By Christy | The Practicing Pro
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With spring and Mother’s Day around the corner, I am bringing back this SPRING FLOWERS review activity. It’s such a wonderful activity to combine practicing with showing appreciation for Mom. And review is the MOST important part of practicing.
We learn the easiest and the fastest when we review and repeat.
Learning music is like learning a new language. Just like when babies repeat words over and over to learn how to say them, the same is true for learning to play a new song. Repetition brings mastery and muscle memory, which also brings ease and confidence to your musician.
By following the Magic Practice Formula during their daily review, your young musician can build their memory and increase their repertoire of songs that they can play by memory. Every month we have multiple school-wide concerts. I will never not be blown away by the students. Even the 7-year-olds are on stage and playing 5-7 songs by memory. That's right - NO SHEET MUSIC! Can you imagine? It is so impressive to watch. They can just play the music and enjoy the pieces that they can play easily, without effort. They own them and they are theirs to truly express themselves with. Music is truly a language for them.
AMAZING! What a gift to give your musician. With this as their foundation, they can now more easily learn and master intermediate and then advanced pieces. Learning new pieces will become so much easier for them, with less effort and time needed. It’s pretty amazing!
That being said, REVIEW is everything. This cute flower review activity will help you do just that. When they are done, they can turn their hard work flowers into an adorable card for Mom.
Here is the PDF download. There are a few versions to make this activity just PERFECT for you. Click here for some Mother's Day gift ideas using this activity.
FLOWERS
STEMS AND LEAVES (these are optional)
You can write their review songs on the stems yourself before practice or use the Suzuki book versions I have provided.
Instructions
1) Print your flowers and stems/leaves that correspond to your instrument, level, and printer.
2) Color, paint, bedazzled etc. (if you used the black and white versions) and cut out the flowers.
3) Cut out the stems that match your instrument and book level OR print a blank version and write in your own.
4) Write down your chosen review songs on the stems. I suggest 6 per practice (one per petal) but you can always do more. Once they have practiced the song six times, they have earned their flower and can collect them to put on their card.
Make a card:
I recommend using a coloured card stock paper that you can fold in half to make a card. Cover the card with your hard earned flowers.
Fun surprise - make more flowers that fall out of the card when it’s opened!
Make a program:
Make your card with flowers in the order that you will be playing a special Mother's Day concert for them. Now it’s a card AND a program. Nice work!
Big Poster Board sign or Banner:
If you review 6 or more pieces each day for a week, that’s A LOT of beautiful hard working flowers! You might just need to make a big sign or a banner to display them all around your declaration of:
“I love you MOM”
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
“Best Mom Ever!”
Is there someone else special?
Don’t forget the other “like moms” in your life! Is there a special relative, friend, neighbour or teacher in your life that holds a special place in your life?
I bet they would also LOVE a special spring flower/review song card, concert with a program, sign or banner from you too!
I would love to see a photo of your finished project! That would make me SO happy!
Click here for Mother's day ideas.
Check out my Free PDF download Checklist for a Successful Music Practice for teachers and practicing parents.
Your easy checklist for successful home music practices from Christy, the practicing pro. Whether you are a new or seasoned practice parent or music teacher, this checklist will help you organize before, during, and after practices for effective and fun practices.
INVITATION from Christy Hodder:
Speaking of amazing practices, let me tell you all about the digital course, the Practicing Pro Academy. This is for the serious practicing parents and music teachers and is an at-your-own-pace, step-by-step, online course to bring you more effective, positive, and fun home music practices. Registrants receive a special package in the mail from me, and I am with you in person with Q&As to answer all your questions.
Learn more about PPA and join the waitlist HERE for the next Practicing Pro Academy course. It's only offered once a year so you don't want to miss it. The registration will only open for a few weeks and I'll let everyone on the waitlist know immediately so that you can grab one of the spots.
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