Setting Goals for 2015

With 2015 upon us, that also means New Years resolutions are in the making. And for 2015, perhaps you've made some goals for yourself and your child in regards to cello and practice. I try to set a cello goal for myself every year and I'll keep you posted on what I decide to accomplish in 2015. Last year I took on 100 straight days of practice. I started in late January and made it by May! Then I was hooked and kept going even though I wasn't keeping track anymore.

Below are just a few suggestions to making your practice goals and resolutions stick.

1. Don't bite off more than you can chew. I'm all about being ambitious, but take a step back and evaluate if your goal is really attainable. Finishing two books in one year, probably not realistic. Finishing Suzuki Book 1, definitely more realistic. Practicing every day for 2015, also probably unrealistic. Practicing every day for one month, way more attainable.

2. Start now. The new year is a great time to start off with a 'clean slate'. Don't wait. If you missed the first of the year, start on a Monday.

3. Make a plan. Then write it down. And then post it on your refrigerator or someplace you will see it often. And commit to it. For real. Good intentions are great, but unless you plan for it and commit it to paper, procrastination is more likely to strike. Making a plan will help you stick to your goals. Set a date, too!

4. Reward yourself. Include a reward to give yourself and your child at the end! But determine what the reward is during your planning stage. I honestly can't remember what I did for myself when I made it to the end of my 100 days of practice - in the end, the feeling of accomplishing my goal was a way bigger reward than my actual physical reward - but I did have a motivator there for me at the end of the tunnel.

5. Share your goal. Share your goal with friends and family members and ask them to encourage you along the way. I had my students check up on me to make sure I practiced daily and that definitely kept me going. They encouraged me to keep it up even when I was feeling discouraged or unmotivated. Those moments of decline in motivation will definitely come, especially when the honeymoon period of achieving your goal has waned. Having others supporting you will help you push through those down times and help you make your way back up.

6. Break it up. Take your big goal, which say it is finishing Suzuki Book 2, and break it up into smaller pieces, learning one piece per month. There are twelve pieces in Book 2 so it works out perfectly. Breaking your goal into smaller goals is both easier and more gratifying. Instead of trying to accomplish this huge hurdle, you celebrate the small (monthly) successes while simultaneously achieving your big goal.

I have a number of professional/cello goals I have in mind for 2015 but I think my big one will be to finish my Suzuki teacher training. I am currently not registered for Suzuki Books 9 and 10 and would like to finish my training this summer in Chicago. The problem: I never learned Suzuki Book 10. In high school and in college, I always disliked this particular piece, the Concerto in B-flat by Boccherini, so I never learned it. In order to complete my training, I need to learn it. 2015 is the year and expect to hear about my plan and my progress! 

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break! I am off to Atlanta today and look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year!

I'll be posting again in January with some informative posts on note-reading, playing position & posture, instrument shopping options & supplies and more ideas for practicing at home.

Until then, have a relaxing break!

Giving Feedback During Home Practice - Ways to Make Practice Easier and More Efficient

I'm on a 'practice' kick right now and have been thinking deeply about practice, how to make it easier, how to make it more efficient and how to make it more effective. In my reading and research, I found the information below that I've adapted from a wonderful former colleague of mine, Elisabeth Graham, that I wanted to share with you.

In the practice and lesson context, feedback is whatever happens as an immediate result of a behavior and can be positive or negative. Feedback is most effective when the connection between the behavior and the feedback are obvious and close together. Don't wait to give feedback, whether it be positive or negative. And even no feedback (verbal or nonverbal) is a form of feedback! 

The two main purposes of feedback are: information and motivation. Feedback gives meaningful information about the quality of the student's work as well as influences behavior by getting the child to either do something or stop doing something. 

Positive Feedback

What is it: When you compliment your child and tell them that they’ve done something well

Purpose: Build confidence, lighten the mood, gain repetitions of something well done, highlight progress or development; variety - mix up the verbal expressions, non-verbal ways: facial expressions, hug, high five; vary the intensity to match the victory 

Keep in Mind: Be honest but don’t go overboard; celebrate the small victories, but don't compliment everything, it loses its meaning and the behavior isn't reinforced. 

Negative Feedback

What is it: Anything you tell your child they did incorrectly or need to improve next time

Purpose: Make the child aware of what they need to fix or improve

Keep in Mind: don't make it a big deal, but give it directly and don’t be afraid of it; deliver it in a non-personal way, examples: "What I heard was…", "That time wasn’t as good…", "That wasn’t it but you are SO close we’re not going to give up!"; encourage the child to give themselves the feedback by asking leading questions or giving a listening task

Questions

Purpose: Check understanding and knowledge, encourage critical thinking and listening; 

Keep in Mind: Avoid yes/no and rhetorical questions in favor of leading and open-ended questions, don’t be afraid to let your child struggle to find the answer; give plenty of time to think, way more than you think they need; Wh- and How questions, avoid yes/no and rhetorical questions 

How do you know? To check comprehension and figure out what the student really knows 

Set them up before they play, tell them what you are going to ask at the end of the trial

("I’m going to ask you if you heard any extra sounds while you played"; "Be listening for a space between the stops in Mississippi Stop Stop")

Directives 

What: Whenever you tell your child to do something; "Play again and listen for extra strings." "After you play, tell me what you heard." "Play three times and tell me which was the best and why."

Purpose: Keep the practice moving and focused 

Keep in mind: Keep all your directives very specific and simple, take excellent notes in your lessons so you know what directives to give, come to practice prepared with what you want to do and say; break it down into the smallest elements – what are the components of very best bow hold? 

Lastly, TAKE EXCELLENT NOTES to be able to tell your child exactly what to do, you have to know exactly what to do.

How to Take Lesson Notes

I don't address this often because it is my understanding everyone has their own 'system'. I keep track of my lesson notes for each individual student on my computer. But I thought I would write a few suggestions based on my own experience, recommendations from parents and from other teachers. 

Firstly, you do need to take notes. There's a lot happening in the course of a 30-minute lesson and even more in a 45-minute lesson. It's an intense learning environment and there is no way you or your child will remember everything that happened. I don't even remember everything that happened so I take notes and I highly recommend you also take notes.

Where you take notes and what you use to take notes is totally up to you. Some use an ‘old-fashioned’ notebook or a binder with loose-leaf paper. Either is great. Others, like myself, prefer a computer. I use Evernote but I also use it to keep track of everything - lesson notes, class notes from grad school, recipes, important documents, etc. It could even be as simple as a word document or a Google document you access regularly. Regardless of the medium, a method is needed and you need a dedicated place to keep your notes that you have easy access to. Slips of paper, old receipts, the grocery list, these are not a great way to take notes because they are not in a designated 'lesson note taking' spot and they often get lost or misplaced and the notes never get used or referenced during home practice. 

I am often asked, 'what do I write down?'. Write down what is important. You don't need to dictate the whole lesson but listen for cues from me (or your teacher) about what is important. Sometimes, I will say, 'this is important' or we will repeat something a gazillion times or spend a lot of time on one thing. Write that down. I’ve been getting better about stating the measure numbers for certain passages, so write those down, too, as it tells you and your child what exactly, to practice. How you write it down, again, is totally up to you. Some make a straight forward numbered list of what we've done in the lesson, others use a practice chart to document weekly tasks and some have a less rigid form of note-taking, jotting down a few sentences to jog the memory of the lesson. The key is to determine what works best for yourself as well as your child.  Your child might be more inclined and motivated by a chart, use that. Or a list might suffice. Whatever works, use it!

One word on the practice charts - I LOVE them. I like to check things off a list and I know many children are like this, too. I'm just horrible about keeping up with them. A practice chart might be a fantastic solution for you and I can supply you with charts that are suitable for your child but I do ask for you help in keeping up with them. 

Then, what do you do with the lesson notes when you get home? Structure the assignments into a practice that looks pretty similar to our lesson. Take a few moments to come up with a 'game plan' for the practice:

• What is the goal of today's practice?
• What do you and your child wish to accomplish?
• What's most important to start with? (an upcoming recital piece, jury piece, audition materials, etc.)

Share this with your child, too, so they know the expectations of the practice and so they are involved in the planning process. 

It doesn’t matter what you start with, though you may want to start with the most challenging thing or the one that is high priority. Don’t mess around - tackle the ‘meat’ of the practice first. But also take into consideration your child’s mood as well as your own. Are you short on patience, is your child tired? Maybe leave that hard thing for later and focus on review. It's important to take a moment before you both begin to check in with yourself as well as your child. This will set the tone for the practice and will give you reasonable expectations for what you and your child can do and hopefully avoid conflict.

What if your notes are confusing, make no sense or you and your child disagree about the assignment? Sometimes it’s just best left to figure out at the next lesson. It happens. My notes make no sense sometimes (often, actually). No one is going to die if you don’t practice that one thing. Plus, it’s really a pain to re-learn something that has been practiced and learned incorrectly. Re-learning a skill isn't like re-writing a file on a computer. I wish it was that easy! Re-learning something is often more difficult than learning it correctly the first time. If you and your child disagree, either wait until the next lesson or contact me. I can usually troubleshoot things over email or the phone. Or if you and your child disagree, practice is both ways. It doesn't hurt and at least something was accomplished during practice at home. But don't sweat it if you or your child are unsure or unclear about an assignment.

But again, the most important part of note-taking is actually taking notes. Plus, how fun is it to look back on your notes and see the progress you and your child have made over the course of 6 months, a year or even two years! This is also a real motivator - the ability to see how far students have come in any given period of time. Look back in your notes even just from 6 months ago and marvel at how far your child has come. It's a great feeling. :)

Two last reminders about practicing:

1. Getting the cello out is the hardest part. Really. Even I drag my feet when it comes time to practice because my cello is in its case. Many families opt for cello stands so the cello is readily accessible. If this is feasible for you or you have a dedicated spot to leave the cello out, try this. It tends to work wonders for motivating students to practice.

2. All children need to be reminded to practice. Most won't do it on their own volition so that's where your role as the parent and home teacher comes into play. 

Parents as Partners

At the beginning of every new year, the Suzuki Association of the Americas presents an online video series for parents and teachers called Parents as Partners. Below is the information from the latest Suzuki e-news email. This year's Parents as Partners features a number of local Austin Suzuki teachers.  "Exciting talks are being planned for the 2015 Parents as Partners Online series! Whether you are a parent in need of some fresh inspiration or a teacher looking to guide your parents further, you won’t want to miss this unique learning opportunity. Beginning on January 15 new videos will be aired each week—a total of 50! They will be available for viewing 24-7 through June 30. We are pleased to announce a sampling of the new talks being presented: Acceptable Tension (Merlin Thompson) Advice and Encouragement for Suzuki Parents (Brittany Gardner)   Battling Perfectionism and Creating a Growth Mindset (Jentry Barrett) Building a Lasting Partnership with your Child’s Teacher (Holly Smardo) Cultivating Belief (Christy Paxton-Tureman) Dry Ideas! Make it visual using the dry erase board (Lucy Shaw) Funny Stories of Dr. Suzuki (Carol Dallinger) Forget Soccer, I want to practice! (Zachary Ebin)      Helping Students Take Ownership of their Musical Journey (Shu-Yi Scott and Cecilia Calvelo-Hopkins) Humor in Suzuki (William Starr, Amy Gesmer-Packman, Heather Hadley, Florence Muller) Implications of Working Memory for Practicing and Learning (Rafael Videiro) Is your Child Talented? (Kathleen Spring) Learning to Practice with Joy (Alicia Randisi-Hooker) Let it Go! (J.B. Taylor)  Lower your Expectations, Delight in the Results (Sara Kotrba) Moms of Tweens are Suzuki Parents Too! (Diane Slone) More Creative Color Coding: How a package of markers can help to revive your review (Phala Tracy)  Motivating Teens as Parents and Teachers  (Christine Lowe-Diemecke and Augusto Diemecke)  Motivar a los Adolescentes como a los Padres y Maestros (Christine Lowe-Diemecke y Augusto Diemecke) Our Suzuki Practice (Jason and Barbara Hill) Ownership (Ed Kreitman) Pardon the Interruption (Ed Sprunger) Play it again Sam: How to implement listening in home practice (Jennifer Burton) Pop your Ears! (Alyssa Hardie Beckmann) Prioritize! (Meret Bitticks) Promoting Optimism in the Practice Room (Sue Baer) Raising Independent Musicians (Mark Mutter) Real Review: Using Listening and Review to Build Technical Skills (Daina Volodka Staggs)  Simple Suzuki Stretches (Joanna Binford) Setting Intentions: from the perspective of parent and teacher (Carrie Reuning-Hummel and Natalie Brandt)  Tech Talks: Bringing Your Suzuki Experience Up-To-Date With The Latest Gadgets and Apps (Ian Salmon)            Teens, Tenacity and Technique (Nicolette Solomon and Donna Davis) The Best Teacher Gift Ever! (Lucy Shaw) The Ripple Effect: Small Ideas with a Big Impact (Shana Guidi) Why Posture Matters Every Day! (Cecilia Calvelo-Hopkins)  ¡Por que la Postura Importa tanto Cuando Tocamos! (Cecilia Calvelo-Hopkins) And more to come!                             Stay tuned for important registration information in future Suzuki e-news! Costs are listed below. Studio Teacher (you!) plus your studio parents. Note: Parents do not need to be SAA members, but are encouraged to join. $50 for teacher plus 1 to 5 parents, $10 for each additional parent Individual $25 for SAA members, $45 for non-members" If you are interested in participating, let me know! I will gladly register the studio. Also, exciting news! Some Suzuki books are available on iTunes! Check out the link below! https://itunes.apple.com/collection/suzuki-music-guides/id27827?fcId=896469019&mt=11&ls=1