Try and Try Again

A wonderful classic book is Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.  Here are a few thoughts from that book.

-Jonathan was no ordinary bird.  He tried and tried again.

-He made mistakes along the way, but he learned from his mistakes.

-He crashed and burned more than once, but he got back up in the air and flew again, farther and faster than before.

The book talks about having a can-do attitude.

That is a worthwhile character trait to help your child cultivate.  Keep before them the ever-present idea that they can, with continual effort, accomplish great things.

I’ve heard my husband Michael tell the story numerous times of dropping his drum sticks on two different occasions during critical performances.

You make a mistake, get back up, brush yourself off and keep going.

Remember Jonathan.  He tried and tried again.

A worthy principle for all of us.

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student

How Many Touches

With summer activities and a more relaxed schedule, piano still remains important.  To help with summer activity balance, consider this:

How many times might your student touch the keyboard, even for five or ten-minute bursts?

Can you encourage your child to perform?  Family and friends activities, grandparent visits, neighborhood block parties and other social occasions are perfect times to let them enjoy sharing their talent.

There are many summer opportunities for hearing others perform music in parks, public performance halls and university campuses.  Take advantage of some of these performances to expose your child to other musical creativity and trust that inspiration will follow. 

This week especially, every student I’ve seen asked to play their performance piece from the Ivories and Ice Cream event.  I was reminded of the fact that we all love a sense of accomplishment and the opportunity to share our success over and over. 

Encourage them to play for you.  What are their favorite piano pieces?  They will love having your presence as they share what has been learned. 

Above all – have a fun summer.

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student

Practice Is Never Out of Season

We just completed a spectacular Ivories and Ice Cream event last Sunday.  What a proud moment for me to watch and listen as each student courageously took the stage to play the music they've worked on so diligently.  It had to be an equally proud moment for their family and friends.

Now summer upon us.  Vacations, play dates, summer camps, pool parties, cookouts and a thousand other activities will dominate your lives.

However …a gentle nudge regarding the importance of maintaining some level of consistent practice.

“If I miss one day of practice, I notice.  If I miss two days the critics notice.  If I miss three days, the audience notices.” 

~Ignacy Paderewski

Let's take Paderewski's thought down to our reality.  Simply encourage your child to find those opportunities to play/review their music in-between the activities that bring a pretty significant change of pace to summer.

We nurture the buds on the stalk by constant attention and water.  The same is true with developing a musical skill.  There is no substitute for personal practice. 

And remember some of our other tips – it’s not how fast or how much time one spends in practice – it's about the focus while practicing. 

Summer is here...enjoy the change of pace!

Thank you,

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student