What is the best way to practise?

This is a question I am often asked by students. Sometimes they are referring to a particular section of music, sometimes they are simply asking a general question and at other times it’s because they are not practising at all and want to know how to get started.

The quick answer to this question is to practise in a way which suits your personality. We are all different. We act, sleep, speak, learn, and, of course, practise differently to others. Some of us are alert at night (night owls) and some early in the day (early birds). So if the night owls are convinced the best time to practise is in the morning, they are not going to be making the best use of their time because that is not the time when they are most alert. Similarly, the early birds are not going to be doing too well late at night.

Some of us like to practise in large chunks, others like to take more bite-size pieces and come back often. Some like to practise the same pieces or techniques until they are satisfied, whereas others like variety.

So what is the best method for you? Pianist, examiner, lecturer and adjudicator, Chris Foley, has written an ebook entitiled, 31 Days to Better Practicing. Chris talks about many aspects of practice, how to develop them and incorporate them into your own routine. He covers things like goal setting, practice methods (i.e. slow practice, silent practice etc), memorisation, getting into the details, organisation of practice time, sight reading and much more.

Sounds awesome, right? Click here and you can read it right now or download it for later!

Ann Fontanella performs Yankee Doodle

Check out this lively performance of Henri Viextemps’ Yankee Doodle’, by Ann Fontanella. Viextemps composed this piece for an American tour in 1845. Which violin techniques do you recognise? List them in the comments below!

Should I record myself?

Many of us shy away from recording ourselves because we are afraid of all the mistakes we might hear. Somehow it has been drilled into us that a ‘mistake’ is the biggest blunder we can possibly make when performing classical music. And yet, if we really thought that through to its logical conclusion we would realise that it is a well nigh impossible task! There are many factors in a performance to distract us from the task at hand. The trick is not to let them railroad us into making a complete hash up!

One of the best ways of improving your playing is to record yourself. Yes, I know, you feel sure you might not like what you hear! But what if, instead of looking only at the faults, you looked at the successes of your playing? Awesome, you got that run you have been practising for the last month! Or, those last few bars were so expressive! Or, wow, you didn’t realise you sounded so good, with only a few little scratchy bits here and there!

Dr. Noa Kageyama writes a superb blog called, The Bulletproof Musician. Check out his latest post here where he talks about how to use a recording of yourself to make positive changes to your playing.

Go on…..make a recording of yourself!  I dare you!

Anne Akiko Meyers with ‘Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri Del Gesu violin

Anne Akiko Meyers has been given exclusive lifetime loan of the most iconic violins ever created. The ‘Ex-Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri Del Gesu, dated 1741. The violin’s past players include Yehudi Menuhin and Itzhak Perlman. Meyers plays with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and Mason Bates’ new violin concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, led by Leonard Slatkin.
Filmed on December 1 and 7, 2012.

Another great video from ThePianoGuys

This is Mission Impossible like you have never seen it before. Enjoy!

Ben Lee is still the fastest violinist!

Fuse violinist, Ben Lee recently had the opportunity to break his current world record for playing “Flight of the Bumblebee”. He shaved over two seconds off his previous record! Wow!

 

Jarrod Radnich plays “The Theme from Harry Potter”

Pianist, Jarrod Radnich, plays a ‘spell-binding’ performance of The Theme from Harry Potter. Jarrod makes it look so easy!  Jarrod has also arranged music from Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, various Disney favourites and more. You can download sheet music for these from Jarrod’s website here.

Can you drum without a drum kit?

Rowan Atkinson gives this amazing performance with an invisible kit! Very clever.

A New Network Initiative for Tasmanian Music Teachers

The Tasmanian Music Teachers’ Association (TMTA) was established in 1960 to provide support for music teachers, in particular studio music teachers. This aim has broadened somewhat to encompass music educators and students and all matters pertaining to music education.

TMTA recently launched a Facebook page  to provide an online network of continued support for music educators, teachers and students. The page provides a broad range of articles, links and humour and welcomes anyone interested in furthering music education.

Click on the above link or the photo to check it out!

What do Daniel Johns, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Qantas have in common?

Daniel Johns is an Australian vocalist, composer, guitarist, and pianist. He is probably best known as the frontman for the band Silverchair which has won 21 ARIA awards to date. He is also three times winner of APRA‘s songwriter of the year. In collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Qantas, he has arranged, performed and recorded this beautiful piece entitled “Atlas”. The piece will feature as the soundtrack in the new Qantas advertising campaign on Sunday 22nd July. In composing it, Daniel said he wanted to create something that sounded international, because Qantas is representing Australia and he wanted it to sound big – not just a jingle. Do you think he has succeeded?

One other thing for all the violin and viola players:  notice how the bows of the violins and violas are all played in the same direction. It looks so much better than bows going in all directions, doesn’t it!