Keyboard Sharing

We had a great time at the Keyborad Sharing event last Friday night!  We ate pizza and candy canes, and Samantha’s family brought Rice Krispie treats – thanks!

We enjoyed hearing musical presentations from Victoria, Deanna, Patience, Aidan, Samantha, Jake, Isaac, and Grace.  We also shared a number of tips for making piano practice go well, and here are the results of that:

Ideas from students:
  •  practice when mom tells me
  •  focus on songs that need extra work
  •  when I feel sad it helps me by playing music
  •  don’t take breaks – get it all done in one sitting
Ideas from parents:
  • no TV until you practice
  • you will get a treat if you practice
  • ask your child to play for you so that you can listen (instead of just sending them to practice on their own)
Ideas from Ms Heather:
  • have a schedule; pre-determine a time you will practice each day and record how much practice you do; if you miss a session, you can do double the next day to catch up
  • if your mom or dad asks you to practice, do it without arguing or complaining
  • practice difficult pieces in chunks
  • start your practice time with a song you love, and end with it as well; do the tricky stuff in the middle
  • listen to yourself
  • listen to other piano music
Here are some good examples:
Technique:    Grade 2     Grade 5     Grade 9