Scotia Suzuki School of Music

By Christy | the Practicing Pro w ww.ScotiaSuzuki.org Is my child too stressed? How can I tell? Stress is an important part of life - all children are stressed from time to time but how much is too much? What should you look for and what do you do when you see signs of stress in your child? Having conversations about stress with our students and our children can be a tricky and sensitive task when it’s constant and related to doing too many activities. Having a busy schedule

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org I have a teenage student, Amy, who never misses her daily practice. She used to really struggle! What is her secret? She bundled her practicing with something she finds easy and never misses! How did she do that? Amy discovered that She didn’t feel motivated enough to do her practicing until the day or two before her next lesson. She wanted to be prepared for her lesson and knew that if she didn’t learn the main things fro

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org You can also Listen/Watch LIVE HERE So when it comes to practicing what time of day is best? Morning, after school, or evening? Look at your lovely nest of musicians, is it filled with early birds, night owls, or a combination of both? When we are making daily practice habits, the time of day can make a big difference in how successful they are. Oxford Learning explains that there is no perfect practice moment. Student’s

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org Let’s talk about how to manage practicing with multiple players. Sibling relationships are all unique, and that means every practice schedule needs to be unique as well. Having multiple players in the house can present challenges, so here are some strategies you can use to help your family make beautiful music now and for many years to come! The key to finding balance is Switching Time with Two. One child can do an activi

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org Let’s talk about “seaming” When you learn a piece of music, there’s a method of practicing that you can use called seaming . This is a very effective way to learn a song! Seaming is when you split a piece of music into different sections to practice. BUT what’s special about seaming is that when you split the piece into parts, you include the first few notes of the next section. This allows you to learn each section separ

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org If you were stranded at sea, who would come to your rescue? No doubt about it, I...

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org Wouldn’t it be nice if you could relax a little instead of having so many things on your to-do list this week? What if your player's review pieces or RCM scale review are easily checked off for this week with no complaining or struggles? Well, now you can check one thing off of your list! Something FUN right in your hand to make your home practicing more fun and more effective! Imagine this - You will be the “fun parent”

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org Are you a super productive practice parent? Is your to-do list never-ending and every spare moment you sit still, you feel like you could be using it for something more important? I know I’ve definitely felt that way especially as my player got older and their pieces became longer! And though being productive and able to multitask are also really important skills, your child’s practice time is NOT the time to be thinking

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass...it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” As you know, spring means new outdoor sports and spring schedules. This can really make it harder to find time to practice, and then when you do, the kids' brains are still outside or tired out from being outside. It's great to make the change to spring but ALSO it can feel like the monsoon season, with so much to schedule and jugg

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org We learn the easiest and the fastest when we review and repeat. Learning music is like learning a new language . When you learn a new word, you keep saying it, even the simpler words like milk, mom, and water. You add and add to your vocabulary over time, eventually adding harder and more complex words. You don’t stop saying your first words though. Everything just goes into the mix to create a fluent language. Repetition

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org This Mother’s day and for spring, I have made you a fun SPRING FLOWERS practicing activity. CLICK HERE This will be a fun way to review. It will give you a week of easier review where practice will be more FUN leading up to Mother’s Day. Great! Here are some ways to use the activity specifically for Mother’s Day! Not only are you giving your special Mom / or Mom figure, in your life a beautiful homemade craft but it’s ma

Want to guess what one of my favorite things about Easter is? That’s right… chocolate! Also, hunting for eggs! Last week's blog was about “getting to know your child better” with my open and closed-ended questions in plastic Easter eggs. Check it out HERE if you missed it! Every year, Easter has me thinking about the small family traditions that I had with my own children when they were young. Do you have a special hunt prepared every year? I sure did and even tried a few d

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org I love this fun Easter Activity. A great way to get to know your child or your student better is by asking them fun questions. Better yet inside of easter eggs. Who doesn't like to choose an easter egg and open it up! There are two kinds of questions you can use for this activity. The first kind is open-ended “get to know you” questions that require a full answer. The second kind is “would you rather” question s that requi

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org Using Feelings Sticks in Practices Does your child come to music practice “grumpy” as a habit? Do your kids regularly have a negative attitude about practicing before they even start? Sometimes it’s a HABIT how you approach something. I’d like to share with you a personal example. I have anxiety whenever I go to the dentist. But it's every time and even when I go to my bi-yearly cleanings. But what am I afraid of? Well, t

If you are new here and do not already know, I am a Grandma! I have a sweet little grandson named Daniel who lives far away and in another country, so right now I can’t see him at all! We talk on Facetime every few days. It kills me to not be able to hold him and hug him, and giggle and play with him! I am worried about having a relationship with him as he gets older so I had an idea. I made him some “feeling sticks”. They are faces that represent: Happy Sad Mad Weird Ang

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org What to do when your player asks to study a second instrument? Can I play the guitar? What do you do when your child expresses interest in learning a second instrument? Let’s talk about the younger player first. When a young child expresses interest in a second instrument there are a few things to consider: Are they currently having success practicing daily with ONE instrument? If not then definitely stick to ONE instrume

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org Check out the third and last article in the metronome blog series!. 8 Reasons Why Your Metronome is Your Friend What are My Favorite Metronomes and Why I Like Them and now 6 Fun Ways to Use Your Metronome! 1) My favorite way to use my metronome is to make something faster effortlessly and quickly! A metronome makes playing faster and faster PERFECTLY, and not a task at all but fun! I use a metronome chart, or write the nu

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org What do you love about your metronome? Is there anything you don't like? Let me share with you all about metronomes, which is my favorite one, and why! There are two types of metronomes. Digital - electronic Analog - that’s the one with a weight on the pendulum arm that you move up and down to change the speed. It’s the classic kind that we think of in our mind when you say the word metronome. Digital or Analog I personall

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org A fun and easy way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your kids this year is to check out this Practice or Listening Practicing chart for kids! Listen to your Suzuki CD for the Suzuki Book (or songs) you are presently working on 10 times or for 10 days. Check off 10 hearts for a Valentine’s treat! Learning music through the Suzuki Method can be compared to learning a language. Before you begin speaking, it is very import

By Christy | The Practicing Pro www.ScotiaSuzuki.org My daughter had a teacher when she was young who would make a big ceremony of using the metronome for the first time. She would ask you to bring it to your lesson where she would admire it and then ask you what its name was. When the child replied “it doesn’t have one” or laughed at giving it a name, the teacher would make a drawn-out explanation about how important their metronome was, how it was their DEAR friend and it