Expertise • Enthusiasm • Excellence

By Penny Wayne-Shapiro

Many schools and teachers hold recitals at this time of year. For all those of you who have a performance approaching, here are some tips to help you walk out confidently, knowing that you're ready to give a strong and secure performance.

1) Of course, make sure you practice well. Follow your teacher's advice about slow practice, using the metronome, how to clear up tricky passages, and listening to your recording. Conscientious preparation will not just give you the best physical control of your piece, but will also help you to know, "I've done everything I can to get ready," and to give yourself a pat on the back for that.

2) Practice performing. This is not practicing your notes, but "running the performance" multiple times before the event itself.  Although it's great if someone is available to watch you, you can just as well do a practice performance for the family dog, or even an audience of stuffed animals or basketballs! Here is how my students do this, in their lessons and at home:

Walk up (carrying instrument and music) with a smile, and give a nice deep bow.                    

Place the music on the stand; prepare your instrument and hands.

Hear the beginning of the piece in your head; give a breath cue (this is both for yourself and for the accompanist, if there will be one), and start.

Play through as best you can - no stopping for mistakes, or "advertising" them with a frown! Bow again, and walk off.

By the time you've been doing these performances several times a day for a week or two, the recital will be "just another one". Even if you feel anxious or something unexpected happens (a door slams, or someone sneezes right in front of you), you will keep right on going because you've run the sequence many times before.

3) Learn from these practice performances. I ask my students to find three things they liked about their performance, and three things they'd like to improve. These things may be general: "I played all the rhythms right," or "My loud passages should be louder," - or specific: "I missed the high G in measure 17,"  or "My trill was nice and clean." This is process of self-evaluation is very important, as it'll help you to use your practice time efficiently.

4) Remember that the goal is NOT perfection, but sharing the joy of music. Audiences are there to enjoy young people making music! They are not there to mark it like an exam. Although you and your teacher are familiar with the details of the piece, the audience is not, and no-one will begrudge you the occasional wrong note or missed rest. In fact, those small errors will go unnoticed if you have prepared well, and play your piece with enjoyment and spirit.

Parents, your attitude is a big factor here! Yes, in our lessons and practice we are always working to improve - but when students actually give a performance, whether at home or in public, please make sure you are encouraging them to do the best they can with what they've got right now, rather than criticizing them for "messing up" or not  "getting it right"!

5) Take the focus off yourself and find a person in the audience who looks like he or she needs your music. At WSM we play our recitals at the local senior residence, where quite a few of the audience members are medically fragile or lonely. For many, this will be the highlight of their day or week. There will always be someone in the audience who needs the comfort of your beautiful music. As you walk up to play, focus on the gift you are giving and you are sure to play well!

6) Try re-framing "nerves" (if you're feeling them) as "energy" or "excitement". Although that adrenaline may feel uncomfortable, don't run away from that feeling - take a deep breath and use it to your advantage. Riding that wave of extra energy can actually result in your very best performances - the ones with with that extra bit of "zing" that really excites an audience!

7) Don't compare yourself to others. Some students have been playing longer than others. Some are serious about music and practice an hour or more every day, while others are competitive swimmers and spend much of their after-school time at the pool. Some have a musical parent at home who can help them with practice and some do not. As long as you have prepared to the best of your ability with the time and resources you have available, you can feel proud of yourself.

8) Give yourself a pat on the back - no matter how it goes! Preparing for a performance, and then actually getting up and doing it, is rewarding but also challenging. Congratulate yourself for accepting the challenge and doing the hard work involved. That work is never wasted. Ask your teachers - even as professionals, we have all had performances we're proud of and others we'd rather forget! As long as you grow from all your performances, you're heading in the right direction. Do the best you can with what you've got, and then enjoy relaxing after the concert - you've earned it!

You can read more about Wayland School of Music recitals here: Recitals        

Videos of a few recent recital performances can be seen here: Videos

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By Penny Wayne-Shapiro

The student attempted the passage several times, growing increasingly frustrated. "But I could do it yesterday!" he protested.

I bet he could, too. But there was a missing piece in his practice, and it was time for me to introduce him to the four stages of learning.

They are:

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence (you don't even know that this skill exists)

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence (now you know about it, but you can't do it yet)

Stage 3: Conscious Competence (you can do it, but only by concentrating and trying really hard)

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence (you can do it without even thinking about it)

Here's what these stages of learning might look like from a musical point of view for a beginner, an early intermediate student, and an advanced student.

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence

Our beginner has just arrived for her first lesson. She has as yet no idea that the violin is supported with the left shoulder and the head, rather than hanging down in front and resting on the palm of the hand....

Our intermediate student tried out a new piece that caught his eye. Unfortunately he forgot to check the key signature first, and is unaware that for the past week he's been merrily playing a minor key piece in a major key. Very cheerful, but not quite what the composer intended....

Our advanced student has already mastered several 3-octave scales. She is currently unaware (although only for another minute or two) that her teacher is about to introduce her to the ear-bending challenges of a diminished 7th chord sequence....

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence

The beginner's teacher helps her to position the violin on her shoulder, then turn her head and bring her chin down into the chinrest for the "Lion Hold". She tries to hold the violin steady for 10 seconds, and makes it to 7 seconds before it slips. "That's really hard!" she exclaims.

The intermediate student's teacher gently suggests that he check the key signature. Uh-oh! Now he realizes he has some re-training work to do on this piece.

The advanced student is half-way up the diminished 7th sequence and is already lost. What key is this again? Where did the tonal center go? How will she ever learn this thing?

Stage 3: Conscious Competence

A week later, our beginner can manage a 30 second Lion Hold very well - as long as she remembers to go through the set-up steps beforehand, so the violin is positioned correctly to start with.

The intermediate student has had some trouble adjusting to the correct key for his piece, because he had already spent a week playing and hearing the piece in a major key. With his teacher's help, he circles the notes that are different in the minor key. He stops for a moment before each one so he can deliberately play them correctly, re-training his fingers and his ear as he does so. He will repeat this process during his practice at home.

The advanced student is finding the chord sequence very challenging, but she finds that if she plays through the notes several times on a keyboard first, it helps her to stay on track.

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence

No longer a complete beginner, our young student now automatically places the violin correctly on her left shoulder.

Having successfully retrained his fingers and his ear, the intermediate student confidently plays the piece as the composer wrote it, without a second thought.

And our advanced student feels a sense of satisfaction in a job well done, as she zips masterfully through her diminished 7th sequence.

Or....

Do they??

(dun-dun-daaaaah......!!)

The answer is yes - if, and ONLY IF, they've spent enough time repeating stage 3, Conscious Competence.

One of the most common pitfalls for students - and even for us professionals sometimes! - is practicing something UNTIL we get it right. "Great, I did it!" we think, and move on to something else. But if we stop there, having played it correctly just once or twice, it won't stick but will fade away like a dusting of spring snow.

Learning a new skill, including a musical one, is not like solving a math problem: do it once and you're done. It requires many correct repetitions of the skill - a long enough stay in stage 3, Conscious Competence, for intention, muscle memory and ears to start working together reliably and consistently. That's the route that will bring us - slowly but surely - to stage 4, Unconscious Competence.

When we've achieved Unconscious Competence, permanent changes in the brain (caused by neurons firing together over and over, developing stronger and stronger networks in response to the repeated task we've set them) have led to permanent skill acquisition. Now we can say, "I can do it!" - and know that we really can, every time.

Years ago I watched a very young student perform at a master-class. While playing, he was also happily chatting to the instructor about his upcoming birthday party and a variety of other topics. Towards the end he observed, "By the way, this is my 'polished piece'." The clearly amused instructor said, "Yes, I can tell - you've just had an entire conversation with me while you were playing it."

Now that's Unconscious Competence!

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“I didn’t have time to practice this week.”

When I started what was then Wayland Violin Studio back in 1997, I didn’t yet have children, and wasn't aware of how packed with activities kids' lives are these days. So the first time I heard that statement, I asked my student, “Well, what time do you get home from school?” and then “How much homework do you have, and what time do you go to bed?”-  naively expecting to lead the student gently to the realization that yes, endless free hours were available to fit in that little bit of practice!  

Well……you can guess how the rest of that conversation went. By the time I had heard about twice-weekly religious school, soccer practice at least twice a week with traveling games every weekend, and after-school math tutoring, I was wondering how this child managed to practice at all, in any week! 

But if you’re wondering the same thing – be reassured that there is hope, and a way to make everything (not just practice) seem much more manageable and less overwhelming. It’s the useful skill of time-chunking. 

If you can chunk your time and set up a workable plan, half the job is done. Once practice becomes a predictable and routine item like brushing your teeth and doing your homework, it tends to get done without complaint - or at least with less complaint! Yes, it takes a bit of planning - but that planning is an investment that can actually help your whole evening go more smoothly, not just the practice.  Here’s how to do it: 

First, make a table like this one with your child. I’ve done this one with 30 minute increments, but you could do it with 15 minute increments if that suits your situation better. 

To fill out the table, we’ll use an imaginary student named Joey. Joey is in 4^th grade. His violin lesson is on Friday at 5.00. His teacher expects him to do about 30 minutes of practice, 5 – 6 times a week. Let’s see if that is practical.

On school days he gets home at 3:30pm, and his bedtime is 9pm. He has up to an hour a night of homework. He also has an after-school math tutor on Mondays and Fridays. 

On Monday and Wednesday he has soccer practice from 5:00-6:30, and on Thursday he has religious school from 3:30-5:00 (he goes there straight from school). He has dinner (which takes 30 minutes) at 7 on M and W, and at 6 on the other days.  

Probably your head is already spinning! But once we put all this in the chart, it’s much easier to wrap our minds around it: 

Now, how can we fit in his homework and his violin practice? Looking at the spaces that are left on the chart, here’s a plan that could work for Joey. 

Monday is his heaviest homework day, so he could take that as his day off from practice. On Tuesday, he could relax for an hour on arriving from school, do his homework before dinner, and then practice after dinner from 7:00-7:30. On Wednesday, he could do homework before soccer, and again practice after dinner - or the reverse if he prefers. On Thursday, he could practice between religious school and dinner, doing homework after dinner. And on Saturday and Sunday, it should be easier to fit in 30 minutes of violin.

Now Joey’s schedule looks like this: 

There we go: 5 practice sessions of 30 minutes accounted for, and he will be making excellent progress! Also – and this is very important – he still has some downtime every day when he can play or just vegetate. 

It’s important to involve your child in this planning process, and to allow some choices. The more input s/he has, the more investment s/he will feel. Perhaps you feel that homework should always be done first, but if your child argues for doing practice first on some days, consider giving it a try and seeing how it works out. Learning this skill of time-chunking, and following through on it, can be a very empowering experience for your child.

What's more, getting good at time-chunking will not only help your child to feel more in control of his or her time right now. It’s also a valuable life skill that kids can use to manage the increasing responsibilities that come their way as they move on through school and college, and into adult life.

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Your child’s orchestra or band teacher recommended private lessons. You did your research, came for a tryout lesson, and found a good match for your child with an enthusiastic and experienced teacher. What next?

First of all – congratulations! You just helped not only your own child, but your child’s orchestra or band teacher, and the other beginning musicians in the class. Our local school music teachers, whose outstanding programs do a wonderful job of introducing students to their instruments, encourage private lessons right from the start. They know that hands on, one-to-one help from a good private teacher will make your child a more confident and better-prepared student, and thereby help raise the standard for everyone in the class.

Here’s how you can help your budding instrumentalist get the most value from his or her private lessons right from the get-go:

• Set up a good practice space. Your young musician needs good lighting, room to move as the instrument requires, a stable music stand, and ideally a mirror to check hand and body positions (a picture is worth a thousand words – especially when it’s a picture of yourself). And of course, the space should be free of any electronic distractions – including a loud TV or stereo in the next room.
• Help your child figure out an evening routine that factors in time for practice. You learn to play an instrument by doing it, and doing it often. Planning ahead makes it much more likely that regular practice will happen. Shorter daily or near-daily sessions are the way to go; last-minute cramming doesn’t work, especially when you’re trying to build muscle memory.
• Make sure your child checks the private lesson notebook and the school music website (or check yourself along with a younger child) before practicing, so that time is used effectively and required material covered before the next lesson or class.
• Ask your child to share some of his new pieces with you – and applaud his efforts, even if they’re a little squeaky. Getting a sound out of a new-to-you instrument is not easy, and beginning musicians need lots of encouragement!
• Ask your child to teach you one or two of the techniques covered in class, or mentioned in the notebook – especially if you yourself can barely figure out how to hold the instrument! Teaching the material to someone else is a terrific way for your child to reinforce what she’s learned at her lesson, but that’s not all. When she sees you struggling with something that she’s already getting better at herself, she’ll feel empowered and successful, and encouraged to do more.

Some of these points will be covered in more detail in future blog posts. Meanwhile, call and ask us if you have any questions!

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