COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

If you've got about 12 minutes to spare, I would absolutely recommend watching this video. Vi Hart has a whole bunch of really charming math-videos, but I just LOVE the way she explains the harmonic series. 

How to Use Practice Logs: Part 1

Hi, folks! Lately, we've been chatting a little bit about practice habits, and I figured I should follow up with that conversation with the resources that I've got. By now, I hope you've taken a look at those practice logs: This is the sequence that I'd like students to use in their practice sessions at home, and, incidentally, this is usually the same sequence that we use in our lessons. I figure it'll provide some insight into what we're doing in our lessons, and what an ideal practice session would look like during the week. Believe it or not, most of your learning doesn't happen in our lesson-- most of your learning happens when you're practicing at home! [Also! It helps to be able to practice at around the same time every day. I might suggest experimenting with which times of day your student feels most energetic and ready to focus. Just like brushing your teeth, it's something that you've gotta do every day, in order to turn it into a habit.]

My practice logs (and lessons) follow this sequence: 1) I'll assign a goal for the week. It'll be something REALLY specific. Something that focuses on just one muscle, or one group of muscles at a time (like violin yoga)!
(For example, lets say his or her goal is to practice moving her bow in a straight line, parallel to the bridge and fingerboard)

2) For 5 minutes, she'll do an exercise that specifically addresses that goal.
(For this example, she'd stand in front of a mirror, drawing long bows on the open D-string, watching her bow to make sure it stays in a straight line)

3) For the next 5 minutes, she'll use a song in the book to put that goal into context.
(No matter what the song is, she'll still stand in front of the mirror, watching that bow!)

4) For the last 5 minutes, she'll play for fun. This is a surprisingly important step: If there's time set aside for fun-playing, students have an easier time focusing during the first few steps. Also, it's an important skill for a musician to be able to switch your brain from Left-Brain Critical Practicing Mode to Right-Brain Expressive Performance Mode, and this is great practice for that.

With very young students, I find it very helpful if parents are part of the practice session. You may be able to communicate my assignment better than I can, or catch mistakes the student might not be able to catch on their own! Especially with those very young students, if you find that you're really struggling to get the student to commit to at least 15 minutes a day, then lets make it a goal for him or her to at least open the case once every day. If he student starts getting into the habit of looking at their instrument, thinking about playing it, experimenting with all the different kinds of sounds violins make, even if he or she's not using our practice sequences, they'll still be learning a lot, and, most importantly, fostering their love of music. Let me know if you've got any questions! Even if it's a mid-week what-does-that-symbol-mean kind of question, I'd be happy to hear from you!