Check Out this Year's Welcome Package & Practice Challenges

After approximately 10 years, I retired Maestro’s Top Dogs. Here is what I came up with:

20 & 40 Piece Challenge

This challenge encourages us to explore different types of music and at a variety of levels. This forms your “Set List” of go-to pieces that are ready to perform for family, friends, and the community.

How it works:

• Pieces need to be at least 16 bars long (8 bars for beginning students).

• Pieces can be

• Challenging (a little bit above your playing playing level)

• At your current playing level

• Easier, fun to learn pieces

• Try out pieces of differing musical styles.

• Pieces can be assigned ones or pieces that you choose and start on your own.

• A piece will be added to your 20 & 40 Piece Challenge List when it’s performable. That means that you can play through the piece at a steady tempo, with mostly correct notes, fingering and rhythm - with some musical expression.

Rewards:

• 20 pieces: 4 Cake Pops baked by Ms. Rhona-Mae

• 40 pieces: $10 gift card (choice of Amazon, Starbucks, Xbox, Roblox, Nintendo, App Store or Google Play) OR 8 Cake Pops baked by Ms. Rhona-Mae

• 20 Piece Challenge & 40 Piece Challenge Badges for your Badge Card

• Your name on the Challenge Board

Technique Wizards Challenge

These year-round challenges are geared towards leveling up your technical skills to build the chops needed to tackle your pieces more easily. Earn badges when you complete all scales, chords or arpeggios in a level, played at a steady tempo, with correct notes and fingering.

Scale Zen Master Challenge

How it works:

• To clear a scale, it must be performed at a steady tempo, with correct notes and fingering. Once cleared, you may mark  the corresponding key on your Technique Wizard Progress Card.

• You may perform your challenge scales at your lesson or send a video of you performing to your teacher.

• No skipping levels allowed. However, Intermediate & Advanced students may start the challenge at Scale Apprentice.

Chord Zen Master Challenge

How it works:

• To clear a chord, it must be performed at a steady tempo, with correct notes and fingering. Once cleared, you may colour it or mark the corresponding key on your Technique Wizard Progress Card.

• You can choose how far you would like to progress in the challenge. Obviously, the further you get, the more rewards you get.

• You may perform your challenge chords at your lesson or send a video of you performing to your teacher.

Arpeggios Zen Maste Challenge

How it works:

• To clear an arpeggio, it must be performed at a steady tempo, with correct notes and fingering.  Once cleared, you may colour it or mark the corresponding key on your Technique Wizard Progress Card.

• You can choose how far you would like to progress in the challenge. Obviously, the further you get, the more rewards you get.

• You may perform your challenge arpeggios at your lesson or send a video of you performing to your teacher.

 60 Second Mini Challenge

This mini-challenge will run for 4 weeks.

How it works:

• We’re looking for perfect scores, using Note Rush or Poco A Poco’s Read Music app. Alternatively, you may use any other note-naming app.

• You may work on the challenges during your lesson or send a screenshot of your score to your teacher if you complete the challenges at home.

Additional Challenges to Come

Some of the other challenges include a sight-reading one, a transposition one, a practice goals one, and an ear-training challenge. These are still in the planning phases.

Visit Nicola Cantan’s blog to get the badges, posters, and more teaching ideas.

All the materials pertaining to this year’s challenges will be made available on the Studio’s Ko-Fi page at a later date.

Online Music Game Review: Chord Drops

The following is a guest post by my student M of Chord Drops, an online music game available at Theta Music Trainer:

Chord Drops: A Student Review

Chord Drops is about recognizing chords. It has you choose what chord you think it sounds like. It mainly practices your ear. It had different levels of difficulty and you could choose if you were a beginner . Or pick a different mode.

It was really interesting, and it is a fun way to practice your ear. I liked the icons and how easy it was to play.

I think that it is a fun game for ear training and that it is fun yet very useful

I would have liked a bit more to it because after a while it can get a bit boring. The icon is a coconut.

Chord Drops: Teacher First Impressions

Chord Drops has 20 levels of difficulty, from Beginner to Expert. There is also a Practice Mode and Play Mode.

In Play Mode, You have five lives and are being scored. If you set up an account through Theta Trainer, your high scores could make it onto the High Score page.

It’s a neat, simple, flash game that gets students to develop their chord recognition in the context of harmonic function.

Check out my gameplay walkthrough livestream of Chord Drops:

Practice Planning (2020 edition)

This year, I have been using Trello to plan and organize my own music practicing. Check out my vlog where I do a detailed walkthrough of my Trello Board to plan not only my daily practices, but any studio livestreaming and recording projects:

My Music Practice Trello Board Walkthrough

Reference Links

Here are some links to other sites and playlists that I referenced in my vlog:

• Kanban - A Brief Introduction

• Trello.com: a web-based Kanban-style list-making application

• Bulletproof Musician Blog

• How to Bullet Journal for Music Practice on YouTube

Finally, here are links to my content related to practicing music:

• My Practice/Project Board

• Practicing Music Posts on My Blog

• Practice Time with Ms. Rhona Series on YouTube

What practice planning strategies do you use? What practice ideas work for you? What doesn’t? Please add them to the Comments and let’s discuss!

Friday Freebie: 2020/21 Goal Setting Sheet

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some of my handouts. Here’s the goal setting sheet that I am giving to my students next week.

The front side of the document is for goal-setting. The flip side is the student’s learning timeline, where teachers may add milestones.

Download the 2020/21 Goal Setting Sheet here.

Fostering Self-Assessment with Cross-Training

Originally published in the July 2020 edition of APTA News & Views.

One of the positives from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we are able to attend classes and seminars from the comfort of our own homes. On the May long weekend, I was able to participate in an international martial arts seminar that was hosted in Guelph, Ontario. For someone who trains in four somewhat rare martial arts, the Zoominar was a priceless opportunity to work with some of the top instructors in Canada, to listen to one of the highest ranking instructors in the world from his home in England, and to meet practitioners from around the world.

The focus of all the sessions was to give attendees tools to take ownership of their physical distancing training. Immediately, I could see how these self-assessment tools and drills could be adapted to help music students do the same. Here are some of the tools and tips that my students and I have added into our practicing.

Galligan Sensei’s Quadrants

Carole Galligan sensei is the highest ranking female in Canada for Iaido, the art of cutting from the sword draw. With her preparing for her 7th degree black belt grading, she shared how she was continuing to train without the benefit of being in the same room as her sensei. Like music teachers, sensei normally physically adjust arms, hands and body position or demonstrate concepts via partner work.

She held up this diagram while saying that each of our techniques contain these elements. Then she led us through various exercises to identify our dominant quadrant. Our weakest quadrant lays kitty-corner to it.

Galligan sensei holds up her quadrants for us to work through during the 2020 Guelph Seminar.

In discussion with my students, this is how we adapted sensei’s quadrants for music:

My teen and adult students have set out to identify their overall dominant quadrant, as well as their dominant for each piece. That done, they are now focussing their practices on “levelling up” their weakest. The younger students are picking one quadrant to focus on per practice.

Whether my students think that Galligan sensei is cool or they love the tool, I am seeing and hearing immediate results.

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

Galligan sensei also showed us several photos of her doing various techniques incorrectly and asked us to identify what was wrong. She then challenged us to do the same when reviewing photos and videos of ourselves practising. Some practitioners admitted that they were uncomfortable watching themselves. Sensei recommended they start by studying photos and videos of other people.

This translates extremely well to music practice. This past week, I have played videos of other people performing my students’ repertoire, asking them to identify what was good (and not so good) about the performances. Some of them have already jumped to Stage 2, which is to record and review their own practices.

Play it Backwards Drill

Galligan sensei confused several of us when she asked us to execute a kata (form) from end to start. It jolted us all out of complacency, forcing us to really concentrate. By the time we performed the kata normally, we noticed that overall, we were cleaner and smoother.

Several of my students have jumped onto this drill, immediately applying it to all of their troublespots. Others needed more repetitions or smaller practice chunks. The improvement has ranged from noticeable to incredible.

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I asked my student to try a practice drill that Galligan sensei had us try at the Guelph Iaido and Jodo Zoominar, which was to do everything backwards. My student ran through the Coda of Dennis Alexander's Nocturne in D, reading from right to left. Then she played the Coda normally. The improvement in flow had us both excited. #pianolesson #onlinepianolessons #practicemakesconsistent #practiceideas #practicedrills

A post shared by Musespeak/Rhona-Mae Arca (@musespeakstudio) on May 20, 2020 at 11:19am PDT

Green Sensei’s Adaptability Drill

In his session, David Green sensei (6 degree black belt in Iaido) covered changing one or more elements in our practice space and routine to jolt our brains out of complacency and challenge our ability to adapt. For example, training on a different surface or facing a different direction.

With us being housebound we, along with our students, have lost a bit of our adaptability savvy developed from performing on different pianos. My students came up with these changes to practice adaptability: change the lighting, practice with eyes closed, move objects and music to a different spot in the room, change chairs, and to record practices.

Tribe Sensei’s Tips on Dealing with Conflicting Advice

Eric Tribe sensei (6 degree black belt in Iaido and Jodo) is the CKF Head Examiner for Jodo in Eastern Canada (the art of the Japanese short staff), as well as the President of Jodo Canada. In his session, he presented video clips from two different instructors on the subject of technique.

On the surface, it seemed like they were coming at it from opposite sides. Tribe sensei had us try the technique, following the advice of each instructor. He then asked us to find the common ground between the two viewpoints. Between the commonalities and discussing what felt natural and logical, we were able to find our middle ground.

This also translates very well for music. My teen students have been listening to three or more performances of their pieces. Not only have they been comparing and contrasting, but they are also gaining ideas for experimentation. *

It has been a lot of fun adapting these drills and tools for music practice. My sensei have all been encouraging of this type of cross-training. Perhaps there is something that you do as a hobby or for exercise that you can adapt and use with your students. Or maybe there is something that your students do that can have applications to music. A little cross-training is good for everyone.