THE MUSICAL MUSE

Blog dedicated to music education, practice tips, health
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Rhona-Mae Arca 10/10/18 Rhona-Mae Arca 10/10/18

Our 30 Days of Practice Challenge

As I mentioned in my post about this year’s Maestro’s 2018/19 Studio Challenges, my students and I are are doing a new practice challenge this year. Last month, we started a 30 Days of Practice Challenge. The practice challenge was inspired by concert violinist Hilary Hahn and her 100 Days of Practice Challenge on Instagram

I felt that my students need to build up their chops a bit before they are ready to tackle the 100 Day Challenge. Enter Stage 1: the 30 Day Practice Challenge.

The premise is that students commit to practising 30 days in a row. Healthy days, that is. Sick days won’t count against them. I told my students that I didn’t want them anywhere near their instrument if they had a fever or felt like puking. It would be a wasted effort. Better to concentrate on getting well. They’ll earn $200 Maestro Bucks once they complete the challenge. If they miss a day, then they must restart the count.

Some of my students are close to wrapping up their 30 Day Challenge, so I think it’s a good time to share some of our discoveries, observations, and lessons.

The Challenges of Practice Tracking

My students have to maintain a practice diary or log of some form. Most opted for the paper diary, although some are using it in conjunction with the Practice Buddy app.

Initially, most started by using the Practice Buddy app, but some students experienced glitches which resulted in lost practice log entries, and some practice sessions do take place when students are separated from the mobile device that had the app. Then, there were cases when students forgot to start the timer on the app or forgot to keep up with their paper log entries. The conclusion was that a paper log was still required.

Paper Practice Log

This student very quickly abandoned the Practice Buddy app in favour of paper practice log. Photo by R-M Arca.

Practice Feedback

This student maintains a paper practice diary but uses the Practice Buddy app when she wants me to listen to a practice clip.

Practice Buddy

This student also uses a paper log and the Practice Buddy app.

Practice Makes Consistent

The Practice Buddy app has been useful in giving students a relatively easy method to send me practice clips for feedback during the week. It’s been fun on my end listening to the clips, hearing my students’ progress, and giving them cute stickers in addition to feedback.

A handful of my junior intermediate students are very close to completing their 30 Days of Practice Challenge. They should be wrapping it up within the next week or so. They are pretty excited about their bonus.

They do a combination of practising at the piano as well as theory and using some music apps such as Note Rush, Note Works, Music Reading Essentials, Perfect Ear, and Tenuto. Their progress has been steady in their repertoire, theory, and technical exercises. I hope that they are as pleased with their progress as I am.

My upper intermediate and advanced students are having a tougher time at practising every day. They get a roll but then something comes up and they miss a day or two. I’ve suggested that they install one of the abovementioned apps and to visit the Student Repertoire Playlist I created on YouTube.

Having said that, they are still maintaining a good practice frequency for the most part, so it’s still a winning scenario as far as I’m concerned. A couple of students thought of a way to do some scorestudy on the go, which I thought was pretty brilliant.

Walking the Talk: My #30daysofpractice Challenge

Oftentimes, it seems like there’s never enough time for music teachers to dedicate to work on something new or hone their skills. I think we wind up looking for ways to push ourselves into preparing something to perform: like joining a music teacher performance group, playing in a church choir, accompanying other musicians, deciding to prepare for a concert/workshop/piano camp, and joining an ensemble. After all, it doesn’t matter if it’s the teacher or student, we need a goal to work towards.

It is in this spirit that I decided to take up the challenge along with my students. Then, I needed to find a way to make my practice log accessible to them so that they could see that yes, I’m working through trouble spots and scales, just like they rest of them. I decided follow Hilary Hahn’s example by posting every day to the studio’s Instagram account:

This young go-getter has been practising hard since we resumed lessons in July. Her hard work has paid off! Today, she earned enough Maestro Bucks to take home two prizes. #goodjob #practicemakesconsistent #studentincentives #studentprizes #penguins

I still used the Practice Buddy app as a timer but maintained my Practice Tracker in my Bullet Journal so that I could keep track of what I practiced each day.

The paper form of my practice tracker lives in my Bullet Journal. Photo by R-M Arca.

I completed my 30 Days of Practice Challenge yesterday. At breakfast, I was discussing with my brother the takeaways from my journey. Here they are:

Practice makes consistent: This isn’t anything new. This is something that my brother and I both learned as we worked towards our ARCT in Piano Performance through the Royal Conservatory. It’s something that we learned through years of budo. Anyone who practices an art or is an athlete know this lesson well.

All areas improved: With the challenge, I practised my other instruments more regularly. In fact, two of my most popular posts in my 30 day challenge was for the ukulele (Day 10) and cajón (Day 27).

My technical chops are nearly back to where they were when I was taking jazz piano lessons. Ear training, rhythm, sight-reading, chording and improvisation skills improved too. That’s all well and good, as I need to have my chops up to snuff this year.

Learning and sharing with musicians: Partway through my challenge, I started to follow posts with the #100daysofpractice, #30daysofpractice, #cajon, and #ukulele hashtags. The result is that I got neat practice drills, grooves, and ideas from other musicians. Abigail Raber (@passionate_harpist) inspired me to break out the metronome more regularly. Karina Mandock (@theoperaticcatholic) made me feel normal as her practice sessions are similar to mine. And I just love listening to Minoustics clips.

On the flipside, each time I post a practice clip of the Game of Thrones Medley arranged by Jarrod Radnich, people ask where I got the music from. Maybe I should ask for a commission on sales as a result of my practice posts.

It really wasn’t that hard - once I made the commitment: It didn’t help that I injured my lower back last month, which affected my practice length. However, I used my “light practice day routine” as I was healing. This is comprised of any combination of scorestudy, listening to either my students’ repertoire or my own, ear training, or rhythm work. It is a bit of a bonus that I also work at concerts through my side jobs, so I get to listen to fantastic music performed live and call it practice.

When I was just using my Bullet Journal to track practices, I still wasn’t practising daily. Nor was I tracking on a regular basis. Somedays just got away from me. Other days, I talked myself out of it, saying I was too tired or needed to get something else done instead. However, once I made the commitment to my students and to those who followed my 30 Days of Practice online, I couldn’t skip. I mean, it would look really bad if me the teacher, reneged on the challenge, right?

My Practice Log

The Next Practice Challenge

Tomorrow, I’ll treat myself to some calamari from Opa for completing my 30 Days of Practice. I was planning to give myself a few days off before beginning my next practice challenge, but since I’m playing piano at church this weekend, I can’t. Well I could but I want to play the parts to the Mass of Glory better than I did last time, so I better carry on.

Stage 2 in Maestro’s Practice Challenge is a 60 Days of Practice Challenge. I decided a couple of days ago that I’m actually going to jump to Stage 3: the 100 Days of Practice Challenge.

It will be interesting to see if any of my students opt to do the same. Should they decide to proceed to Stage 2, they will get $500 Maestro Bucks upon completion. Although some may need to restart, they should be able to complete the challenge by Christmas Break and enjoy a break before their first attempt at the 100 Days of Practice Challenge.

After completing Stage 3, they will receive $1,000 Maestro Bucks to spend at Maestro’s Market. Jumping to Stage 3 now means they can potentially earn more Maestro Bucks by the end of the year, completing two Stage 3 rounds and possibly a Stage 2 Round. However, jumping to Stage 3 now means that they’ll be in the same boat as me - practising over the break. If they are doing a piano exam, it would be wise for them to maintain a practice regime over the break.

As for me, there’s no point in doing the 60 Day Practice Challenge. Between studio recording projects, piano parties, a Christmas recital, and Christmas Masses, I have plenty to work on from now until past New Year’s. Making the #100daysofpractice challenge should be doable.

Rhona-Mae Arca 9/21/18 Rhona-Mae Arca 9/21/18

Work and Budo Modifications with a Back Injury

As some of you know, I injured my back a couple of weeks ago. No, I wasn’t doing anything really cool like one of our awesome Iaido or Jodo kata, or going really wild on the cajón. I was simply sitting poorly at my desk and twisted funny when I got up to grab something from the printer. That’s when I felt a terrible twinge in my lower back. Next thing I knew, my body completely closed in and I could barely walk.

Thankfully, I was able to see my chiropractor the following day for an emergency adjustment. He said that I completely jammed up my sacral region. I then compounded things by still using my active sitting discs while doubled up in pain for an additional day, thus aggravating my coccyx (tailbone) while sitting.

“This isn’t going to feel better right away,” he told me. “It will take a few adjustments.” He sent me hobbling off with the following advice, “Keep moving and try to avoid sitting as much as you can.” Well, considering that I need to sit at two of my instruments and work on a computer quite a bit, adjustments needed to be made.

Modifying the Studio for a Back Injury

The first thing that I rolled out of the studio was my exercise ball, which I used as my teaching chair. Next, I raised the stand for my digital piano so that I could play from standing. I spend half my time teaching from standing, so that wasn’t a big deal. However, I needed to come up with a different way to rest my muscles during lessons somehow.

I discovered during one of my shorter ushering shifts was that kneeling and going in and out of seiza was perfectly fine for my back. Seiza is the formal Japanese way of sitting, which we use in martial arts training. It’s more of a kneeling sit, although our buttocks float over our ankles. So teaching from kneeling or seiza made the afternoon and evening lessons go well. And stretching. Lots of stretching. I used these sacral release stretches quit a bit.

I’ve been getting into Child’s pose more regularly since my back injury. Credit: Iveto

My trusty Dr. Ho and Maestro’s old infrared pad have been a great help in the healing process. When I’m out running errands or working at one of my part-time jobs, I use Icy Hot patches.

Five days after my injury, I bought a Coccyx wedge to use in the car. I thought I could use it in the office and studio, but half the time, the wedge went flying off the seat because I move so much.

One week after my back injury, I bought a kneeling chair from Staples to use in the office and studio. Too bad I got rid of my original chair a few years back. I am sitting in this one properly though, which is a huge improvement from last time.

Now that I’m using the kneeling chair properly (no slouching), things are going swimmingly. Credit: R-M Arca.

I’m in the process of building up my sitting endurance at the piano and cajón. I sit more or less properly at my instruments, so the only big change is that I still need to do short practice sessions with time to do sacral release stretches in between.

It was extremely easy to reconfigure my piano studio in such as way that I could take it easy on my back. Credit: R-M Arca.

Modifying Budo Training with a Back Injury

My chiropractor and massage therapist probably got tired of me asking, “When can I go back to training?” One visit, my chiropractor asked me describe the movements involved when we train. He was already grimacing when I started to show how we unsheathe our swords. I promptly stopped before my back said, “Don’t make me do sayabiki!”

Then, I tried to slowly demonstrate Uke nagashi, our third Iaido kata from the seitei set:

He stopped me very quickly and told me hold off until my back had healed some more. “No twisting.”

I have had to make myself content with practising my footwork and moving in and out of seiza. I have also been drilling small sections in my kata, such as o-chiburi, that don’t involve me to change directions. My visualization isn’t the greatest, but I’ve been mentally reviewing my troublespots and asking sensei questions every few days about something I’ve noticed or read.

However, the main way that I’ve been keeping up with training is studying. I’ve got years’ worth of notes to review, as well as manuals for the four marital arts we practice (Iaido, Jodo, Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu, and Choken Battojutsu Kageryu). Plus, there are always videos featuring some of of our sensei that I can watch.

Today, my chiropractor cleared me to ease myself back into regular training. I have a feeling that I’ll be doing a lot of solo practice at “Tai Chi slow” speed, taking time to dissect every movement for the first little while.

Lessons Learned from Injuring my Back

If anything, hurting my back has given me the opportunity to assess and adjust how I move and sit. During the first few days, I really had to break down how I did things like get on or off my bed into small segments. I am certainly sitting and getting on and off chairs more carefully these days.

I have definitely become more mindful of my body’s state as a result. Being more mindful can only be good, right?

Rhona-Mae Arca 9/15/18 Rhona-Mae Arca 9/15/18

My Bullet Journal Adventures

Now, I can’t remember exactly how or when I stumbled upon Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal system. For those who are unfamiliar with the BuJo system, it’s an analog, pen and paper planner.

I liked its similarities to Stephen Covey’s 7 Effective Habits daytimers in terms of functionality. I simply loved how I could use up as much or as little space as I need from day to day. I was so excited at the prospect of personalizing my layout from month-to-month, week-to- week, or even day-to-day:

For most of my professional career, I’ve purchased various daytimers and planners, only to find that after a few months (or in some case, weeks), that they simply weren’t functional. The disjunct was even more obvious when I started teaching piano full-time. All day planners with an appointment scheduler at the time were geared towards people who work a 9 - 5, Monday - Friday job. None had sufficient note-taking, planning, and doodling space for my needs.

When I got my first smartphone, I tried to use it for note-taking and planning. I found it way too finicky. I forgot things. Productivity plummeted. The doodler in me was grumpy.

I suppose Evernote would be the closest in meeting my note-taking, planning, and doodling needs but I’ve noticed that I remember more if I write things down by hand, versus typing it in on a computer or mobile device. Plus, I’m more likely to flip through a notebook to review notes than read something I typed up. Not only that, if I have the space to doodle and brainstorm, it’s easier for me to see patterns and themes and come up with a plan.

Now, I can’t remember exactly how or when I stumbled upon Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal system. For those who are unfamiliar with the BuJo system, it’s an analog, pen and paper planner.

I started by designing my own pages after researching what other creative professionals have done:

It was a lot of fun at first. Perhaps, too much fun. I was spending too much time designing the layouts than actually getting stuff done. That’s when I tried the Leuchtthurn 1917 dot grid notebook that many BuJo people use.

My pile of Bullet Journals. Credit: R-M Arca.

At first, I tried following Ryder’s format but very quickly, I found myself playing around with timelines. I had it in my head to try seeing where all my time went. It was quite fun too, and since you don’t have every day pre-printed, it was very easy to change my layouts.

It’s been over three years and my BuJo has evolved numerous times. The layout is far simpler than my earlier days shown above and my layout has remained fairly consistent for at least a year. However, the colour-coding to denote different areas in my life has remained fairly consistent:

Colour coding is a simple way for me to see what’s going on and what’s on tap in a single glance.

I made a few changes to Ryder’s set-up. I moved my Monthly Spreads to the front. They also serve as my Future Log. I also switched to a graphical calendar layout because my brain likes it better.

The Collections are the pièce de resistance for me. Ryder calls anything else that isn’t part of the Future Log, Monthlies or Dailies a Collection, for instance: shopping lists, wish lists, budgets, etc.

Some of the Collections in my Bullet Journal are:

Borrowed Items
Repertoire to Learn (#workingmusician)
Tech Projects (#techteacher)
Monthly Cashflow
Things Worth Checking Out
Bible Reading Tracker

There is only one downside to this level of customization and that is, it does take more time to get your Bullet Journal set up. Each time you move to a new book, you need to migrate your Collections as well. However, there are many more plusses to make it the planner and scheduler for me.

Here we are at the beginning of a new teaching year. My brain is already thinking about next year. I am torn between three options:

Option 1: Continue using a dot-grid notebook

Pros: I already have the kinks worked out and know which collections are getting migrated into the next book.

Cons: The time it takes to set up a new notebook.

Option 2: Use a Traveller’s Notebook

Pros: Collections, Studio, Personal, Dojo, and financial stuff can be housed in separate notebooks that are inserted and removed from the Traveller’s Notebook cover with great ease. Also, they don’t need to be rewritten when the monthlies, weeklies, and/or dailies notebook is full.

I already have my teaching binder separate from my BuJo proper, so it’s just taking the compartmentalizing of my life to the next level.

Cons: Time needed to set up all the notebooks.

Option 3: Get a pre-made planner.

Gasp! What was that? Didn’t I start the Bullet Journal journey because I was looking for flexibility?

With more digging, I found these pre-made planners that still offer me flexibility in my weekly and daily layouts but there’s enough pre-made pages laid out similarly to what I have in my dot-grid Bullet Journals. The ones with the asterisk denote ones that would require a separate notebook for Collections.

I find that I keep better tabs on cashflow if I write things down, so I have bookmarked this cute little book. For studio operations, I still use My Music Staff, but do keep better tabs on my budgeting and spending, I have found that having those spreads in my Bullet Journal has been illuminating.

It has been an interesting few years in my Bullet Journal journey. By far, it’s the best system I have found in terms of planning and organizing my life.

Rhona-Mae Arca 9/13/18 Rhona-Mae Arca 9/13/18

Maestro's 2018/19 Studio Challenges

During my brainstorming, the following themes came through: technique, ear/rhythm/sight-reading, and practice frequency. To be honest, those are the key themes every year, but these are areas I really want my students to shine in this year. So, I had to tweak the student challenges and incentives a bit.

Towards the end of summer, I thought about what improvements to make to Maestro’s Top Dogs, my student incentive program that still bears Maestro’s name. Students earn Maestro Bucks throughout the year, which they can spend on prizes at Maestro’s Market.

Maestro’s Market - full of fun prizes that range from $1 to $15. Credit: R-M Arca.

Maestro’s Technique Challenge

Those who knew Maestro knew that he was really picky about piano technique. If you had one too many stumbles in your scales, chords, or arpeggios, he stomped out of the studio, only to return when he heard something that pleased him. As you can see here, Maestro didn’t make an exception for me:

In my brainstorming bubbles, I jotted down, “Don’t send them home until their fingering doesn’t suck.” To accomplish this, we are going to focus on only one or two technical exercises in a lesson (more if this is a strong area for them). My students will have to clear “Play with correct notes and fingering,” challenge at the lesson. I have them work on different ways to play that exercise as they try to clear that first challenge, varying the articulation, tempo, touch, rhythm, and dynamics. My students may not be thrilled that we are going to spend more time on technique in the lesson, but at least they’ll have a better idea of how to practice it at home; and I can feel a bit more confident that even if they only get to it once or twice at home, fingering and/or notes should hold.

The other challenges are: play hands separately, play hands together, play at a steady tempo and play at the minimum required tempo for their playing level. Some students have cleared two or three challenges already for the exercise of the week. Others - it will take a few weeks at first. In the end, practising them at home should become easier since we’ve tackled the hardest part in the lesson.

Students will earn Maestro Bucks (MB) for each cleared exercise, for each key, commensurate with their playing level (Beginners - Grade 2: $5 MB/challenge, Grade 3 - 6: $10 MB/challenge, Grade 7+: $20/challenge).

Maestro’s Music Moxie Challenge

I don’t think I altered this from last year. Students will earn Maestro Bucks in the following ways:

Each time they add to their Bulletproof Musician Playlist, which is their go-to set list of mastered repertoire ($10 MB/beginner - Pre-Grade piece, $20 MB/Grade 1 - 5 piece, $40 MB/Grade 6 - 8 piece, $50 MB/advanced piece),
$20 MB per solo or collaborative piano performance
Each piece that is memorized (same breakdown as the Bulletproof Musician Playlist)
$25 MB for each concert/music review they submit,
$25 MB for each composition or arrangement they do.

Maestro’s Practice Challenge

I think this is going to be the hardest challenge for all of us, but not impossible.

Inspired by various colleagues who launched 100 Days of Practice Challenges in their studios, I decided to set up something similar. However, we’re going to work our way up to it, starting with a 30 Days of Practice Challenge and a 60 Days of Practice Challenge.

The basic premise of all these challenges is the same: you must commit to practising music every single day, except for when you’re too sick to get out of bed. Some teachers actually specify a recommended practice time. I’m not going to as for me, it’s the practice frequency that I want to see improvement on. Any artist, athlete, and budo practitioner will tell you that it’s the repetitions and practice frequency that results in consistency and steady progress.

I know just as well as the next person that it’s impossible to commit to practising the same amount of time, seven days a week. Some days are going to be short practices. Some will have to take place far away from the piano (e.g. travelling to Hawaii).

After my students’ eyes boggled at the idea, I told them that there’s actually a lot of wiggle room. If they don’t have a lot of time to practice, or are away from the piano, they can get their daily practice in by:

doing a bit of music theory
do a music puzzle
work on music games/apps like Note Rush, Music Note Flashcards, Simply Music, Perfect Ear, Noteworks, Flashnote Derby, Tenuto, etc.
listen to their pieces
scorestudy (look at the patterns, structure, markings, etc.)
clap out the rhythms to their songs
read about a composer
ask someone to quiz them on their music knowledge (key signatures, vocabulary, etc.)

If they miss a day, my students have to restart the count. As I said, if they’re too sick to get out of bed, then that doesn’t affect the count. Stay in bed and get well first.

My students will have to do a better job at tracking their practising this year. It’s no big deal for the ones who are good at keeping a practice log. I did wrack my brains to figure out something easy peasy for those who aren’t good at keeping a practice log. The Practice Buddy app was what I found.

Practice Buddy is a free app available for iOS and Android devices. Literally, the hardest part is deciding how to set up your practice cards. Then, the rest is like magic. Students have to click on a practice timer. But here’s the best part: students can record one minute of their practice session and it pops up on my phone to review it and provide feedback (and stickers). Check out my videos below on how to set up Practice Buddy:

I do have some students who asked for a paper Practice Diary. I did design one just in case.

With the practice timer, students will be forced to learn how to manage their time more effectively. You can have an extremely productive, mindful 10-minute practice, and a crappy 60-minute practice. It comes down to setting specific goals for your practice, and being mindful when you practice.

Also, I decided to join them on this challenge as well. Here’s hoping that I practice my second, third, and fourth instruments more regularly. When it comes to the 100 Day challenge, I think I’ll follow Hilary Hahn’s format on Instagram.

Check out what my colleagues have done with their 100 days of practice challenges:

Rhona-Mae Arca 6/11/18 Rhona-Mae Arca 6/11/18

Getting Lesson Feedback

No matter how crazy things are, this is an important time for us music teachers to get feedback from our studio families on what worked well and what areas could be improved upon next year. It will help when it comes time to plan for the upcoming year.

June is a period of music examinations, year-end recitals, year-end reports, parent-student-teacher conferences, and processing fall registrations. It's a busy time - and that's just the music making part of it! For those of us involved in performing, backstage, or front of house duties, it's even busier!

No matter how crazy things are, this is an important time for us music teachers to get feedback from our studio families on what worked well and what areas could be improved upon. It will help when it comes time to plan for the upcoming year.

Why ask for feedback? It doesn't matter that I've been teaching for over 15 years. One can always improve. That applies to every aspect in life.

For the past three years or so, I have sent out a lesson feedback survey to my students and their parents. To encourage participation, students who complete the survey are entered into a draw for a $25 gift certificate to the music store of their choice.

My Lesson Feedback Survey

These are the questions that I ask my students:

What did you enjoy most about music lessons this year?
What did you enjoy the least about music lessons this year?
What would you like to explore more next year? E.g. ensemble music, music theory, jazz, pop, etc.
Any questions, ideas or suggestions? (optional)

Here are the questions I ask my studio parents and adult students:

What do you feel went well this year with your/your child's music lessons this year?
What areas do you feel require more attention and/or assistance from me?
Are you/your child returning next year?
What are your desired piano lesson days and times for next year?
What is your desired group theory class day for next year? (This applies to piano students Grade 7 and above.)
Which Optional Activities are you interested in?
Music festival and/or exam next year?
Any questions, ideas or suggestions? (optional)
Testimonial (for promotional materials) (optional)

The Optional Activities that I listed include: concert field trips, masterclass with a guest teacher, music-related tours (e.g. recording studio, concert halls, music museums, Canadian Music Centre), performing at nursing homes, hospices, and/or children's hospitals, taiko drumming workshop, and piano parties.

Reviewing Lesson Feedback

Not everyone responds to my Lesson Feedback Survey, but a good chunk do. It does help me to see which areas I need to adjust and which areas could use an overhaul. For instance, most of my students dislike theory. Although there is an overall improvement in how my students are doing (consistently earning Honours up to First Class Honours with Distinction), there is still a handful that are struggling. Coming up with new approaches to music theory will be food for thought during the summer

Technique is another area that is gradually improving, but again, there's a handful that are fighting it/struggling with it. How can I make technique more engaging and relevant to my students? Another thing to ponder this summer.

It looks like my students would like to do more ensemble music again. They are also keen to take another taiko drumming workshop and attend concerts. With everyone's busy schedules, this will take careful planning.

It is validating to read that overall, my students and their parents did enjoy the year. They are pretty happy with the progress they have made between last year and this year.

I do make a point of reviewing their survey responses with them at the end of the year. That way, I can get clarification on points and they can rest assured that I'm going work on making any necessary adjustments and improvements.

Fellow music teachers, feel free to use these questions for your own lesson feedback survey. If you have any suggestions for additional questions, please share them.

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