In my teaching of violin and viola private lessons, I keep returning to the theme of “how to practice” verses how long to practice.  It is a most commonly asked questions by parents of music students.  During private lessons, I spend a good amount of time on teaching young musicians how to approach studying a piece of music, how to learn it in a most efficient manner while still enjoying it, so practicing does not become an exercise in boredom and frustration; how to focus the energy not on the amount of time spent with an instrument, but on the quality of time spent while playing it. 

In particular, I stress a concept of analyzing a piece of music even prior to playing it for the first time.  Time that should be spend away from the instrument and devoted to studying that piece with a pencil in hand; identifying challenging music passages, notes and places in music that might be difficult to tackle based on the knowledge of your own music skills.  It is just as important to do the above process as it is actually playing the instrument.  By analyzing music prior to playing it a student will learn it in a much shorter time, since he/she has already identified and marked difficult places in music that would need more focus.  A piece of music is like a puzzle: some pieces fit easily together, the ones that are obvious, the others – are much harder to fit.  No piece of music is ALL hard – which makes it useless to practice the entire piece from start to finish at once. Identify/isolate problem spots and focus on those for a few days. Later, “piece” them together with the rest of the music and you will have a final product well learned. 

Whether it is a music piece, a math problem or any other challenge – mental analysis of the problem prior to execution of the solution is a key.  This approach will make learning easier, more efficient, hence faster and will provide a confidence booster when a student realizes that he/she is capable of surmounting any challenge. The inner knowledge “I can learn anything” will motivate a child’s desire to learn more on many different subjects, expanding his/her horizon and enjoying life in the process of learning. 

I have had many parents commenting that their children have taken analytical approach from music lessons and applied to school studies.  It worked wonders to many of them, students as young as six and seven year old.  Bottom line – children need to be taught  how  to learn, learning is not a natural skill but has to be obtain via others.

Below are photos of music that show how some of my students go about studying their pieces by marking challenging notes, measures, etc… That time DOES count as practicing, in case if you were wondering…

At times it is fun even for older music students to put aside their instruments and, in this case, brainstorm over a seemingly easy nine piece music-themed puzzle.  These two viola players tried as a team for three weeks to solve it…

I found the PDF file below not long ago… It has some interesting facts on connection between music and education. I am not sure how many of these studies are true, but I do agree with some of them. Double click on the link below to open the PDF file.

Music and Education facts

For over fifteen years now, I have been a part of Musik Innovations Summer Chamber Music Camp as a string coach. Students from the schools around the area get together in small ensembles according to their level, and form string quartets, quintets, sextets and even octets. After a week of being coached by instructors from our school of music (in between music games, water balloon fights and a pizza party), kids give a concert on a Saturday afternoon, performing pieces that they had only one week to work on. The number of participating kids is not as large as it used to be, but the spirit of music is still in those who attend and we love them for that! Here are some photos from this year’s camp.

Even after teaching for such a long time, I still try to think of ways on how to improve my teaching techniques, my approach to students of different levels and to their future potentials. I know what I wish for students during my lessons, I have a clear game plan for each one of them in my head, but I have never been able to sum it up in a few words… until now. Here is someone else’s sentence on it, but it surely fits how I feel and what I try to aim for as a teacher.

…” The students and I share a common goal, which is the development of their potential to the fullest extent. I am for a cordial but intense and purposeful teaching atmosphere…”

Arik Braude, Strad Magazine, February 2010

I have been a private violin and viola instructor since 1996.  Every time I get a beginner student I have a discussion with a parent, explaining that violin or viola are probably some of the hardest instruments to learn. It will take time, work, and patience from both, student and parents.  I emphasize that point especially to those whose children already play another instrument, especially piano. Piano is much easier to conquer in the early stages than violin or viola, and I don’t want parents to assume that it is the same with string instruments.  Even though I am very confident in my viewpoint on that, once in a while I would feel that some parents did not trust me on that, assuming that I purposely make learning violin or viola look harder than it actually is.  In the long run they see for themselves that it does take more effort than some other instruments, especially piano.  Don’t get me wrong – I am  not prejudiced against piano ( I spent ten years in my childhood with my hands on eighty eight black and white keys in addition to violin), I am simply stating that violin, viola (and cello) are more challenging.

After all these years I finally found something for those who might have mistrusted me at first.  This comes from the March issue of the Strad Magazine, very popular in the world of musicians, professionals and amateurs alike.  This is an excerpt from an article by Norman Lebrecht, cultural commentator.  I think he said it the best, which is why I put it here. I hope this will make it easier to understand what we deal with as string players, and to all of you, especially my students : realize how hard it is what you do on the instrument, I am proud of you for choosing such a challenging instrument,  and have patience with it – rewards are on the way!

In additions to working as musicians for weddings, orchestras and private teaching, our musicians perform for children at schools, introducing them to the family of string instruments, violin, viola and cello.  We talk about classical music, instruments, different time periods, and play pieces from different eras. Kids seem to enjoy it, and so do we.  We also did a program for students at Grove City College, the string quartet photos are here as well.

 
  

These are some of my viola and violin students. I have a studio of  over thirty kids in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh. Some take lessons to be a part of their school orchestra, some are aiming towards a career in music, and some – like a photo of my husband with an adult student that I teach – simply tried to play the violin just to see how hard it really is!

Playing a string instrument IS a highly intricate skill, requiring a lot of time, patience and consistency. I believe that regardless of age, a student has to put at the minimum half an hour a day of practicing time. Understand that that half an hour will cover the basic skills needed to maneuver around the instrument. The half an hour guideline is BARE minimum! Most of my students are NOT future professional musicians, and yet – that is what I ask of them. Kids ages 4-9 should still put in half an hour a day, possibly splitting it up in three ten-minute sessions: one before breakfast, one right after school, and one before or after dinner. The consistency is imperative, even in short sessions, very similar to dog training! ( you  are more than welcome to meet Schubert, my well-trained, and yet nutty chocolate labrador retriever!) Again – every day, even it is a short session is better than missing three, four days and then doing one day of practicing for two hours.