Dear Parents,

I want to emphasize today the importance of communication with your child’s piano instructor.  The best way to do this is to ask a lot of questions.  For myself, I do not always have time to do this while students are here (nor is it desirable to always talk about a student in front of them) however, I can always make time for this or respond to questions in writing.  Let me suggest some questions that you can ask your teacher:

1)  What are my child’s strengths?   How are you using his strengths in planning his lessons?

2)  What are his weaknesses?  How are you addressing those in lessons?

3)  Is my child practicing enough? 

4)  What is the emphasis of his lesson this week? 

5)  Where has the student made the most progress recently?  and the least?

6)  Ask about behaviour, body language.

7)  Ask about a student’s attitude in overcoming obstacles?  Does that student take the challenge with energy and enthusiasm or does he fear making mistakes and avoids practicing the tougher areas of a song?

8)  Ask what you can do to help the student at home.

9)  Ask about their energy levels in class and if they can be improved somehow.

10)  Ask about their level of concentration and how it can be improved.

If you have any criticisms for the teacher, ask why they are doing certain things the way they are doing them.  For example, you could ask why are you being stern today in regards to a particular problem? or why are you being too lenient on a particular problem? 

I would also encourage you to share any and all sentiments you have about the lessons whether positive or negative with your teacher.  All teachers are striving to improve the quality of their teaching constantly and the critic is our very best friend. 

Musically Yours,

Chris Almond

www.novapiano.com

The answer to this question really varies widely between teachers.   Some teachers insist on 10 or more hours a week.  This, in my opinion is unrealistic for most parents from our culture to achieve.  If you did practice that much naturally, I think it would be great, but only after a period of preparation on how to practice and what to practice.  Otherwise you risk burnout, physical pain issues, and worst of all falling out of love with an amazing activity that everyone can enjoy.  

So here are my ideas for how much to practice and how to achieve longer levels of practice. For any new student, practicing 5 times 10-15 minutes + your weekly lesson is a good routine for 3-4 months. For the advancing newer student(4-10 months), 30 minutes is ideal 5 times a week. For the student who has been practicing well for a year, I recommend two one hour practices per week + 3 half hour sessions.  This could be pushed then to 5 hours a week over that year.   After about 2 years of practicing in this studio, you will have learned how not to hurt yourself, and you will have learned the proper approach to working through material.  For someone playing for their enjoyment(as a hobby), we want to totally eliminate the feeling of frustration when learning music. You should not be motivated by a sense of eliminating errors, but by the desire to find something beautiful in what you are playing at any given time and reflecting that quality internally. This will create a profound connection between you, the composer and your audience.  It should be a pleasurable experience to play the masterworks of the great composers.

Hello everyone,

Fall Classes start 8-31-09, Monday.

Chris Almond

www.novapiano.com

Hello Everyone,

To reach the main site: www.novapiano.com

Chris Almond

This is a nice CD out from my wife’s sister. It is very peacefull and the kind of music almost anyone would like. Very good compositons and musicainship. You can hear parts of it on their page. I have copies here at the studio if anyone would like to purchase, the are $15.

http://www.myspace.com/worldjamclub

Long, but really good and varied enough that your brain can survive it…Remarkable Musician, his name is Giles Apap…Keep in mind, this is in the middle of a Mozart Violin Concerto and this is the Cadenza(Improvized part)…You will be able to see him going back into the classical at the end.

Greetings all,

 Today, the owner of Little Rock Jams in Arkansas(Jason Priest), has offered free lessons to any presidential candiadate in exchange for his vote this fall.  I thought this was particullarly clever considering I actually know someone who has done that. (Ronda Cole who taught Amy Carter  Violin).  Jason’s Blog is very popular on the internet and it has great content for students interested in non-classical western music(Jazz, blues, Funk, fusion, rock, etc.) , so I invite everyone to take a look at it sometime.  It is guitar oriented so especially if any moms and dads out there play guitar they may enjoy some of the material.    And ofcouse if any of you work for Obama, Hillary, or Mccain, please make it a point to let he or she  know about the great opportunity to help him win the state of Arkansas this fall.

http://blog.littlerockjams.com/2008/04/28/free-guitar-lessons-for-presidential-candidates–hillary-barack-and-john.aspx

Try not to cry for too long…This represents a wonderful example of the power of music to change the heart and bring out feelings from within.

Just for Fun, Enjoy…A survey of music throughout time.