Homework

What and How to Practice

Playing an instrument is both challenging & fun, & takes consistent practice to develop skills & build muscle memory.  Whether you practice 3 times a week for 10-15 minutes or 30 minutes every day, the most important thing is to have a plan of when & where to practice each week, preferably spreading out the times across the week rather than a long time all at once. 

You need to practice the music and songs presented in class, work on fun songs, & or create/improvise.  

Something to keep in mind is that getting frustrated is completely ‘normal’ with the mastery of a musical instrument. 

Depending on the frustration, sometimes it’s helpful to keep practicing; other times it’s better to put the instrument away for

a while, then return to it when you feel better. 

Playing a musical instrument is very rewarding, fun, and can lead to other new experiences.  Like anything we do, learning something new can be exciting, but also challenging.  Work through challenges with a positive attitude and always do your best.  The goal of a young musician is to 'be better tomorrow than you are today'. Ms. Crider

• Ways to work through challenges 

  • Play fun songs

  • Make up a song 

  • While playing ‘through’ the frustration can bring great rewards, sometimes it is okay to take a break. Just know that it will pass. Feel free to share these times with Ms. Crider. 

• Set realistic goals

• Homework is practicing the music we learned in class at home 

  • Practice 3 times a week for 10-20 minutes minimum 

  • Practicing helps you learn new skills and improves your ability to play the instrument.  

• How to Practice

• LISTEN to how you sound.

• Do your best to stay relaxed. 

  • Playing everything from beginning to end is NOT good practice. 

  • Difficult parts in your music can be broken down by 1 or 2 measures or a few notes.                                                                                                            

  • Practice songs from the book and/or sheet music.  

  • Close each practice session with 'fun' music such as learning a favorite song by ear, making up, or any other enjoyable music.    

  • If there isn’t enough time to do all of the activities every time,  just do what you can.

  • If you can’t practice your instrument because you left it at school, you're traveling, waiting for after-school activities to start, etc., it is OKAY to practice by ‘reading’ through music/songs while imagining how it would be played. 

• Upon completing the homework each day, write down the number of minutes practiced on the practice card. Practice cards are collected and graded as homework. 

• It is important to keep track of where improvement is made and what is needed from week to week.

Ways to practice hard rhythms : 

Play each note slowly at first to check fingerings, notes, etc, then gradually use the correct rhythm starting slow and increasing the tempo or speed.                                                                                                                   

Rhythms can be changed while learning a difficult rhythm by changing the notes using these rhythmic patterns: long, short, long, short; or short, long, short, long - like we do in class.