How to Practice Anything (especially the piano)

This blog post by a fellow piano teacher is wonderful, I can say that her advice here is invaluable. (Beta-tested it this summer.) 😉

This is wonderful reading for not only parents, but for older students, too. And piano teachers!

Here is the link. You can also download it here as a PDF to print it out to read it again and again.

How to Practice Anything
by Regina Ngo
http://rmslearning.me/how-to-practice-anything/

Regina Ngo
Regina’s Music Studio, S. Pasadena, CA
Website: http://rmslearning.me

It’s May at Cape Ann Piano: Time to Practice for the Elephants!

The Practice for the Elephants Contest begins today and runs for 4 weeks through May 27th.

What Is the Practice for the Elephants Contest?

Students practice and earn two cents for every minute practiced over the course of 4 weeks. At the end, students total up the funds they raise, which is used to foster 10 orphaned elephants, we will continue to support the elephants we began to foster last year. If there are extra funds (it’s $50 a year for each elephant) we will donate them to be used by the Trust where most needed. Printed handouts on the contest, as well as the practice sheets and contest rules, are in the studio.
These African elephants have been orphaned due to the illegal poaching of elephants for their ivory. The use of ivory for piano keys once contributed to the ivory trade. Of course, ivory is no longer used; polymers and mixtures of plastics are used instead for the key tops.

Click here for the PDF with more details on contest, and and why we do it!

Click here for more information about the The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

This contest was created by friend and fellow piano instructor, Penny Lazarus.

Want to be a matching donor for a piano student practicing for the elephants? Contact me here. If you’re part of the studio, let me know in lessons and I’ll pair you up with a young student!

Two of our baby elephants:

Ndotto relaxing the sun.
Ndotto relaxing the sun.
Mwashoti with his keeper.
Mwashoti with his keeper.

Follow the DSWT on Facebook

Follow the DSWT on Twitter

I will be posting updates on the students’ progress practicing as well as about our foster elephants throughout the contest.

Piano and other teachers interested in this contest, you can contact me here.

 

Dame Daphne Sheldrick with Lominyek and his keeper.

Piano Parents: “15 Things You Need to Know…

…About Supporting Your Child Learning to Play the Piano”

Here’s a wonderful blog post by Elissa Milne, a fellow piano teacher whom I “met” in one of my online pro piano instructors’ groups—she’s quite a teacher, and lives in New Zealand! So cool to now have input from teachers from around the world. 🙂
She has a lot of other informative posts for parents, too, on her blog.

https://elissamilne.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/15-things-you-need-to-know-about-supporting-your-child-learning-to-play-the-piano/