A Time to Organize, A Time to Think

It's the beginning of a new year. My main goal for the Christmas Break was achieved - migrating all my blogs to Wordpress. Sure, there are things yet to tweak and widgets to add; but the hard job is done. My other main task - to attack all the loose paper I kept shuffling from one Bring Forward folder to the next. That too was achieved. My file organizers are significantly tidier.

I guess I shouldn't complain that I didn't get anything accomplished over the break. Between that and practicing madly for Christmas and New Year's church services, I deserved the imposed break that my cold gave me on Week 2.

This has me reflecting upon the ongoing struggle to stay on top of things. To just stay organized. Between loose papers, music books and emails - we have a lot of clutter in our lives - so much that it's easy to drown in it.

However, I continue to press forward at tidying up the back end of things. Strangely, it gives my brain time to wander and think about lesson or presentation ideas that have been floating just on the periphery of consciousness.

I've taken to using the countdown timer app on my phone. It has helped keep the daunting task of decluttering my mess somewhat bearable. 30 minutes to clean email, 30 minutes to tidy up my blogs, etc. Bite-sized chunks. That's the key to whittling this monster mess down.

Music Practicing 101: Organized Practicing

On behalf of music students and music teachers everywhere, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to piano teacher Josh Wright. He put together these two videos about organized practice.One thing my students hear me say - a lot - is to figure out how much time they can dedicate to practicing for a particular day, set their practice goals for that session and determine how they will assess whether they've met their goals."Mindful practice" is also key to practice efficiency. Let's face it, if you're paying attention to what you're doing, you'll meet your goal a lot sooner than if you're just noodling around, waiting for that timer to go off.For those still trying to figure out how to set up music practice goals and how to organize their practice time, look no further:

Organized Practicing - Part 1

Organized Practicing - Part 2

A Note on Office Organization

My primary project this past summer was to organize my office and music studio. Oh no, not a cursory, throw things into a file to deal with later. I've been in extreme decluttering mode.

Since I began teaching in 2001, I have dutifully kept all of my music teacher newsletters. Have I read them all? No, of course not. 

Just a fraction of my piles to declutter! Photo by R-M Arca

Just imagine how much paper that is. Got the picture in your mind? My paper clutter is truly as scary as you imagined it to be.

I am approximately 80% through but I have been gleefully ripping out articles to read throughout the year. I have developed the following filing system:

1. Activity/Event ideas

2. Blog topic ideas

3. Group Class ideas

4. Lesson planning

5. Professional library ideas

6. Music games and puzzles

7. Piano Pedagogy

8. Professional development

9. Portfolio additions (my own published articles)

10. Recital/performance ideas

They will reside in my Active Files drawer until I am done with them. My hope is that throughout the year, I'll actually read these articles. Of course, that hinges upon me clearing the area leading up to my filing cabinet.

Cutting down my To Read Pile into a simple filing system. Photo by R-M Arca

Colored Mechanical Pencils - A Musician's Dream

Pilot makes these colored mechanical pencils (Pilot Color Eno), which I stumbled upon at my local Staples. Many of my students (including myself) are visual learners so color-coding dynamics, sequences, trouble-spots is just a treat for us. Since they are pencils (and not pencil crayons), they are erasable - just in time for music festivals and exams!

September 3, 2020 update: The coloured pencils are available on Amazon:

Making the Most of Music Practicing

"My head's exploding!" said one of my students as she walked into her lesson today. September is so exciting and hectic for students and their families. Back to school and back to their extracurricular activities. Homework and limited playtime. With any activity, establishing a regular routine is critical to ensure steady progress, growth and a sense of accomplishment. Set up a regular practice time in your child (or your own) schedule. Goal oriented practicing works well for many students, more than punching the clock, although general guidelines for practice times do exist. Do remember to warm-up, cool down and reflect upon what worked well in your session, what still needs work, what you enjoyed (or didn't) and what you need to ask the teacher at the next lesson.

Here a pretty good article on how to set up a good practice routine at home A Guide to Great Home Music Practice.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.