How much does my child need to practice?


🎻 If you want your child to progress, ensure they practice each and every day! 🎻

• The only way meaningful progress is made on a musical instrument is through daily practice.

• It works best to treat practicing, like brushing teeth, as something that is not optional.
• A good rule of thumb is to practice the same amount each day as your lesson length.
  

• GOALS, both short term and long term, are essential for helping focus our practice.

• FACT 1: Most kids DO NOT willingly practice on their own.  (If yours does, that’s totally great!!) My own kids (now music majors in college) had to be reminded and sometimes nagged every day.  So did I!  
• FACT 2:  The best teacher in the world cannot teach a child to play an instrument unless the child is practicing every day or ALMOST every day.  
  

• When a student practices every day, day after day, they build on what they did the day before.  Progress is cumulative and can be rapid.  Fun and rewarding!!!  👍

• Don’t skip days!  Skipping days makes progress stop.  A skipped day means you miss out on that cumulative effect.  Practicing after a skipped day is mostly repeating/trying to regain what they had.  Frustrating and discouraging!!  😭

• Practicing only the day before your lesson (or the day of!) DOES NOT replace a week’s worth of solid practice.  Trust me.  🤦🏻‍♀️  And yes, teachers can tell.

What does it mean to come to a lesson prepared?

• Coming “prepared” to a lesson means your child put in thoughtful work each day with the goal of being able to play through their assignment without difficulty at their next lesson. Correct notes, correct rhythm, correct bowings, at a minimum.  Little or no need to stop and start.  Playing is clean, confident and clear, with a beautiful tone, at the correct tempo, not messy.  👍
• REPETITION is the name of the game.  Repeating a tough spot multiple times actually gets a lot done, but it’s important not to lapse into mindless repetition.  THOUGHTFUL, improvement-oriented repetition gets results.  Once a student figures out how to play a passage really correctly, it's time for MANY CORRECT REPETITIONS!

• PLAYING WITH A METRONOME is a super important skill to perfect rhythmic accuracy, and can really organize practicing.
• "My child is confused/stumped!”  Did they really TRY to figure it out?  🤔  If after really thinking about something and trying to figure it out, your child is still confused, skip that part and go on to something else.  If a student is stopping and starting multiple times through their assignment during their lesson, not enough figuring out was done at home.  
• PROGRESS over PERFECTION.  Always ask the question: Did I achieve noticeable improvement and progress on this tough passage just now as I practiced it?  If the answer is yes, give yourself a pat on the back.  You can either keep working on it to achieve even more results, or you may move on to work on something different, feeling good about what you did.  Tomorrow is another day to build on what you achieved!
• If your child is truly struggling to figure out how to do their assignment between lessons, please LET YOUR TEACHER KNOW so they can help!  We do not mind questions!  Never hesitate to shoot us an email or text if something is not clear.
• Resources for parents trying to help their children practice:  Helping Parents Practice and Building Violin Skills, both by Edmund Sprunger, are good resources to help parents understand practice issues and figure out how to help their kids practice.  

In summary:

Exhilarating, obvious forward progress is achievable through sustained daily practice.  Lessons are a billion times more fun and rewarding and productive when the practicing was solid for the week.  If that work does not occur, the lesson is the same frustrating experience week after week with no progress made, or even backward sliding as skills once gained start to fizzle away from lack of maintenance through practice.  Help your child be an awesome practicer!!

Tomorrow we head off to the Britt Festival in Oregon.  It's our 18th season this year, and the 50th anniversary of the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon.  Our triplet sons are about to enjoy their 8th season "on the Britt hill," joining up with their group of summer friends known to them fondly as The Britt Kids.  

Most performing musicians are very busy during the year with their hometown gigs, but with down time in the summer, migrate to sometimes far-flung beautiful places to make music in the summer time. The Britt Festival for our family has meant countless memories - for instance, Robb proposed to me as we perched on rocks on the bank of Crater Lake in Oregon during our first Britt season.  In March 2003, one week after I had won the Principal Second Violin job at Britt, I realized I was expecting triplets, which we then brought to the Britt hillside at age 9 months to crawl around on blankets during rehearsals. My Mom became part of the Britt Family that year, tirelessly helping us out with the babies so we could continue to be part of the orchestra.  This year, she got to Britt weeks before we did, to meet with her dear friend Soren, resident of Jacksonville and long-time Britt patron.  

It's not easy leaving the house for a month.  Cat-sitters need to be lined up, the house needs to be secured, the mail needs to be stopped.  I go into withdrawal being away from my computer for so long (maybe it's finally time to get a laptop).  And then there is the long road trip ahead.  Eight days we are giving ourselves this time, and we are going via the Grand Canyon, which none of us has seen yet.  Each year we try to see a new National Park, which gives us something to look forward to as we log long miles each day.  We will see family along the way as well.  When we lived in Spain, the trip was even longer, and we asked ourselves every year whether we were just crazy for putting ourselves through it again.

Once we arrive though, and sit in the first rehearsal, which is in so many humorous and welcoming ways exactly the same as it was 18 years ago, I remember why we made the long journey yet again.  And in the first night time rehearsal, as the sun sets and the stars come out, I hear the night-time peepers singing along with our music and feel an indescribable peace.  A deer may stray by in front of the stage while we play.  I'm surrounded by friends from far and wide who also come back year after year.  

Time to go!

Dear Families,

We could not be more thrilled about Sudbury String Studio's  first year!  Our studio has been full, diverse, and vibrant, and we are so very proud of all our students!  Our first recitals this past June 17th were an enormous success.  The afternoon was beautiful, and without exception every student gave a wonderful and inspired performance.  Congratulations to all of you!  We can't wait for the next one, which is tentatively planned for early December 2012. Stay tuned, and thank you for your continued support!

SUMMER LESSONS:

We are in full swing with summer lessons.  Summer is a great time to have music lessons, while there is less frantic running around going on, no homework, and relatively uncluttered brains.  It's a time of real growth for our students.  Many are committing to learning a new piece, or a new technique such as vibrato or shifting.  Lessons are offered through July 20.  After that Robb and I will be out of town at the Britt Music Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon until the end of August.

FALL LESSONS:

Slots are filling up quickly for private lesson times in the fall, both in our home studio and at Curtis Middle School. To learn more about the Private Lesson Program at Curtis Middle School, click here. 

GROUP CLASSES

We are pleased to offer Fiddle Frenzy violin group classes for beginners who are in 2nd and 3rd grade. 

Fiddle Frenzy classes are small (5-6 person limit) and therefore kids receive the benefits of performing as a group as well as individual attention.  The Fiddle Frenzy curriculum, developed by Bonnie Brown and Nicki Payne, has resulted in great success, including performances at both Nixon and Haynes Schools in June, 2012.  

Each Fiddle Frenzy session consists of 7 weekly one-hour classes, with tuition of $175.  There is a one-time individual "set-up" lesson required prior to beginning Fiddle Frenzy. This lesson is 60 minutes and is offered at a special rate of $50 for Fiddle Frenzy participants.  During this lesson, the student is instructed in basic string technique and provided with effective and fun exercises to establish a fabulous bow arm.  Tapes will be applied to the fingerboard to aid with finger placement and intonation.

The next session of Fiddle Frenzy begins in the week of September 23rd, 2012. Registration will begin July 15th 2012. Feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Adult Group Classes are offered as well.  Please contact us at [email protected].

COME JOIN OUR STUDIO!

New Students starting in September or October may receive 4 lessons for the price of 3!  Siblings of current students welcome to take advantage of this offer. 

HAVE SOMEONE TO REFER TO SUDBURY STRING STUDIO?

We appreciate so very much those of our students who have helped spread the word about our studio to others.  We would therefore like to offer the following as a Thank You:  for each student you refer to Sudbury String Studio, who commits to at least four private lessons with us, or a Fiddle Frenzy or Adult Group Class 7- week Session, we will discount your lesson fee by 15% for the following month.