A Little Practice Buddy

Sometimes it's just a little buddy that will kickstart practicing again. In my case, it's this little Practice Monkey that I got for my Shoppe but any stuffed animal would work.

We use our practice monkey as an audience, a critic, an object for concentration, and a reward for good practicing. This little guy is always sitting around watching for good tone and happy playing. 

Today this little guy is making practice fun. 

Check out this video of our practicing today complete with chocolate on the face. It's over six minutes long. That's with all the parts I edited out. Caroline practiced this section for at least 20 minutes. It was really a tough one for her, but notice she is still smiling at the end of practicing. We also included another little guy we like to practice with. 

Multi-Mouse Making Our Practicing Fun!

This past weekend I had the fun opportunity to attend the ASTA Conference in my hometown.  I met a lot of great people who stopped by my Shoppe as well as others who were selling their own products.  One such product I invested in is the Rockin Rosin which is so fun to give away to my students.  They love rosining their bow with a fun-shaped rosin!

My biggest find, however, was a cute little mouse slap bracelet called the Multi-Mouse.  We call him Mr. Mouse over here and he's been a constant tool in our practicing this week.  I think this is a great little toy that can be used in a variety of ways from the smallest little pre-twinklers to the older students learning shifting and vibrato.

According to the creator, the multi-mouse has many wonderful uses:

1. Bowing arm path

2. Left wrist position

3. Left-hand shape

4. Introduce Shifting

5. Vibrato Technique

 I decided to test this out with my own kids and here are some of the pictures!

What really intrigued me was using this to help keep my daughter's wrist open when she plays.  She often plays with a "pancake hand" and I'm constantly reminding her to open her wrist.  Mr. Mouse is a fun way to practice with an open wrist.  What I've also noticed this week is that because she's not collapsing her wrist her low 2s are MUCH better in tune!

Mr. Mouse sits on the chair and waits his turn.

Even my 2-year-old who is doing pre-twinkle exercises is having fun with Mr. Mouse.

I thought it might give you a better idea of how I use this little guy if you saw him in action!

Here's a link to the video that the creator, Sharon, put together.

P,s, thanks to my 2-year-old, 5-year-old and 8-year-old for demonstrating in the video!

Roll 10 - A Quick Game with the Music Dice

I made up this game to add variety to another game that I made for my daughter (I'll post soon!)  This is a really quick game that involves any of the music dice and it takes about 2 minutes or less to play.  We played it with the 16th note rhythm dice, but you could use any of the music dice.

Roll 10

Put down 10 dominoes (you could use pennies, jewels, or any kind of item that you could lay out.)  Have your child roll the music die and tell you the name of the note.  If she successfully tells you the note, she gets a domino.  If she is incorrect or if you need to help her, you get the domino.  Whoever has the most dominoes at the end wins.

The thing I love about this game is that the more you play it the more successful your child will be at winning so that makes them want to play it more.  This was an excellent way for my 4-year-old to learn the different kinds of notes.  Once she gets this mastered I will move on to the number of beats of each note, then another kind of dice.  It takes hardly any time to play, it's a fun way to learn basic concepts because it's natural for the child to want to earn all of the dominoes.  Since it's only ten rolls it's not overwhelming or frustrating.  Hope this helps someone make practicing more fun.

You can find this and many more music dice at The Practice Shoppe.

Recipe for a Successful Practice

A few weekends ago I got the privilege to present at a Suzuki Piano workshop for parents.  As I was thinking of ideas of what to present I decided that we were (mostly) all moms and we do a lot of cooking and can relate to recipes.  Therefore, the title of my presentation was "Recipe for a Successful Practice."

Nothing I said was new or scientific, but rather a fun way to reinforce some basic qualities of a successful practice.  I've included my handout here and hopefully, you can get some ideas on what you need to improve to make your practicing more successful. You could give a presentation like this to parents of your music students.  It's good to hear the same things over and over!

2023 update: Here is an updated handout.

Trick or Treat...or Share

Here's a fun October practice idea called "Trick or Treat...or Share."

I have 9 pieces of paper (about index card size) with pumpkins on them. Three of them say "Trick" on the front; three of them say "Treat," and three of them say "Share." Laminate them if you want. On the back of the cards, I put post-it's with what we would do during practicing. The child chooses a card, and we would follow the instructions on the back. You might incorporate these in your normal practice routine every once in a while--in between other things they are practicing. Here are a few examples of what you could put on the back of them.

The "Trick" Card

The "Trick" card has a trick that the children perform. Here are some examples:

1. Play this preview spot so many times, for a particular reason (i.e. getting the 3 in tune.) Wow! Tricky!
2. Name that tune, tell the composer, and play the song in the dark with good tone.
3. Do jumping jacks while telling your favorite joke. Note this doesn't have anything to do with practicing. It's just a good break to get them smiling.

The "Treat" Card

The "Treat" card has nothing to do with food, unless you want to add that. Instead, the children end up with a reward that has to do with music.

1. Mom/Dad plays something for you on your violin (or at least tries to play something)
2. Listen to a classical piece that is not a Suzuki piece.
3. Watch a video of someone playing the piece you are on (or another piece). This could be a famous virtuoso or someone else you just happened to find on youtube. Talk about what you liked and anything you didn't like.

The "Share" Card

The "Share" card has something that the child could share with you or someone else that happens to be around--even a few stuffed animals would work.

1. Share a hug.
2. Play your favorite song for someone else or an audience of stuffed animals. You could even make the stuffed animals say one thing they really liked about the performance.
3. Make up a song that sounds spooky.

Hope you have fun with this idea if you decide to try it!

-Tabitha

Play or Dare

Play or Dare is a game I've played a few times during group classes.  I played it at our Book 1-2 group today and wanted to post it in case this might help someone with practicing.  This would be a great practicing game if you took the time to prepare fun "Dares" for the child.

Here is a picture of some of the "Dares" we did in our group class today.

I put the "Play" cards (different pieces that we needed to work on) 

and the "Dare" cards on my {cool 70's} fireplace.

Here are some other "Dare" ideas I've used: 

* Pick a "play" card and practice leading that piece.

* Show us your favorite dance move.

* Tell us something you like about your violin teacher.

* Sing the next "play" card. (OR whistle or hum)

* Choose a funny way to sit or stand and play the next piece that way.

* Do ten jumping jacks and then turn around in a circle five times.

Music in Practice

I recently discovered a great website www.musicinpractice.com.  This is by a teacher who has really put some thought into some of her products and ideas.  She has great motivational articles - some of which I really want to use in some of the SAU publications.

You can receive this free set of practicing games by e-mail if you visit her website.  Here I have printed everything out, laminated it, and cut it.  Now I have a lovely set of practicing cards that I can use in many different ways.  Half of them have different things a child can do or say that just break up practicing and make it fun.

There are some blank cards where you can write in different practicing pieces or points with a dry-erase or wet-erase marker.

Some of the blank ones have stars.  When playing this game at my group lesson the one with a star had to be a solo by the person who picked it.

Some of the blank ones have a treasure chest.  Perhaps there could be some sort of surprise if the child gets a treasure chest.  In my group class, I was giving out Bach Bucks to people who chose a card with a treasure chest.

Sue, the author of the website and creator of these great cards, has six different practice suggestions on how to use these cards.  This is how I used them in group lessons for my Book 1 students, but this could easily be adapted to private practice or lessons as well.  I put the cards in a circle, face down.  We started with the first one and played that piece.

    

The kids then took turns rolling the dice and moving our little Panda around the board and turning over a card.  We did this for half of the group lesson and the kids loved taking turns rolling the die, playing the songs, and doing the activities.  It was a fun group lesson and would be a fun practice idea as well!

How to Practice with a Twinkler

It's been three weeks of practicing with my 4-year-old daughter and I'm reminded of some essential steps to practicing with a small twinkler. 

1. Make it short - most 3, 4, and 5 year olds are not used to standing still for very long. The time will gradually lengthen during practicing, but at the beginning make it short and consistent so they have a good experience with practicing. If it's drudgery from the beginning you will not succeed.

 

2. Make it fun - There is no problem with using fun practice charts, toys, and treats with practicing. My daughter gets so excited for her 1 candy corn after practice. So far her teacher has given her some simple chart to X off each day. This week we have a 25 chart to complete for her new song, Pop Goes the Weasil. Wands, toys, animals, etc. all make practicing fun for a little child. Think of their preschool class...they aren't sitting in desks all day learning their colors and shapes - they're learning in a fun environment. Make that fun environment at home.

 

3. Do it over and over and over and over and over again - If your practicing is short you can do it a lot of times throughout the day. The first week my daughter just had to bow, clap the rhythms, make a simple fox with her bow hand, and hold her violin up with her chin. All together that took about 5 minutes. We'd do it all over after she did everything once. If she was still focused we'd do it all over a third time. Then later that day we'd show dad what she was practicing and do it again once or twice. That's practicing everything FIVE times each day. What a great way to start getting geared up for repetitions - which any person learning an instrument will have to do A LOT of!