Piano Lesson Schedule for Summer of 2023
BRINKWORTH PIANO STUDIO
Performances & Practice Tips
MMTA Ensemble Festival - Unitarian Universalist Church
Duet Recital - Mount Olive Lutheran Church at 7pm.
Student Recital - , Mount Olive Lutheran Church on 18th Avenue. All students will be performing with family and friends invited. The time of the Recital will be 7pm.
Contest Dates - many of the students are preparing for the MMTA Contest. Registration for this will be by December 1 and the date of the District Contest will be on Jan. 27, 2024.
The CALENDAR OF EVENTS page lists all of the Studio performing and MMTA performing opportunities. This will be updated as needed.
Other Performing Opportunities:
During the summer some parents take advantage of not having school hours to work around and take the student to perform at the Mayo Clinic or an Assisted Living / Nursing Facility.
I had some students who never managed to do an additional performing at any facility this last year. I know everyone is busy, but there is nothing more helpful, to gain self-confidence and pride in an accomplishment, than performing pieces learned. I have attached a list of the valued skills your child learns by Studying Piano.
Performance dress code:
Students should dress up for any type of public performance. This includes any kind of recital we have, (other than the Fall Duet Recital) or performances in Contest, or any other MMTA event.
Dressing appropriately is part of learning music performance etiquette, self-respect, and respect for the audience.
Dressing up means dress slacks for either boys or girls, worn with nice shoes, sweaters, dress shirts or blouses, girls may also wear a dress or skirt.
Please, no shorts, jeans, tennis shoes, flip flops, athletic clothes or bare midrifs.
For the student:
1. Practice at the same time every day.
2. Practice when you're at your freshest. 30 minutes in the morning is worth 60 minutes at night.
3. Warm up with something you enjoy playing. Review is the best warm-up.
4. Go on to your hardest thing next, while your concentration is high.
5. Set a specific goal for each practice session. Example: "Today, I'll play that page hands together."
6. Decide with your teacher and parents how long you should practice and stick to it!
7. Perform often for your parents and friends and in recitals. That will give you a solid reason to polish your performance.
For the parents:
1. Keep practice positive. Appreciate your child's effort to learn.
2. You're the helper. Don't try to teach.
3. Take notes and/or tape the weekly lesson. Note assignments, technical points and goals.
4. Ask questions at the lesson if points seem unclear because your child won't.
5. Make the home environment conducive to practicing and listening. Don't make practice time compete with TV, video games and phone distractions.
6. Not every minute of practice needs to be purely productive. Allow fun to happen!
7. Expect practice to get done. It's not pushing! It's homework in piano.
8. Expose your child to a wide variety of music, including live concerts and solo recitals. High schools, colleges and churches are excellent sources of live performances. Exposure also means giving the student additional opportunities to perform, such as on any of the pianos throughout Mayo Clinic and Assisted Living / Nursing Homes.