Reader Enquiry 04

This post was updated on 6 Nov 2020 at 11:00 am

To better protect the reader privacy, I have deleted some parts of this post.

Anyway, the intention of this post is to encourage students to practice regularly and have a fruitful music learning journey 😃 

Reader:

 Hi Dennis, 

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Teacher Dennis:

Hi Reader,

A big welcome to you!

Let say if I have a girl who is around 9 years old, and I want her to not just enjoy music but also excel in it; below are the steps I am prepared to follow:

1) Bring her to attend music concert at least once every 3 months, these could be those free and easy one organised by SSO at the Botanic Garden or Yamaha students' performances or paid concerts that are more formal. 

2) Practice regularly. Regularly means everyday, yes you never hear wrongly, if you want good progress, this is something you cannot avoid. If that's not possible, the next best option may be 4 days out of a week, 20 to 30 minutes per practice session. I need to adjust my expectations in this case as she is not on a daily practice schedule. 

3) Encourage her to take ownership of what she wants to do. With that comes responsibility, attitude, perseverance and etc.

Bear in mind, every student is different and there is no one size fit all kind of method, you may need to change your way as and when where it is needed.

That's my two cents and best of luck to you and your girl.

Reader:

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Teacher Dennis:

Referring to your question of "lack of initiative.....", this has got to do with taking ownership, self discipline and etc. Mommy may need to step in to arrange her time table for practice if she is not mature enough. Taking her to concerts and performances will surely motivate her.

As for how to make a conducive environment for practice, I think it is a mistake to place the Electone in the living room where there are lots of distraction, TV, family member talking, to name a few. Her bed room or study room may be a better alternative, turn on the air con if possible, all these could make her practice session more enjoyable, of course if you own a Stagea ELS01C or ELS02C, it will be a perfect solution. 

Reader:

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Music Learning = Swim against the Current! Yes? No?

This is a case study

I always tell my student that learning music is like you are swimming against the current, what will happen when you stop swimming?

Pause....

Please think.... 😕

If the current is a strong one, you'll be swept away without a trace. Right? Wrong?

Please spend some time to watch the two videos, one was taken on 14 Nov 2019 and the other one was taken on 16 Jan 2020. The student was away for 2 months due to his personal commitment, he practice very little or maybe not at all during his absence, and you can see the evidence clearly on these 2 videos.





Now, would you like to make a guess? which performance was taken on 14 Nov 2019 and which was taken 2 months later?

That's all for today and thank you for your time 😄

Is It Easy to Learn Music?

"No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress. you are still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying." Anthony Robbins.

Absolutely! The person who isn't trying or lazy is going nowhere, they aren't getting started, they aren't keeping things moving and they aren't getting things done!

Is it easy to learn music?
No!

Is it possible?
Yes!

It would be nice if this were easy but it's not. You need lots of practice, lots of patience and lots of perseverance. Let me be clear up front that I cannot do all this for you, I can teach you the methods instead and you have to follow up with all the hard works consistently.

Don't just do it! Do it better! C ya and have a nice day.

Why is the Electone suitable for music education?

There are always many views as to which is the best musical instrument to learn? I am going to do a sales talk today, hehehe... All you guys should know by now that I am an Electone teacher and whatever points I am going to say here may be biased, so please read with a pinch of salt ;-)

• The Electone can create the tones of various instruments, Piano, Violin, Flute, Trumpet, Drums and etc. Learning the tones of various instruments at an early stage will encourage interest in learning music.
• The rich and beautiful tones of the Electone stimulate your imagination.
• The variety of rhythms Electone can produce develop your sense of tempo and the three manual keyboards help you acquires sensitivity to beautiful melody and harmony.
• Students can play the melody, harmony and rhythm simultaneously by themselves. Basically, Electone is an one-piece band or an one-piece orchestra.
• The keyboard's touch-tone function makes it possible to achieve expression as subtle as when playing an acoustic instrument. 

If children want to play other instruments in the future, join a brass or woodwind group, study composition or arrangement, be a music producer or composer, etc. They will have an excellent musical foundation from their practice on the Electone.

Anna "Early Spring"

A grade 5 piece from the "Collection of Electone Original Works, Vol 1"
This is the first time she attempts this kind of style and she had struggled to coordinating her both hands, fingering, tempo and etc. But, after two months of hard work and she is able to play it very well and enjoy this beautiful song finally.
Keep up the good work, Anna! Btw, it will be good if you can share with others on how you managed to over come the various difficulties and your effort in posting in the "Comment Box" will be very much appreciated.

Lerroy "ABC by Michael Jackson"

Hi Lerroy, I'm very please with your performance in this recent months, you have improved tremendously. Please keep up the good work!

Bte, would you like to share with the other readers whom drop by this page your secret or ideas to excel. Usually, it would took you two months to learn a song and you were lagging behind my schedule, but recently, you're able to complete two songs in a month. How do you do it and I'm very curious and so do my other students. Kindly post your comment below and thanks

;-)

Practice advice from the Camp Rock team

This video clip is meant for educational purposes only, not for resale.

"Practice! Practice! Practice!" You'd heard enough of what I always trying to tell you, I believed that you're very sick of it by now, but don't write me off yet. Let's listen to what Jonas Brothers, Anna Maria, Jasmine Richards, Meaghan and the Camp Rock team have to say ;-)

How to Practice?

An interesting article on HOW TO PRACTICE from Learn-Theory-Music.com, click HERE!

A weird article that's full of excuses of not practicing, click HERE! Learn them well & you may need it one day to use it on ME. He he he...

Practice Tip "An Interesting Statistic and Unrealistic Goals"

"A student of mine told me that it takes 10,000 hours of practicing a new skill to become a master over it. It’s students that understand this that are aware of the importance of practice, whereas the occasional student expects their teacher to make them good players without much effort on their part." Quoted by Leah Coutts.

• If you put in 2 hours a day, you'll need 13.7 years to be an expert.
• If you put in 1 hour a day, you'll need 27.4 years to be an expert.
• If you put in half an hour a day, you'll need 54.8 years to be an expert.

Sound familiar & interesting? Please go on to read her full article "An Interesting Statistic and Unrealistic Goals"

Happy Reading!

How to Practice? Tip no. 9

Tip no. 9:
Finally, practice is not completed without attending concerts; nothing beats the ‘LIVE’ atmosphere. It is different when you watch the soccer match at home or at the stadium.

How to Practice? Tip no. 8

Tip no. 8:
To practise the instrument you like is something to enjoy. Try to record or video your performance at different stages as it is very satisfying to be able to hear or see yourself improving gradually.

How to Practice? Tip no. 7

Tip no. 7:
A piece is considered well played when there are no hesitations, no stumbling or slips, good curved fingers and fingering, correct notes, good phrasing and articulation, good expression and feel.

How to Practice? Tip no. 6

Tip no. 6:
Speed is not important initially, go slowly first. Only when all details like note reading, fingering, articulation, expression & etc are well learnt then you can play at a faster pace.

How To Practice? Tip no.5

Tip no. 5:
Its a good idea to practice one hand at a time at first & begin two hands playing when each hand’s part is fluent.

How To Practice? Tip no.4

Tip no. 4:
Divide the piece into small sections & work on it until you can play fluently.

How To Practice? Tip no.3

Tip no. 3:
Do not practice when tired & upset because you won’t be able to concentrate fully. But beware that this can be a good excuse for not practicing too.

How To Practice? Tip no.2

Golden Tip no.2:
Practice in a pleasant surrounding, like in your own room, away from TV, radio, telephone & family members. Be ALERT & CONCENTRATE.

How To Practice? Tip no.1

Hi, As a teacher for many years, it is very sad to see students drop out due to many reasons & excuses. I tried to analyse and found that students who'd quited generally fail to practise correctly.
Today, I would like to share with you on this topic "How To Practise Effectively?". Do not hope for a miracle, you have to do it consistently for many weeks and months before you can see any result.

Golden Tip no.1:
Have a definite practice schedule every week. Ideally, practice daily if possible. Short and frequent practice is MORE effective then long and infrequent practice. For example, it is better to practise half an hour every day, 7 days a week then to practise many hours on weekend only.