HaPpY BIRthDaY!!!

I LOVE Cheesecake - especially when it's from Cheesecake Factory! Yummy!!! 

I would rather have it than birthday cake - so I did this year :) 

Here's a fun way to practice your review pieces on your birthday...

Light a candle and play as many review songs until the candle is out. It's short and easy and gets the job done! 

Slow, Smart Practice

SLOW PRACTICE 

Itzhak Perlman 

I LOVE this video! I have students (and I've been guilty of this same thing) that love to play fast and want to play the entire piece and call it "practicing." While there is a time and a place for this kind of practice, it usually won't get you very far. In order to truly know how to express his music, one needs to incorporate SMART practice. What is smart practice? Mr. Perlman will help us understand what this means. One of things that really stuck out to me in this video, is when he says, "If you learn something slowly, you'll forget it slowly. If you learn something quickly, you'll forget it quickly."

Which Chair is the Smartest? 

Have your child play her preview spot on each chair in the room and see which one is the "smartest." 

There are lots of other cute ideas to help make practicing fun on the 

Aber Suzuki Center Parent Handbook website! 

It's football time!!!

As I've mentioned before, I'm taking some classes with Pat D'Ercole. A while back when I told her of some struggles I was having with a student, she said, 

"Dress it up in a new costume!" 

This football game is a variation of her "Chip Game" she likes to play. 

SUPER BOWL PRACTICE

Here's how the game works… 

*The student chooses the pink or the orange touchdown zone she wants to get to and the parent takes the other. The student in this game is going for the PINK touchdown

*Set a clear and specific goal that must be accomplished. By setting this goal, it will define what doing the repetition "correctly" means.

*The football starts on the 50 yard line

*Each time the student does the repetition correctly, the ball moves 10 yards. The student has done the repetition correctly 2x, so the ball is now on the 30 yard line.

*The student didn't do the repetition correctly. This means the ball moves back 10 yards, to the 40 yard line towards the parent's ORANGE touchdown. 

*Thankfully, the student makes a breakthrough and is able to do the repetition 4 more times correctly to get to the PINK TOUCHDOWN and gets 6 points!!! Now in the real game of football, the team that makes the touchdown has 2 options. They can either, kick the ball to try to get 1 extra point or they can run the ball into the end zone to get 2 more points. Let your student decide how many points they want to go for. If they play the repetition 1 more time, they can earn 1 extra point or if they want to play it 2 more times for 2 extra points…but  shh!!! don't let the student know they'll be getting extra reps in while they're earning their extra points ;)

Now that practicing is taken care of, go make some yummy treats and enjoy the weekend!