Practice Makes Perfect?

Laura Swenson • April 26, 2019

Length of Practice Time!

Everyone has heard the saying, "Practice Makes Perfect". But does it? It really depends on how one practices their instrument. I believe that repetitions of a piece of music is the most effective. However this can be broken down further into how many times you repeat a section of a piece, repetitions of the RH, the LH, hands together, etc. This usually needs to be spelled out clearly to the student for him/her to understand that effective practice is to break the music down into smaller parts. What is the magic number of repetitions? At least 3 or more for the young student and it will increase as the music becomes more difficult. To help with this concept I have my students roll a dice with numbers 2-7 on it. Whatever comes up is the number of repetitions for that piece of music either hands alone, together, or in sections. We roll the dice for every song. Believe it or not, the students find this great fun, unless the dreaded 7 comes up. (Yes, I did change the 1 into a 7!) You can purchase the dice on Amazon of course!

Digital Keyboard or Acoustic Piano

By Laura Swenson • May 5, 2020
Since teaching all of my students on line for the past 6 weeks, I have noticed a lot of different instruments that my students work with on a daily basis. Some are digital keyboards ranging from 76 keys to the full 88 keys. Some of them rest on a secure stand and some do not. Other students have different types of acoustic pianos. Some of the pianos are in good shape and others are badly in need of a tuning. There are pros and cons for both types of instruments. The digital pianos always stay in tune. This is a definite plus. Most of them are touch sensitive which means with the weight of your arm or had and loud or soft sound can be produced. This is a must for all piano players. At least one pedal is needed for the digital pianos also. This is frequently used in all of the material. Acoustic pianos are great because the sound waves are produced from the vibration of the strings and they bounce off the walls of the room. Digital pianos are sounded through speakers which is not the same as an acoustic piano. The downside to acoustic pianos is the maintenance. Tuning once per year is very important. Young students need to develop their ear, so a true sound is necessary. The keys need to be in working order. None of them should stick or not work at all. The pedals need to work too. So when decided which way to go, digital piano vs acoustic piano, think about your monetary investment up front with the digital piano and the on going investment of maintenance for an acoustic piano. More importantly, think about getting the best you can for yourself or your child. No one wants to practice on a mediocre digital piano or acoustic piano.

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By Laura Swenson • December 4, 2017
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My First Blog Post

By Laura Swenson • November 9, 2017
I have finally decided to take the plunge and add a blog to my site. I always wanted an easy way to share information with visitors and I'm super excited to start this journey. Keep coming back to my site and check for updates right here on the blog.

10 Reasons You Should Love Blogging

By Laura Swenson • November 9, 2017
Anyone can make one: For better or worse, anyone can write a blog post about anything they want. Everyone has a voice and the best voices will rise to the top. The writer can show their personality: In blog posts, the writer has more leeway to add in their voice and personality than other types of writing. Blogs are a great form of mass communication: You can help people, learn new things, entertain your audience-the possibilities are endless and amazing. Blogging opens up all of these to a very wide audience. You can make money: Get the right blog going and you can make a lot of money through advertising and sponsored posts. It allows people to craft better thoughts: Instead of reading haphazard, uneducated Facebook statuses, it's much better to see people's thought process in a well-written blog post. You can establish a community: Blogging allows you to connect with other individuals who share the same interests. Sharing ideas and opinions within your community helps establish yourself as a thought leader. Good for SEO: Keeping content on your site fresh and relevant, you can use your blog to boost the search engine ranking (SEO) of your site and your business. It brings people back to your site: If your blog is strong enough and updated regularly, people will come back looking for more and bring traffic back to your site as well. It's free: It costs you a grand total of zero dollars to post to the blog, so if you have something to say, there's nothing to stop you. You can establish yourself as a thought leader: A blog is a great place for your original thoughts, and it can be a wonderful way to show off your individuality. If people like your ideas, you can become a thought leader in your industry! What else do you love about blogs? Let me know!