Alexander Doan School of Music

May, 2024 Newsletter

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Alexander Doan

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May is always a special month for my family. Within the same week there is not only Mother’s Day, but my mother’s birthday as well. When I was young, my Mom insisted I not do much for her for Mother’s Day since her birthday is only a handful of days later. It still never stopped me from doing a Mother’s Day craft at school, or making breakfast for her some years. As I reached my adult years, gift exchanging between us is now reserved for Christmas, but I still do a birthday BBQ every year for her. I can’t recall when I started that tradition, but I’ve always made sure to continue on with it, even when I wasn’t living in the Niagara Region. This year I invited one of her best-friends as well and luckily the weather wasn’t too bad. Some sprinkles and over cast skies did not deter me from cooking on the grill. To be honest, I have been known to BBQ in the snow or downpouring rains. I enjoy cooking on the outside grill. And to all the Mom’s of our students, I hope you were spoiled in some way by your children on Mother’s Day!!

Here’s what we have for the newsletter this month:

  • How To Practice
  • Direct Deposit and Cheque Payment Update
  • LEGO Mario
  • Student of The Month

How To Tips For Practicing

In the March, 2024 Newsletter, I answered the number one question that music teachers always get…”How often should I/my child(ren) practice?”. This month, I’ve decided to take it a step further with tips on how to practice. You might be thinking, “Alex, I just sit down at the piano and play through my assigned songs during the week so I can make sure to get my sticker!”. This is true, up to a certain point. I’ve recently been been talking with some of my students about how to practice and thought it might be good to include some tips in the newsletter this month. These tips apply to musicians of all levels, from beginner to virtuoso players. With my returning to performing on saxophone, I’ve also readopted these tips and they apply to any instrument a person is studying.

  • Develop a schedule that works for you and be consistent. Practicing for 1 hour, once per week, is going to show very little progress, however setting aside even 20 minutes daily, or every other day, is going to show signs of improvement very quickly over a short time period. Being consistent is what matters.
  • Alot the first 5-10 minutes (depends on how long you pracice for) to warm up. A person competing in a marathon doesn’t just wake up and start running. It’s no different with music. For piano, warm up exercises can be some scales you have already learned and mastered, or a song you have completed in the past. And no, just cracking your knuckles doesn’t count!! Each time I pick up my saxophone, I spend 10 minutes just playing long notes to warm up before I even start looking at repetoire. Warming up at the start of a practice session allows your fingers to be more fluid for when you tackle more scales and repetoire, and for wind instrument players, it allows you to not only get the fingers movinig, but also keep your mouth muscles strong and keep your tone in tune.
  • Don’t start at the beginning of the song you are working on. Despite what Julie Andrews told us in The Sound Of Music, the very beginning in this case is not the best place to start. Each song will normally have sections that are more difficult than the rest. Start with those. If you always start at the beginning, you may not get to the difficult sections during your alotted practice time.
  • SLOW DOWN!! If any of the students are reading this, I’m sure they can hear me saying that…lol. One of the very first things I tell students is speed does not impress me. Figuring out your notes, using the proper fingering and paying attention to dynamic markings is what will impress me. If you pracice something new too fast, and learn it incorrectly, you are always going to play it incorrectly at any speed. The only way to prevent that is to start slow. If the song is known to be a fast paced song, the speed will naturally come. Slow down and take your time!!
  • Pace yourself! Don’t feel as if you need to learn the entire song perfectly right away. Yes, I give the students one or two songs to work on each week, but if the following week they say, “Alex, I didn’t finish the whole song because I was working on the difficult parts this week instead”, then that’s still awesome! Learning any musical instrument is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. I would rather you take an extra week or extra time to do it properly instead of rushing to the finish line incorrectly.
  • Use a metronome. Keeping good time while playing music can be difficult for some at the start. Using a metronome at slow speeds and gradually increasing the speed is key for not rushing note durations or rhythms. I won’t lie, metronomes are annoying but serve a greater purpose. If you use a metronome to keep time for a song or scales, start at a slow speed and when you can play the scale, or passage, 3 times at that speed without error, then increase the speed by 5 or 10 and repeat the process. Don’t try to get up to very fast speeds on the first day. Again, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
  • Listen to the songs you are learning. It’s no secret that I spend A LOT of time in my car each week driving to lessons. I’m currently putting together my new performance repetoire and guess what I’m listening to in my car every day? All the songs I’m currently practicing. It’s a great way to learn how to phrase some passages of a song musically, or learn a rhythm you just can’t quite master yet. When I’m assigning new songs for my students, I always take time to play it for them once or twice so they can listen to how it sounds.
  • Walk away. If you get frustrated to the point you can’t focus on what you are practicing, walk away for 5 minutes to clear your head. Sometimes getting a drink or stretching the legs around the house for a few minutes can be enough to clear the head and if all else fails, come back to it tomorrow. Even after 30 years of playing, there are days I’m just not happy with my practice session, so I come back to it the following day. It’s ok.
  • Play the songs you like. Allow yourself some time at the end of your practice session to play what you want. It can be a song you have already learned and love, or a song you heard on the raido that you want to learn, but make sure it’s something different from what was assigned for that week. Music is fun, and you deserve to play songs you like!

Direct Deposit and Cheque Payment Update

Just a very quick update on your monthly payment options. This does not apply to current student registrants, but does apply to everyone due to a slight change in the school policies. I will not be accepting cheques as payment moving forward. Everyone has been paying through direct deposit, and has agreed that it’s just much easier and convenient, so I have decided to just do that now. I’ll be updating the policies on the website but in the interest of keeping everyone informed of any policy changes, I wanted to do just that.

LEGO Mario

Noah with his LEGO Nintendo set.

Each week I love hearing from the students about something neat, or fun, that they did during the week that wasn’t music lesson oriented, and if possible, showcasing something they’ve done. Last month, Noah was very eager to show me a new LEGO set that he recently completed (as a gamer myself, I may have requested to see the completed product…lol). In the above picture, the Nintendo console, the controllers and the mini television set are all LEGO pieces!! If you look closely, there is a turn crank on the right side of the mini televsion that when turned, moves Mario accross the screen just like in the game!! The console lid can also be opened to insert the game cartridge as well. I was not a LEGO kid. I was the action figure kid with my Star Wars and Superman/Batman figures but I’m always impressed when I see LEGO sets completed and also very surprised at how complicated they have become!

Student Of The Month

Noah – Student Of The Month – May, 2024

Our Student of The Month for May, 2024 is, Noah!!

Noah has been studying piano with me, working through the Faber & Faber Piano Adventures Level 1 lesson book. Recently, he finished learning the song ‘The Juggler’ which has a complicated hands-crossing section in the song and as a result, the song has become one of Noah’s favourites and also became the song he used as his audition piece for his school talent show!! Noah also loves building LEGO sets and recently completed a Nintendo build that included the game console, console controllers and a mini televsion that are showcased in this month’s newsletter!

Noah received his framed Student Of The Month certificate, and is featured in this month’s newsletter as well as on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and on the school website when the newsletter is posted there.

Congrats, Noah!!

Coda

Another month, another happy newsletter! And more importantly, I can now wear shorts and flip-flops to work!!! Yay!!!! Have I mentioned that I love my job? 😉 Enjoy the rest of your week, your weekend, and I’ll see you in your lesson!!

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