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Summer Fun!
Time for a long needed break for everyone . . . unfortunately for many of our students it also often means several months away from any practicing at all. Even with the best intentions music gets put on the back burner for too many students. I have spent precious time in the fall trying to get those students back to the level they were when we stopped in the spring.
Music Camp
Expose your students to music experiences that the regular lesson cannot accommodate! Camps are a fantastic opportunity to have a kind of learning-music-fun that all too often can't happen any other time. Both as a mid-summer activity and as an end of summer "get back in shape for lessons" event, the music camp is a great experience! Click to see suggestions of ways that the Whirligig, LLP games can be incorporated into summer music camp activities.
Summer Lesson Suggestions
I always offer lessons for about 6 weeks in the middle of the summer. This year I am going to offer different options to my students. Many of them will still continue with regular private lessons but I am also going to allow them to sign up for “buddy lessons” where two or three students will have a lesson together. This will allow me to spend a larger amount of time on the “extras” that we just don’t have time for during the school year when we are also working on competitions and performances.
I will be able to utilize theory games to keep them identifying notes, intervals, rhythms, key signatures, music terms, etc. with ease on a more regular basis. I will also be able to incorporate things like composition, ear training, improvisation, ensemble work and other aspects that get crowded out too often during the rest of the year.
Perhaps we can find a way to make summer lessons different enough from the rest of the year so that students really look forward to them instead of wanting the summer "off".
Tips? Thoughts? Questions?
Please contact us with your tips, thoughts and questions! We would love to be able to share helpful suggestions with everyone!
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