Links

As ever I have been keeping an eye on all things practice on the web. This week has thrown up some interesting reading:

• First up is a clear concise guide to slow practice brought to you by the publishers of the Musicians Practice Planner.
• The 10,000 hours rule is an oft quoted and misunderstood rule that has been around for a couple of years now. Elissa Milne has a slightly different take on quantity and has an interesting application for her own students.
• Regular readers will know I'm a great fan of practice and musical quotes. Meg Grace has put together an inspiring collection here.
• Finally a new site instroduced to me by Gerald Klickstein - The Musicians Way.

I cam across an interesting post today by Jason over at the Piano Pedagogy Page.. He is running a series of posts on how to improve your teaching or 'In service DIY' as he calls it.

This post has a couple of interesting concepts I like. Firstly the idea that both teacher and student do not speak in the lesson but instead find other ways to communicate ideas.

Secondly he suggests not using standard italian terms to describe things but to instead use a greater variety of adjectives. There's even a downloadable list of suggested words you can use.

The reason I think tips like these work is that it keeps lessons fresh and students on their toes. If you are not sure what your teacher is going to ask at the next lesson chances are that you will practice to cover all the bases.  Read more . . .