Practice sheets

Just popping in from my crazy schedule of teaching all 3 of my kids piano now - ak! - to share what  I do to help my kids practice.  We are getting into the groove of having a lesson on Saturdays, and then I give them a list of what to practice on their own for the week.  I have been brainstorming how to make this easier on the kids - I've had notebooks, but they get lost, so today I went on Pinterest for "piano assignment sheets" and came up with a lot of great ideas, but nothing was just right for my middle child, so I made it based off the awesome examples I saw, and laminated it so I can write on it with a dry erase marker:

He's a HUGE Horrible Histories fan so I added some pictures from the books for him :)

My two oldest are lucky enough to have keyboards in their rooms, so I slapped a command hook up on the wall and punched a hole in the top so it could hang right where he could see it.

Here's a lovely round-up of brilliant practice chart ideas from around the web.  Happy practicing!

Left wrist violin hack

I received a comment last week about how to keep a beginner violinist's left wrist from collapsing, and I was surprised to realize I had never shared this trick!  It's pretty simple, and all you need is a rubber band (those are to violinists what duct tape is to everyone else!).

Pardon the blurry phone pics - I took these during nap time.  Step one - put rubber band on the scroll:

Step 2 - slip student's wrist through the band.  




It's important to make sure the band isn't too loose or too tight - just enough to give the student the feeling of pulling back slightly. Collapsing the wrist means the band feels tighter, so it's a good way to teach them to start noticing and correcting it themselves.  If you have any other solutions for this very common issue, share away!

Awesomesauce music stand

I recently found out about a hidden inbox that Facebook has, and found some lovely messages that you dear readers have sent in the last few months that I had received. Sorry about that! I have very much enjoyed writing this blog, and chronicling some of my journey as a music parents. When I started this blog, I had a 4 year old daughter who I was just beginning to teach the violin and piano. Now I have a 9 year old daughter playing the violin and piano, a 6 year old son who plays awesome piano, despite some physical challenges he faces, and a three-year-old toddler who threatens to destroy any practice his siblings attempt. :-)

By the way, lest you think I actually found some free time to sit down and write this post, I am dictating this into my phone while watching my son play out at a bounce town. Multitasking!

We are now living in Texas, which is a big change from our home in Wisconsin. It has been rough for everyone, although the positives outweigh the bad. It's a good lesson in knowing that wherever we go and whatever challenges we face, at least we've got each other!

I have been blessed to make some really awesome friends, but it's still very hard to engage my toddler all day long. I'm just not as interesting as other kids, and his siblings are at school all day. He's starting 2 day preschool next year, but there's still a lot of down time.

One of my more more ingenius ideas when we were living in Wisconsin, was to make friends with a homeschooling family who all played the violin. The reason why this was brilliant  was because they could have lessons anytime of day, and I had a toddler and then a baby who needed playmates. So in exchange for teaching their kids, they came over to my house and played with my kids. It was really a win-win.   A few months ago, I got lucky enough to make friends here with another homeschool family who was just as awesome and playful. I don't know about anyone else, but when I have school-age kids and one non-school-age kid, Mondays are one of the hardest days. If we don't have anything to go out and do, the toddler just ends up lonely and stir crazy. So these friends and I have a standing play date every Monday, where I get to teach the daughter (who is one of those super awesome kids you love to teach), and the toddler gets to play with somebody else and their toys. That's a serious win!

Because this family has a child who only just started playing the violin, and two rambunctious little boys, the mom was nervous about getting a music stand for practice so she came up with this absolutely adorable idea in her living room.

The basic idea, was to take a blank picture frame, and tie a string back and forth from two sides so she could use clothes pins to hold up any music for her daughter look at. And then of course her creative side had to kick in and she made it look absolutely adorable :-)

We are in the process of buying a house, and I can't wait to do something similar for my daughter's wall in her bedroom. She has so many pictures and doodles that end up in the bottom of drawers or under her pillow.

I have a few other survival tips that I have been learning the last few months, especially with my piano-playing middle child. I'm going to do my darndest to make time to share those in the future!

Making a list, checking it twice

So last night, big sister was at karate, and I was trying to have a piano lesson with the middle brother. The only trouble is, we have a one year old who is into everything. We actually had to move the piano into a separate room so we can close the door, because he kept crawling on top of the piano during piano practice.

My 5 year old is practicing a song that just needs a lot of repetition and run-throughs. But, it's hard for me to sit there with him while his little brother is standing at the door howling because there's no one else in the house to play with. 

This was my solution, inspired by this post:

I usually give the kids checklist to fill out when I can't practice with them but tonight I thought I would sweeten the deal. Every time he completed a task, he got to eat a smartie or a chocolate chip, whatever is in the box. It's absolute bribery, but I'm okay with that. With a toddler and two big kids, I am an advocate for whatever works, and whatever gets them playing! 

In contrast, I gave a checklist to his big sister earlier, and instead of marking each box with an X, she decided to get creative. I love her brain!

Musical Drive-Thru

Here's one of those THIS IS THE GREATEST IDEAS EVER ideas that has been working wonders at our house.  Musical drive-thrus!  Let me explain...

I have a friend with two kids who play piano - the older a few more years than the younger - and the younger sibling has just zipped past the older sibling.  Both kids are very bright and have to practice the same amount, but the mom told me the younger one sits down at the piano several times to play around on his current song, while the older only practices the required amount.  You've heard of the 10,000 rule, that states that mastery requires time (I'm paraphrasing)?  All those extra few minutes the younger sibling spends really add up, and it shows. This got me thinking...  the Dude made more progress in his last piano book because he knew the tunes and they were easy.  Now that they are more challenging, he's slowed down and hasn't stopped by the piano in between practice times in a while.  So I wondered - how do I encourage him back to the keys?

Enter one of those bursts of inspiration while I'm in the shower.  (I was so excited I almost slipped while I was running out to write it down).

You know how sometimes you want to go out to eat, sit down and be waited on, and sometimes you don't even want to get out of the car and just zip through the drive-thru and be on your way?  What if we approached that philosophy in music practice?  When my kids really dig a song they are learning, they play it every time they pass by the piano and they end up mastering it much faster than the songs they only visit during practice time.

I put blank charts on the wall next to the piano for each child and told them for every time they randomly sit down and play one of the songs they're working on, they get to mark one box off.  They get to choose a reward/goal earn when the page is full (within reason).   The Dude requests to go through an actual drive-thru for french fries when he finishes a chart).  This is an extra thing they are in control of, and I have to force myself to not request drive-thrus.  It's all on their own time and own motivation.  Sure I can praise them when I hear one, but it has to be their thing, or it becomes another chore to do.  And those who know me can attest that keeping my yapper shut is quite the challenge - but I'm doing it(mostly)!!

A few handy tips:

Start with a small chart, just 10 or 20 spaces, whatever seems reasonable - it's much less overwhelming that way.  They were able to fill up their first one quickly and that got them excited for the next one - where I gave them larger and larger charts.

Some days when they need a jumpstart, I tell that that for that day only, I'm offering a special deal - for every 5 drive-thrus, they get one free.  Today only!  Get your deal before it's gone!  You get the idea.

Violin takes more effort in our house.  The piano is right there, but for violins they have to get it out of the case, get the shoulder rest on, tighten the bow, blllaaahhh, and then put it all back.  So I've gotten in the habit of leaving their violins out on the table in the afternoons, and for every violin drive-thru, they earn TWO spaces.  It's kind of a big deal.

Word to the wise - if you have more than one child doing this, print them different looking charts.  They're less likely to compare who has more.  I learned that the hard way!  I use bigger ones for WonderGirl since she's older - just google blank charts.  This page has some cute ones.

I made this ditty up for the Dude to color in with each drive-thru:

download here

And holy moley - WonderGirl had been making sluggish progress this year but in the weeks that we started this, she has started blazing through her book.  I didn't even do it for her, but the change has been so massive!  And the Dude has started picking up speed, too.  I didn't realize how important the in-between practice times were, but holy smokes, I do now!

No begging or pleading - just some quiet motivation.  Try it and let me know if it works in your house!

Straight bow practice

I took this with with my phone during the Dude's practice this morning.  This little rubber band trick has REALLY helped him feel the difference in using different parts of his arm for his bow stroke.

To help teach little ones to play with straight bows from the elbow and not the shoulder, I put a rubber band around a foot of the shoulder rest and wound it around the right wrist.  The player feels a tug when their bow goes straight down, and doesn't feel that pressure when they play a bow with their shoulder.  We call the straight bows "Springy Bows" since they'll spring back for the up bow, and shoulder bows are "Swingy Bows" because they swing back and forth, not down and up.

Guest post: Memories of my mom, and why I'm in The Polyphonic Spree because of her.

When I was in college, I helped start a jazz ensemble for string players.  One of our members wasn't a string major - Sean was actually a percussion major (and an AWESOME one at that).  He'd played violin when he was younger and had migrated to drums and all that when he got older.  Sean is one of the best musicians I have ever known, and I'm lucky enough to have gotten to play with him for those few years.  He graduated from college with a performance degree in percussion his masters in sound design, and is also an amazing guitarist and arranger and all that - but never gave up playing the violin.  Last year he had the opportunity to join one of my favorite bands - the Polyphonic Spree as the violinist - and has been touring and recording with them like mad.  We're talking Africa, Korea, London - and I even got to see him in Chicago a few weeks ago!  I am insanely jealous of him, but since he's such a fabulous guy I let it slide :)

This last Mother's Day he wrote this amazing essay about his mom and violin lessons and it brought me to tears as a mother, teacher, musician and human being.  It was just so powerful that I go back to read it often to remind myself that it's okay - it's a bumpy road - but it's ultimately worth it.  He agreed to let me share it with you and I am so grateful he shared it with me.  Enjoy!

Memories of my mom, and why I'm in The Polyphonic Spree because of her.

(I know this is long, but I hope some of you read it. It's really hilarious and a tear-jerker, for me at least, especially if you're a parent, and even moreso a mother, thinking of raising musical children)

As some of you already know, I lost my mother Sharon Redman to breast cancer almost 7 years ago (this fact terrifies me. Years go by way too fast these days). She's missed a lot of major things that have happened in my life. Some I'm sad about, and some I don't mind that she didn't have to witness. But the hardest one is the fact that she never got to see me playing violin on stage for a living, the instrument that she started me on when I was 5. I think about her quite frequently at the beginning of our shows, especially when friends or other family come to see me, and I'm acutely aware of her absence in those moments. She would have just told me that we are way too loud, haha, but I know that she would have been extremely proud, and would have told all of her friends when I joined.

When I first got back to Texas last year to regroup and recover, I looked through a lot of old things, and found some amazing stuff she had written, that made me laugh really hard, and cry even harder. She had an awesome ironic sense of humor. This is something I found that she wrote about raising my brother Robert and I to play the violin in the Suzuki program (where mothers come to the lessons with their very young children and learn the instrument with them to encourage/help them), but please forgive us for our bratty or childishly arrogant moments. We were kids after all, haha. I don't know how she put up with us sometimes, and the last paragraph breaks my heart a little that she had to suffer so much motherly doubt (as all mothers do I suppose) in herself and the job she was doing raising us. I would apologize to her a million times if I could.

I think she knew that she succeeded though in raising us right, probably beyond her expectations, although I wish I could tell her and show her that now, with how my life has changed after joining the Spree. And if she had listened to me and let me quit when I was being a little butthole, I wouldn't have performed in London last year, and gone to Uganda this year, and wouldn't be playing for thousands at festivals in Australia, South Korea, France, the UK, and possibly more this Summer. So thank you Mom. Thanks for not giving up on me and for everything that you did to bring music into our lives.

She also sang to and with me constantly growing up, so if any of you like my singing voice, she's probably responsible for that too. So here it is, Sharon Redman's reflections on Robert and Sean. (Most people reading this could probably guess which one I am, but I'm the baby of the family, and Robert is 2 years older.)

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(Reflections while driving to yet another music lesson, listening to squabbling in the back, wondering how I had got through 10 years of music activity)

Once there were two little boys who thought they might like to play the violin. And one said (after three lessons), "This is too hard, we're going to quit, aren't we?" (But we had already paid....)

And the younger one said, "I might as well play violin too, we have one the right size." And the older one said, "I LIKE these songs, I can't WAIT 'til I get to Bouree! Come show me how to play the next song."

(And his mother never forgot he said that.)

The younger one said, "I'll play until I catch up with my brother, and then I'll quit."

The older one said, "How many books are there anyway? That's too many. I guess I'll just finish Book 5 before I quit. That's a good stopping spot." (But he forgot.) Instead, he said, "Mom, that little girl is younger than me and she can play more songs. I have to catch up!"

When congratulated on finishing Book One, the younger one was startled to tears and shouted, "But I didn't WANT to!" (He was only 5 and hadn't realized how much he had learned.)

Once, at a Suzuki Institute, the older one ran to me shouting, "Quick, I have to learn Minunet in G. They're playing it on the recital this afternoon and I want to play it too!"

And the younger one said, "Mom, stop playing with me, you play out of tune and get me off."

And the older one cheered out loud in group class when he discovered he had caught up to his friend. (and she was annoyed, because she didn't even know there was a contest!)

And the younger one said, "Don't we have any other tapes to listen to but violin? I don't have to listen anymore. I already know it. I hate practicing, I want to watch TV. I hate my teacher, she wants me to hold my violin up.

(I have to interject for a second here, because I actually LOVED my teacher Mrs. Robertson to death. Kids say jerky things sometimes...),

I hate double stops. I CAN'T do them. I won't learn the cadenza. It's too hard, nobody will know the difference. I won't carry the violin, my friends would know I played!"

And the older one said, "Find me another talent show Mother. I want to win again!" And the younger one said, "Leave me alone, don't talk while I'm practicing." (and five minutes later he shouted, "Come quick and tell me what I'm supposed to do here!") And the older one said, "Now that I'm in orchestra, I don't need to take lessons anymore. I'm good enough."

And the younger one said, "I'm definitely going to quit when I finish Book Ten, (by the way, Mom, we have to find a better piano accompanist, you don't play fast enough.)

And Grandmother cried when they played, and Granddad was proud, and Great-Grandmother said, "At last! Somebody in the family who can really play!"

But the little boys didn't understand why yet, and whispered, "They were just saying it because we are their family."

And the younger one said, "I don't think I want to play forever." And the older one said, "I'd rather play trumpet", and the other said, "I'd rather play percussion." (And they did that very well, too.)

And one said, "I guess I'll keep playing in the string quartet because nobody else would play as well as I can." And one said, "If you find us more jobs for money, I'll keep playing."

And once, when she had heard "I hate violin" once too often and thought it might be time to quit, one came in and said, "Watch my fingers, Mother, see how they play this fast part. They're just doing it by themselves!" And she thought, maybe a LITTLE longer.....

(and their mother tried to be very quiet and not say anything wrong, but it was hard to know what was right, and sometimes she did say the wrong thing, but maybe sometimes she said the right thing, but what was it? She couldn't remember...)