Week 2:

On our second week of playing your instrument, we start working on learning how to read your music and how to practice appropriately. You will be using the "Second Lesson Assignment" sheet of music that you received from Mr. Willliams or Mrs. Cooke. You also will start using the "Say, Sing, Play (5x)" practice method with every piece of music, every day you practice. Watch the appropriate video below to understand these important basics of playing your instrument.

Practicing

Practice is critical for success on any instrument, or most anything you want to be successful at. Does a Major League baseball pitcher walk out on the field having never touched a baseball and expect to win the game? No! Hundreds of hours of throwing pitches, playing catch, and working out were required before even their first win in Little League, let alone all the practice to take them from Little League to the big leagues!

For young musicians to be successful learning their instruments, they need to repeat the same skills and piece over, and over, and over again, dozens of times to train their muscles to do exactly what needs to be done to make the music sound amazing! We recommend that all musicians in the EPSD Elementary Instrumental Music Program practice every day (at least 4-5 days per week) for a minimum of 15-20 minutes per day. This should total around 100 minutes of practice per week. Using this rough time outline and the Say, Sing, Play (5x) practice strategy allows most students to appropriately learn their musical assignment and achieve their musical goal for the week. View the video below for an intro to the Say, Sing, Play (5x) practicing, or you can watch the full video on the Practice Strategy page.

Second Lesson Assignment Sheet Music

If you lost the sheet out of your folder, click to download and print this .pdf.