7 Music Lessons for Musicians and Suzuki Parents, from Harry Potter!

7 is a magical number in Harry Potter. So I am giving 7 lessons for musicians (music students, performers, and teachers alike) and for Suzuki music parents. 

“But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Lesson #1 for the Musician: 

When we get frustrated that we can't master something, and we battle with our internal thoughts and criticisms, it causes us to want to give up. It's hard! It's really hard to overcome these road blocks. How does one simply "turn on the light"? Remember your curiosity! Remember why you were drawn to the instrument in the first place! Play or learn something fun!

Lesson #1 for the Suzuki Parent: 

When we get frustrated that our student or child is frustrated or can't master something despite lots of patience and trial and error... it causes us to want to give up too. Children have a great sixth-sense and are highly influenced by that energy! Be the light, rather than joining their pity party! Even when you think there is no reason to do another repetition, encourage them to try it just one more time! 

“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here!”

– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Lesson #2 for the Musician:

When we get bogged down with the details and our fingers aren't doing what we want, it's hard not to throw in the towel. When I was a teenager, I gave up quite embarrassingly early in the game. Until my grandmother passed away and I discovered the prelude to the Bach Suite #2 in G minor. There was something in that piece that resonated with my first real encounter with death itself. Anytime I practiced, I always ended my practice with that piece and poured my tears, my desire and longing to have my grandmother back. This was when I found the real magic behind being able to play a musical instrument. It had nothing to do with perfection. It had nothing to do with what others perceived of my abilities, or how much time I did or did not spend with my instrument. It was forgiving. It is in the times when I would want to yell and scream, light my cello on fire, or smash it to pieces, that I would return to that piece and remember the magic! 

Lesson #2 for the Suzuki Parent: 

When you're wondering why you need to make your child do yet another scale, another etude, or another repetition... remember the first time they were able to sightread a Christmas carol for their grandparents, or the first time they picked out the notes to their favorite song and their eyes lit up with magic! Remember the many times, they struggled through the worst of humps and finally came out victorious. Remember their smile and their joy for not only conquering the music, but more importantly conquering themselves in those moments! 

“I am what I am, an’ I’m not ashamed. ‘Never be ashamed,’ my ol’ dad used ter say, ‘there’s some who’ll hold it against you, but they’re not worth botherin’ with.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Lesson #3 for the Musician:

Never apologize for your mistakes. Never shrink, because of your mistakes. Your mistakes are how you learn. If one judges you for your mistakes, they are not focused on their own journey. They are focused on how far they have come and have traveled only for their own ego. Ego is a hindrance to ourselves and to our fellow humans. There will always be ego, but as the Ancient One in Dr. Strange (another good series full of good quotes) "We never lose our demons. We only learn to live above them!" If you hate the player, don't play the game. It's as simple as that. Music is an offering, it was never meant to be a sermon. 

Lesson #3 for the Suzuki Parent: 

You are what you are... an expert on your child! You know how they learn best. You know their personalities, what they like, what they don't like. How they come down from a temper-tantrum best... NEVER be ashamed that you are not a "musical expert". NEVER be ashamed that you are not a "musical teaching expert". If I came to your job and felt ashamed that I didn't know how to do anything, or anything about the topic you know about, wouldn't you find that just a bit silly? Yet I constantly hear parents apologize for their lack of musical knowledge! If someone mocks you for your lack of knowledge, that person has never been in the trenches themselves. Their inexperience blinds them. 

"We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are." 

-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 

Lesson #4 for the Musician:

This one is really quite simple... when the going get's tough, do we easily give up? Or do we rise to the challenge? 

Lesson #4 for the Suzuki Parent:

Do we choose to punish for easily made mistakes? Or do we choose to teach and encourage? This one is not so easy for the Suzuki parent. Do we say "No! For the tenth time, that is NOT how you are supposed to play this!" Or do we say "I think you might have played something a little funny there... does your version sound like my version?" or "Do your hands look like my hands?" Do we say "Sit up straight! Now!" or do we say "Hm.... something about the way you are sitting seems a little funny to me... can you figure out what it is?" The way we choose to talk to our children/students can highly influence their attitude, remember this when they throw a temper-tantrum because they don't want to play piano anymore, or they get mad and bang on the piano. How can we better approach them, allowing them their independence, creativity, and catering to their curiosity? Imagine if your parent were trying to teach you and said something like "That wasn't right. Do it again, only better!" OUCH!!! When you chose your words carefully, you choose the light! 

"Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself!" 

- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Lesson #5 for Musicians: 

The thing itself = MISTAKE! Don't be afraid of mistakes. They will always happen. If you are afraid of making a mistake, you will surely make a mistake! In fact, you will probably make MORE than one mistake, and then you will dwell upon those mistakes, and in the process of doing so, make many MORE mistakes! Trust me, it's a vicious cycle! Don't engage! Learn to forgive yourself, learn from it (most important part) and move on! 

Lesson #5 for Suzuki Parents:

Again... Don't be afraid of mistakes. If you find yourself yelling "BECAUSE I SAID SO!" and slamming the door on your way out of the practice room.... realizing after the fact, that probably wasn't the most adult reaction you've ever had... repeat after me: "It's okay to make mistakes!"  Again... take time to reflect on what made you feel that way in the first place, how could you have reacted better, and rehearse (I know that part sounds stupid, but its completely necessary) for the next time that situation arises. Don't be afraid of these moments, learn from them! 

"If You Want to Know What a Man’s Like, Look at How He Treats His Inferiors" -Sirius Black

Lesson #6 for Musicians: 

Never take an attitude of arrogance! It is unbecoming! It is ugly! It is wrong! Do you belittle your stand partner when they get the bowing's wrong? Or do you encourage them and say "Yeah, that part is tricky... WE'll have to look over that in the practice room this week". Do you laugh when someone makes a mistake? Or do you keep quiet and think to yourself "anyone could have made that mistake" or "perhaps they are having an off day, everyone has off days". 

Have you ever caught yourself thinking "This person and I started at exactly the same time together, yet I'm two method books ahead of them!" or "Oh yeah, I played that piece in Junior High... you're just now playing that!?" EEKS!!

Lesson #6 for Suzuki Parents:

Do you find yourself thinking "That parent is asking too many questions! They must be new!" Maybe instead you could think "this person is trying to learn and needs some help, maybe I can help them since I've been around the block a few times!" Do you find yourself thinking "Oh dear! That parent needs to correct their child's behavior. I can't believe their just ignoring this and letting this happen! They must not understand the expectations!" Everyone has a different parenting style and everyone has a unique child with unique challenges! Your focus should be not on other's children and issues, but rather on your own. Now, if it becomes too much of a distraction to other children, think about a time when you have possibly been through the same situation or something similar, what did you do to curb the behavior? Can you pull the parent aside and kindly and gently ask them if you can tell them in a non-judgmental way about your own experience? (Some people don't want advice, so tread carefully and respectfully with this one.) 

These two quotes go hand-in-hand:

"Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth." 

-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

"Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young."

-J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(Quote by Albus Dumbledore)

Lesson #7 for Musicians: 

This one obviously pertains more to adults than to musical children. When we are teaching children music... don't assume because they are young, that they cannot grasp a concept. If they cannot grasp a concept, than they are not the failure... you are as the teacher! Anything can be understood as a child, the question is how? Break it down into less complicated terms. Give analogies or examples that children can understand. Also, never underestimate the things a child might already know. I know some 7 year old's whose sightreading skills are relatively better than my own. Ouch!  

Lesson #7 for Suzuki Parents:

I cannot tell you how important this quote is to me. When I was a child, I often got treated as an idiot or just a young girl, meaning I had a limited ability to understand things. Yet quite often, I was more clever and intelligent than some of the adults I dealt with. I could see their intentions behind their eyes and their words. I could often see their abuse of their power as my elder and their desire for me to just accept their word as their word and not have to explain themselves or for me to just blindly believe and follow them, because they were an adult and I was a child. It never sat well with me, as one who was an extremely curious creature who grew up in a very strict and fundamental southern baptist home. So when I heard the verse 1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity", believe me, I took that to heart and latched onto that one. (Especially in my teenage angst years, of course! Haha.) I often found the speech of adults incredibly condescending, instead of encouraging. They assumed I knew nothing of what I was talking about, or what they were talking about. They would say "Oh hunny, someday you'll understand, when you're older" How could a child, possibly know better than an adult, right? 

    Am I saying this is always the case? Definitely not! But we need to give children the space they need to be independent seekers of truth. Stifling one's creativity and closing the door to a child's perspective, isn't the most helpful forms of attacking a situation. In order to learn how to help our students and our children, we must truly listen, understand, reflect, evaluate, and acknowledge! Only then can we learn how to best teach them and let them grow. This is how you gain their respect, not by telling them how it is and not explaining why it is the way it is and simply making them do it. Remember being a child and being SO frustrated with that?! Well, there was a reason... there is a time and a place for that kind of direction... like when the child is about to run out into the street to chase a ball without looking... but not when it comes to their musical or intellectual development. 

Putting the Horse Before the Cart

     As a Suzuki music teacher, I often hear: "My child is bored and wants new material". I sympathize with the parent, as I too want to give the student new material. I absolutely love seeing their faces light up when they get to learn something new and move forward. But the Suzuki method is all about teaching character first, then the musical development follows. So let's forget about music for a moment, and take a look at life in general.

    If you put the horse before the cart in real life, what happens? Idioms.in states "Don’t put the cart before the horse by investing in a new shop before selling that old one situated in west of the city." What happens if you get really excited and choose which dress you're going to wear to the party, and then you don't even get invited? Eeks! What disappointment!

  Here are some encouraging quotes from Dr. Shinichi Suzuki himself that apply to this situation:

“Good or evil, beauty or ugliness, daily behavior itself becomes one’s flesh and blood before one realizes it. It becomes habit through repetition.”

“The real essence of art turned out to be not something high up and far off – it was right inside my ordinary daily self – if a musician wants to become a finer artist, he must first become a finer person.”

“Don’t hurry don’t rest. Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking one step at a time will surely get you there.”

“There is no point where we can say, 'This is enough.' Always seek finer music, finer performance. Eventually this will change from a learning attitude to a joyful quest which will last throughout our lives.”

“Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge plus ten thousand times is skill.”

“An unlimited amount of ability can develop when parent and child are having fun together.”

“I am mentally preparing myself for the five-year-old mind. I want to come down to their physical limitations and up to their sense of wonder and awe.”

“Creating desire in your child’s heart is the parent’s duty.”

      I challenge each and every one of you, to find ways to make the mundane interesting again. (I have to do this constantly with my own relationships at home! What makes any relationship, including one with a musical instrument, any different?) I challenge you to get into the mindset of a 3 year old, a 5 year old, or whatever age your child is...and remember what made things fun and interesting for you at that age. If you say to a child “clean your room” do you always, every single time, get a smile and a “yes, mom” or “yes, dad!” I highly doubt it. Does that mean that they don’t have to do it? No! Not at all! Well, music practice is no different. Remember, you are investing money into this! If you want results from that investment, you need to listen to your teacher who is the expert and has been through this many, many times!

     Remember, you’re not really teaching your child how to curve their fingers or how to use “walking fingers”, or how to hold their bow with proper technique… you’re teaching them how to get really, really good at something and take pride in their accomplishment. Then and only then, can they build upon those skills!

      It is not (always) the duty of the teacher, to constantly come up with motivations and creative ways for your child to practice the same thing over and over. We can only guide you (as best we can) and show you where to look, and give you some ideas, but we cannot make you look and learn for yourself. If we ask you to read some material, it is NOT because we want you to waste your time. We know how busy everyone is. We would not give you anything that is not worth your time and that we wouldn’t do ourselves.

     How many times have I asked parents to read the introductory book “Nurtured by Love” and they come back and say “I’m too busy…” and in the next sentence they say “my child isn’t progressing” or “I don’t think she’s/he’s interested anymore….” READ THE BOOK!! You paid for it! When you signed up for Suzuki lessons, you committed to it! If you can't read the whole thing in one sitting, take it step by step! Page by page! That's how we get everything accomplished! Little tiny steps, get you places and keep you moving forward! You cannot expect to learn anything, if you do not take the time to do so. 

     Learning music through the Suzuki method, is about building a relationship. Relationships cannot be built, with cell phones or investments in toys, or with money, or by expecting the teacher to do all the work for you! Relationships are built with an investment of your time and energy. A lot of it!

     If you want your child to learn not to always take the easy way out, be an example! Children learn best through examples! If you're struggling, Suzuki teachers always have an open-door policy! We cannot help you, if we do not know there is a problem! Speak up! We are here to not just help teach the child... we are here to teach you too! But we cannot force you to do anything. We can only encourage you!

How do you get your child to practice repetitions of things they are long bored with? I’d love to hear your ideas! Other parents would appreciate it too and could benefit from your experience!! Have any comments, questions, or constructive criticisms? Please share!!

A Sincere Thank You!

To all the parents in my studio... Thank you for the following:
1.) Thank you for your dedication to your children.
2.) Thank you for taking the time to bring them to lessons and learn alongside your child.
3.) Thank you for your patience as your children learns HOW to learn.
4.) Thank you for your patience as your children learn how to self-regulate (that one is NOT easy and takes a lot of forgiveness and patience to make it through...but don't you think it's SO worth it?)
5.) Thank you for investing in your child's creativity.
6.) Thank you for building stronger neural connections in their developing brains.
7.) Thank you for giving your child an experience like none other and a voice of their own.

Being a Suzuki parent is not always a cup of tea, but when you see the smile on your child's face after working on a particular technique so long that they almost give up, but continue instead.... THAT is the sweet, sweet honey that goes into the cup of tea!!!

It's not easy keeping the bigger picture in mind, when you're trying to get your child to play one more repetition of a Twinkle, while they huff and puff and attempt to distract you with everything in their power, in order to avoid doing it... If you cave to this, you are teaching them that they can give up on something difficult just because, well... it's difficult! What an awesome life lesson to learn young, that sometimes, we just have to stick with something until we can do it.

Einstein failed math= Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity. I wonder how many hours he put into that....

Thomas Edison created 10,000 light bulbs before he got one to work.... I wonder how many days he worked on that for....

In the meantime, here is an awesome resource for you to check out. It's a discussion board specifically for Suzuki parents, Rookies & veterans alike!

https://suzukiassociation.org/discuss/parents/

Happy Practicing,

Ms. Leilah

10 FREE Resources from Susan Paradis for Learning Keyboard Geography

Keyboard Geography is really tough for beginners. Here are some activities to print off and play/do at home! Most of these you will see in my studio at one time or another, but I wanted everyone to have access, so they can practice whenever they need! Here they are: 

1.) Baseball Keyboard Race: http://www.susanparadis.com/baseball-keyboard-race/

(Don't use the optional flat and sharp cards)

-> (iPad version: http://www.susanparadis.com/catalog.php?ID=SP614) 

2.) Ladybug Game: http://www.susanparadis.com/ladybug-game-revised/

(Only use the actual piano key cards if this is your first semester. Use both piano key cards AND note-reading cards if you have had more than one semester!) 

3.) Fun w/Frogs Worksheets: http://www.susanparadis.com/wp_susan/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/FrogPianoKeys.pdf

4.) Color the Bunny Worksheet: http://susanparadis.com/catalog/SP292/preview.pdf

5.) Ginger Boy Keys Worksheet: http://susanparadis.com/catalog/SP572/preview.pdf

6.) Funny Thanksgiving Food Worksheets: http://susanparadis.com/catalog/SP567/preview.pdf

7.) Hearts & Clubs Game: http://susanparadis.com/catalog.php?ID=SP235

8.) Fly Keyboard Flashcards: http://susanparadis.com/catalog.php?ID=SP612

9.) Bats & Cats Keyboard Game: http://susanparadis.com/catalog.php?ID=SP738

10.) Make a Keyboard: http://susanparadis.com/catalog.php?ID=SP801

Beautiful Stories of how Suzuki changed lives at IAM

The stories you hear at Suzuki Teacher-Training is such a powerful example of the Suzuki method of teaching. Yep, I've officially drank the kool-aid. I realize more and more, that you really can try as hard as you wish, but you can't teach a student (or the parent of a student in the case of the Suzuki method), without first teaching about character development. In order to do anything well, you have to apply yourself in a disciplined manner. Look at anyone who is skilled at anything...I'm learning more and more that teaching discipline, respect, perseverance, and integrity is so much more important than how far they get in the repertoire and how quickly they get there. If I'm going to teach my students that they should strive to do things well no matter what it is, I need to step up my game this year. Regardless...be prepared... Winter is coming!! (lol...I had to.) Through the week, I've been taking examples of how committing to studying a musical instrument, teaches so many life lessons. Maybe by the end of the week, I'll summarize them all into a list to hang on my studio wall. We shall see.

The inspiration for this post came from one of the days I was in training this week, and after an 'institute' lesson (4 private lessons in one), a mother came up to our teacher-trainer and began to tell how the Suzuki method impacted her own life. As a teenager piano student she worked very hard and became very good at the piano. She told us the story of how when she was 19, her mother was walking along a street in the middle of the day and got struck and killed by a drunk driver. I immediately got angry at this irresponsible driver and had a negative judgement of them without even knowing what they looked like. I said "Of course!" Her face went from a very solemn one, to one instantly filled with peace, love, and forgiveness and she stated that the woman driving was eating dinner with her family. Her husband and her got into a very serious argument, and the woman had already had a bottle of champagne prior.
Now, that still didn't take away my judgement of this person, but seeing how someone whose mother was ripped away from them with no warning at a very transitional phase of life, had forgiven that person. She had obviously worked that out over the years, but how beautiful to live a life free from our constantly judging and negative culture.
      She began to explain how after the accident, she fell apart and couldn't see up from down. She completely quit piano for many years. One day, she felt the inevitable call of any musician to their muse...she sat down at the piano, and the only songs she could remember, were her suzuki songs. She began playing again because of that day. Now, she is a certified Suzuki teacher and her daughter, who is roughly 7 years old, is a fine musician herself was playing piano in that class. Wow.
      It may seem like a minor detail in her unfortunate story, but the joy on her face as she said "I only remembered my Suzuki songs" followed by her honest smile. Obviously, the philosophy behind the method changed this persons life, for the better.
      There are many stories like this, that I wish I could remember and re-tell to my studio, so that they understand the great impact that teaching children how to become better people, helps those children for the rest of their lives.

Behavior in the Studio

Last summer I had the great blessing of being able to study Suzuki Teacher Training with some amazing people who changed my philosophy of teaching completely. I knew it wasn't going to be easy taking on these changes, but I knew in the long run, it would completely renovate the way my studio was ran.
    First, I had Suzuki Cello Book 1 training with Barbara Wampner from San Franscisco at the Chicago Suzuki Institute 2015. Barbara studied directly with Suzuki in Matsumoto, Japan many years ago. When I asked her how to deal with a troublesome student that was eroding my deep well of patience, she only had to say one sentence that would change my life. "Well... we are not here to teach music Leilah...." I felt so confused after this statement... I asked myself in my head... "wait... we're not?" She continued.... "We're here to teach character first, and then music." Her next sentances went on to discuss how without character, you cannot study music. So as suzuki teachers our main goal with the young children (and really any age) is to develop the character necessary to study music and then, and only then do we have the chance to teach them music.
    A few weeks later, I got another amazing life-changing opportunity to audit a Suzuki Piano Book 1 training class with Rita Hauck. Rita Hauck was even more focused on this aspect of music lessons and would go as far as to make kids apologize for their bad behavior, even (and especially) if it was to their own parents.
    At first, I found this shocking. In the world today, teachers are supposed to be careful and not make a parent feel uncomfortable... We have been trained to walk-on-eggshells and cater and spoon feed the parents. But in reality, this is not helping the child develop character at all! In fact, it is doing the opposite!! I began my professional teaching studio in the fall of 2015, and the first few times I had to ask a student to apologize to their parent, I felt like perhaps I may have been stepping over my boundaries as a teacher...but then I talked with the parent afterwards and made sure this was okay for me to do in the lessons....instead of getting the reaction I expected of "no, it is my job to discipline my child"... I got a shocking and quite opposite reaction... "Oh please do! I was so glad you did that!!".
    Therefore, I have adopted the teaching philosophy that I need to develop their character first, before I can teach the kid anything about music. (Does this sound familiar?? *Cough* "Wax on, Wax off." -Karate Kid *Cough*.) I began to realize, that teaching masters of ANY discipline, have been doing this for centuries....it IS the only way to teach life-long lessons.
    I have decided after re-visiting the Chicago Institute this year and taking book 2 cello with Barbara again... that I will NOT apologize for correcting bad behavior in my studio. Rather, I will further raise my standards this year and hopefully gracefully balance this discipline, with nurturing love.

Practicing...

Sometimes, getting your kids to practice is easy. Sometimes....not so much. Regardless, practicing is very important. Some of you may think "duh"..practice is the only way to get better at an instrument.... TRUTH!!! But as a Suzuki teacher, my goal is to teach far greater life lessons. Lessons which I didn't quite understand myself until recently in my life as an adult, and still struggle with on a daily basis.... Discipline!! I was oddly reminded of this the other day as I was ordering a sandwich at Jimmy John's and one of the signs on the wall said "Do the things you need to do now, in order to do the things you want to do later!" As I reflected on my own piano practice this past year, I found myself wandering to repertoire I wanted to play, rather than what I was supposed to be doing. How much progress did I make? Well... not nearly as much as I should have over the course of a year's time. Eeks! Being a student on a secondary instrument, has been an amazing experience for me. It's making me go through all the steps and phases of my own students all over again! It's helping me see things from their point of view! 

   Usually people would shy away from saying as a piano teacher, "I'm taking piano lessons myself"...but I'm proud of it. I'm not the best piano player in the world, nor do I pretend to be. But I will never hold any of my students back. I know what I can teach, and what I can't teach. I strive to never be responsible for holding my students back. Letting go of my ego, has been great for me as I can really begin to see things from the students perspective. I took piano lessons from 6-8 years old. I really don't remember that much from them... but I do remember the painstaking sweat, blood, and tears I put into building my foundation on cello and boy does that translate to any instrument. However, when you're 29...it's hard to remember how difficult it was back then. How you never really wanted to practice and got bored of your instrument. There were weeks where I didn't touch it and would show up to lessons incredibly unprepared and unapologetic. Eeks!!! (Poor Ms. Liz... AKA, the most patient teacher ever). Some parents believe that you shouldn't make the kids practice because they're afraid of them resenting the instrument. That is a VERY good philosophy... however, if we're too afraid to push them, then they don't improve and improvement is how they stay motivated... SO... that being said, there are some pretty good articles on this. 

One of the most famous one is by NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/06/18/155282684/getting-kids-to-practice-music-without-tears-or-tantrums

Please share your own ideas on how to get your kids to practice consistently. Remember, by you sharing, you're helping fellow parents!!!

Awesome Quote!!

Music Game Apps for kids

I'm constantly looking for and playing kids games to see if I should recommend them or not. There are serious music teaching apps for the older students, but for this post we will try to keep it strictly fun. Here are some of the best music game apps I have personally found (quite frankly...any app by JoyTunes is amazing!):

I will start will all the JoyTunes apps, because well...they're amazing and fun!

1. Simply Piano (JoyTunes): This app is really fun to learn, it plays background music that accompanies you while you learn/repeat simple notes. It might be difficult for super young students as it doesn't really explain what rests are...but it's in the format of "guitar hero" basically...so they can catch on.

2. Piano Maestro (JoyTunes): Pretty much like Simply Piano, but allows me to track what they do in the game. It's pretty neat for me to see their progress. If you're interested and you're a part of my studio, just let me know and I'll send you the link to sign up under my teacher account.

3. Piano Dust Buster (JoyTunes): LOVE! Super, super fun for kids to have fun with music. (Of course, it ignores technique and proper finger numbers on certain keys...but if it gets them loving piano and/or music....DO IT!)

4. Piano Summer Games (JoyTunes)- Play National Anthems: More piano song teaching games.

5. Tap and sing by StoryBots (JibJab Media Inc): This is just super cute. It teaches more general music skills, but is still super helpful. You can change from the note names to solfege. Kids love this one! It's super entertaining. (They also have a Christmas version.)

6. Easy Music (Edoki Academy): This app is really not for learning necessarily, although that can happen. It's more of a musical exploration. Really interesting though!

7. Music for little Mozarts (Alfred Music Publishing): This app is a little outdated, but still does it's job and could still be fun.

8. Rhythm Cat Lite HD- Learn to Read Music (LMuse Limited): This one is awesome and entertaining. Games to teach rhythm.

9. NoteWorks Free (Azati Corporation): Super fun note learning game

10. Kids Music Factory Free (GiggleUp Kids Apps And Education): More for 3-5 year olds. But super cute, and they will laugh as they compose their own songs... it's pretty awesome.

These are all free apps, with in-app purchases available but not necessary at all. Give your musical children an app as a prize for practicing Suzuki stuff and see what fun they have. Please let me know which ones work the best!!

Perfectionism Continued

When I was in school for Music Education, my professor in my "Social Context & Politics in Education" made us follow this education blog called "Mindshift". I typically delete them, as I have a lot on my plate and sift through the ones I would actually like to read....one of those popped into my inbox this morning and goes perfectly along with our topic of perfectionism/how we deal with failure. I highly suggest reading it, as it talks about what a parent can do to encourage a growth mindset, rather than the negative perfectionism. "Growth Mindset" is becoming a huge trend in education, and boy does that make an ADHD graduate of high school and college smile! I didn't learn this skill until my Junior Year of college at 27 and yet, I still didn't really get a hold of it until this year at 29! If we can get little kids to stop beating themselves up, and stop learning confidence via perfectionism, but rather a growth mindset...wow...what a blessing in their lives and they won't even realize how much emotional pain, self-doubt, failures, self-loathing, and insecurities they will have thrown away and their confidence towards learning and mastering ANYTHING they want to, will become powerful! They will train success to bend to their will, not the other way around. 

       There are two common analogies teachers often use to encourage a growth mindset over perfectionism...the first one involves Thomas Edison and his trial and error period of attempting to make a lightbulb. It took him roughly 10,000 tries to finally get it right..,but look at what all his failures brought to the future! He would not have succeeded if he let his failures dictate his motivation.

        The second analogy is of course, Albert Einstein. He failed math in school, and YET, refused to let that failure dictate his future and changed mathematics drastically!! 

         We all struggle greatly with our egos. Our egos and perfectionism, are not always a bad thing. They can motivate us to better ourselves short-term when we need a little extra push. But if you use them as tools for success for too long...you're bound to get stuck somewhere along the line and those attributes can no longer help you. You have two choices at that point. You can either say "Well...I gave it my best effort and it's just not my cup of tea..." Or you can use your growth mindset to really figure out and analyze where your weaknesses lie, which involves putting your ego away for the time being and target those areas for improvement! Wow! What a powerful lesson to learn at a young age! I am currently 29 and just now starting to really shift towards this mindset. Perhaps if I had understood this in my teen years, I would not have gone down the dark path I did and wasted so much precious time in my life. But you know what, without those years of failing, I guess I probably wouldn't appreciate my hard work towards success as much, as it did not come so easily to me in my own perfectionist mentality. Cheers to many more years of growth! 

Here's the link to the article "Talking About Failure: What Parents Can Do to Motivate Your Kids in School", if you would like to read it:  

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/05/08/talking-about-failure-what-parents-can-do-to-motivate-kids-in-school/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

May Topic of the Month: Perfectionism

     On my theme for the month of battling perfectionism, I showed the kids this quick youtube clip from the Disney film "Meet the Robinson's". As Walt Disney said himself, "Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths". 
     They loved being able to watch a cartoon clip in their lesson, and we discussed it afterwards. They may not understand it fully yet, but I'm going to keep brainstorming to find different ways of approaching the topic. 
      How can I get the students to not make a big deal of their mess-ups and continue going in the music, without starting all the way over? Any ideas? I'd love to hear them! 

Perfectionism

     There is a perfectionist in all of us. In some it is stronger than others. Personally, I have previously been such a perfectionist that if I don't make an assignment awesome, I don't turn it in at all. I'd rather take the loss in points, over turning in something that does not show my best work. In high school, I didn't care. In college, I had to. Perfectionism, wasn't an option in college, when you're a 25-29 year old music major, with an almost full-time job outside of school that helps to pay your living expenses, while studying. For the first time in my life, I had people that would rather have my crap work on time, than my best work late. The first time I failed a college class in a degree I actually cared about, I was devastated!! I was struggling so hard to prove to myself that I could do it, and to have to admit defeat, was so humbling.
     The reality college taught me, was that if you want to be perfect at everything, you're going to develop an ulcer, or worse, die of a heart attack. Your body is what keeps you alive...in order to return the favor, you must give it a break sometimes. The reality of perfectionism, is that it leads to procrastination, poor self-image, giving up, and eventually the motivation it supplies at first, turns to discouragement rather quickly. So how do we defeat this enemy of our own minds? That is the question I have been asking myself for a long time, and one that came up in lessons last week. It motivated me to figure out how to veer away from that mindset, which is SO incredibly crushing in the music performance world. It seems small, when you make a mistake for the fifth time and curse. But what that turns into, is performing on a stage in front of strangers, seizing up from fear of making mistakes, and then becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. It sucks the joy out of music and puts the stress activators on HIGH! You walk off the stage, obsessing over your tiny mistakes and how you could have done it better. This leads to a self-punishment that can sometimes be severe. It can also lead to you giving up, instead of fighting through the brick wall you've hit, and eventually, at some point, far or near, breaking the wall down and moving forward!!
     I begin researching how to teach children that failure is normal and prevalent in music study. If you can't get over that, you won't be taking lessons very long. Lots of sources said things like "Tell the student it's okay to fail!" But one source really caught my attention. It said something that hit home in my discovery of how to further deepen the relationship with my own boyfriend....validation. Don't avoid their perfectionism by trying to deny them and their feelings. Their feelings are very real and upsetting! If you validate these feelings (this does not mean giving in or encouraging perfectionism), you allow them to feel that way. Only then can you show them different ways of thinking about failure. Super interesting! I'm going to make 'perfectionism' a theme in my studio for the month of May.

Welcome

Hello,
     Everyone has a blog now a days... blog this, blog that. Well, I have found time and time again, that blogging really helps music studios communicate and gives an extra sense of connection. I don't have a lot of time on my hands, so I will try my best to be consistent at updating this, at least once a week. Feel free to leave comments!! Thank you.

-Ms. Leilah