Orchestra students will be expected to keep track of their practice minutes each week and turn in a practice card. Why?

Practice=progress. You don't master skills during lessons. To take a skill from "I can," to "I always can," you have to practice individually. 100% of the time in orchestra, effort beats natural talent over time. It may not be today, but the hard worker always catches the lazy player that "just gets it."

Is it ok to miss notes in orchestra? YES. YES. ONE MILLION TIMES, YES. Beethoven said, “To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.” We practice to minimize these wrong notes, because of course playing passionately AND correctly is best.

Your practice will be graded as follows:

1. Practice Cards. Weekly. 5 points per week.

• Practicing 60+ minutes and writing a clear, focused goal and written assignment receives a 5/5. 

• Writing a clear practice goal/assignment earns 1 point on the practice card. 

• Practicing 50-59 minutes= loss of 1 point

• Practicing 40-49 minutes= loss of 2 points

• Practicing 30-39 minutes= loss of 3 points

• Practicing 0-29 minutes= loss of 4 points

• Practice card not turned in or completely blank=0/5