How does constant long term stress effect my learning?
Well to re cap from last month:
Stress has a visible affect
It impairs memory retrieval:
The risk of forgetting information in exams or performances.
Stress may hamper the updating of memories in the light of new information and induce a shift from a flexible, ‘cognitive’ form of learning towards rather rigid, ‘habit’-like behaviour.
Let's talk a little about music theory.
Is it important, yes?
Do you need to sit an exam or take a course in order to understand music theory?
No, you don't have to sit an exam or take a course to understand music theory, you can just ask your piano teacher.
It will take extra time so your lesson time needs to increase, or take 2 lessons a week, theory can be online too! You can also follow the course books by ABRSM or another exam board for their theory exams.
Music theory can seem scary and daunting at first, but it's not, it's just trying to put an explanation to the sounds we hear and why they work together.
Read MoreMusic has been my constant companion, since I was a child. When I didn’t have access to a piano or lessons for a year or two at a time, immersing myself in music was all that would calm and centre me.
Now as an adult and the harsh reality that modern houses and living don’t accommodate grand pianos easily, I learned renting for years and having to compromise my acoustic for a basic digital, that there is always a work around.
Read MoreHello I hope everybody is safe and well in these strange new times.
I just wanted to write a quick blog post about something that has been weighing on my mind during this pandemic.
It's ok to not be ok right now
If you want to create, then create
If you want to cocoon, then cocoon
If you want to learn something new, then learn something new
If you just want to watch movies then just watch and escape
If you want to redo your garden - go ahead.
Read MoreOne Step at a time: Structured Practice is key to productive practice
Take the parts of the piece that you can comfortably tackle now as in at or just above your current level to begin the process. Begin to sight read and play through moving on to memorizing, to be able to play without the sheet music.
Read MoreSo here in Ireland it's the start of Spring.
Do you feel refreshed and motivated towards practice or is it a struggle?
Perhaps a new routine or a way of doing things is in order, a different perspective.
Tip number one and most important:
Always have set goal in mind for practice
Easier said than done right?
Read MoreIt’s important to remember, that when you first begin piano lessons, you are doing something that you've never done before. So in order to learn, and remember, you have to lay down new neural pathways in your brain. This is what gives the drained, tired feeling after practice, as your brain has worked hard incorporating all this new information.
Read MoreFirstly, one of the most important things you can do to ensure your students benefit most from any piano lessons, is to ask them to immediately work through the lesson. That is, in the hours immediately after a lesson, encourage the student to run through what was done with the teacher, while fresh in their minds.
Read MoreFirst, stop being so mean to yourself, you don’t need to berate and scold and get frustrated. Everyone progresses at different paces, don’t compare yourself to others, you are not identical to anyone else. You can’t change everything all at once, so if you currently do absolutely no practise from week to week, start with 10 mins a day, after 2 weeks you won’t feel 20 mins pass, then 30, and so on.
Read MoreI just finished reading the ‘War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield. It’s essentially a book about getting creative things done and ensuring the artist, in whatever form, improves and reaches their goals. Well, upon completion, it made me take an honest look at my attitude towards practising, and actually induced in myself a desire to refocus it.
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