapp.com and info+2@practicespaceapp.com
  • The app will recognize those as separate logins, but emails will go to the same place. If they have two devices they can use the app with, they can log in each one on each device.

Once you get logged in, you will be taken on a tour of the app. Below are screenshots of the tour.

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If you have questions, please let us know. We hope this will be motivating and a great practice tool to use. 
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What I'm doing wrong with My Teaching

9/15/2020

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-Eliana Yi
The title of this post sounds rather negative, almost repentant, but I ask that it not be viewed so. The problem with many people’s attitudes about learning is that it is based on the fundamental principle of improvement—which is accompanied, for some reason, by the shaming of “unimprovement”, when that is the most natural component of learning anything. It is “unimprovement” that shows just how much one knows, and “unimprovement” that teachers should care about the most. Most teachers are reluctant to address weaknesses as they are. They are afraid of hurting their student’s feelings (such a well-intentioned act of love!)

I, too, am afraid of hurting my student’s feelings. I’m afraid to address my student’s weaknesses: to tell them that they are sliding backward from their goal, or that they must turn back to the fundamentals…I’m afraid because I have the same attitude as them. Mistakes are shameful. They must be eradicated or buried as soon as possible. If they are not, social consequences occur, and along with them the feelings of guilt, exclusion, even abandonment.

I need to shake off this fear of being wrong. I will be wrong. I will always be wrong about something. I need to learn that mistakes are a good thing. In fact, they are the most helpful tool to learn. The more I understand my mistakes, what I’m doing wrong and why, the less I fear them. They will become friendly to me, and I will care about them and will want to change them because I love them.

I’d like to practice embracing my mistakes by listing them here, for all to see. My goal this year is to become comfortable with them, then to understand why they are my mistakes. What fundamental source do they come from? What basic truth do I need to re-address? How can I keep myself from committing these bad habits?

Some of my “wrongs” are listed out in the chart below, as well as my procedure for how I will work on them:
The Misdeed
Why it exists
The solution
Telling students that they “did a good job” when they actually did not perform a task up to my expectations
I know how it is like being in their shoes. Validation is so important, and I crave for it. I shower them with praise even if they don’t deserve it because I care about their feelings.
Always thank students for their effort in the lesson. Be honest and straightforward when giving criticism (use a kind tone of voice, but never give empty praise).
Moving on to new pieces before finishing the old ones
Staying on one piece for a long time is frustrating. I’m afraid my students will want to quit piano if I keep them on a piece for too long.
There’s two solutions:
  1. Give students easier pieces so they don’t stay on one too long
  2. It’s okay to take time with a piece. Take the risk. The student will learn. She will improve. Running away from pieces will impress on a student that it is okay to run away from other problems.
Not using enough metronome
I don’t want to hear them struggling with the metronome. We will both get frustrated.
The metronome tasks I am assigning them is too hard. They probably don’t have a fundamental understanding of rhythm and time. We need to play a really easy piece and use the metronome through that piece. Then work our way up to pieces at their level again. The student won’t like it at first. I will have to get over my fear of their disapproval.
Not demanding enough practice time…with some students, I’m afraid to even talk about practice time with them. And now it’s a Catch-22: they don’t practice…so they don’t produce results. They get frustrated. I get frustrated. Piano is a bad time.
I’m afraid my students will resent me for making them practice.
First, I must understand my student’s schedule. Second, I need to figure out a practice time that works for them…that requires their commitment but is not overwhelming. Third, I must be insistent. Building up practice habits will make this less of an issue over time.
There are many other things I must improve. If anyone wants the rest of my list, I’m more than happy to share. The more I expose my weaknesses, the less I have to hide, and the more I will trust myself in my ability to improve.

For my own students (and my student’s parents), keep me accountable and tell me when I make these mistakes. Help me become a more useful teacher to you all.
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music practice as self-care

9/1/2020

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-Robin Coolidge

These are stressful times...unprecedented...uncharted… You have heard these terms ad nauseum in the past several months. We have been forced to learn more technology than ever before-as students, teachers, parents, and families. We are living through a pandemic and social unrest. We have been separated from friends and family. Our normal way of life has been put on hold
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And yet…

Here you are, at the beginning of a new school year, starting music lessons in the midst of the chaos; adding more to your already overflowing plates.

Why did you decide that this was a good idea?

I submit to you that you know something on a deep and visceral level. You understand that across cultures and across eras, music is the thing that connects all of humanity. You understand that in all times, but especially during difficult times, music practice is self-care. 

To be sure, it is not to be taken lightly; to get good at anything, one must put forth effort and dedicate time to the study of an instrument. But, the creative process in general and music study specifically, affects our brains and our whole being. “Music”, as Oliver Sacks writes in Musicophillia: Tales of Music and the Brain, “is part of being human.”
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Certainly listening to music for the purpose of affecting or reflecting our mood is not a groundbreaking idea. However, learning a musical instrument can be even more beneficial than passively consuming music. In addition to increasing cognitive functioning, memory, and focus, learning an instrument, increases dopamine, the “feel good” hormone. And couldn’t we all use more of that these days?

So, when it is time to practice your instrument each day, don’t think of it as yet another duty to check off your to-do list. Instead, recognize it as a gift to yourself. Taking moments out of each day to tap into that which connects us to all of humanity is the highest form of self-care. In a time when connection may seem hard to achieve, let music be the glue that connects you to our human family.

Take good care.
​
Robin Coolidge


Work cited
Williams, Amanda. (August 20, 2018) Stop. Pause. Play-Using Music for Self-Care. https://www.tendacademy.ca/using-music-self-care/
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MUSIC SO SIMPLE
469.778.2121
​
info@musicsosimple.com
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1144 Plano Road, suite 142, richardson, texas 75081

  • Home
    • student/parent login
    • Student Gear
    • Blog
  • REGISTER
  • About
    • Our Studio
    • Our Policies
    • Teachers >
      • Stathia Orwig
      • Meredith Manley
      • Robin Coolidge
      • Logan Herod
      • Lauren Koszyk
      • Chiara La Ferla
      • James Landrum
      • David Large
      • Lynne Nevill
      • Giuseppe Sciuto
      • Elizabeth Smith
      • Eliana Yi
    • Testimonials
  • Lessons
    • Private Lessons
    • Studio Kids: Ensemble Piano
    • Yoga SO Simple
    • Calendar
  • CONTACT