When it’s time to practice, your gorgeous home may be your very worst enemy. The luxurious carpet. The rich and inviting furnishings. The decorator paint colors on the wall. They’re all tiny signals that tell your mind: “Relax, enjoy. It’s all good.” And that may be the single worst message you can plant in your [...]
Are you practicing on a timer? Playing 30 minutes a day, or 45 every other day? Or some other random number? Take that clock off your wall. It shouldn’t be the master of your practice time. How much time should you practice singing per day? Here’s a simple answer: Practice as long as it takes, no more, no [...]
Aargh!! It’s lesson time and here comes that nasty passage. Your student’s execution sounds no better than it did last week. Or for the two weeks before. Did he even practice at all? Did she just blindly plow through those four measures thinking it sounds fine? No amount of explaining, cajoling, pleading, demonstrating, or drilling [...]
Lots of players and parents continue to send me questions about broken violin strings, even though I did cover the topic in this post. Still, this short video offers additional help. After watching the video, please re-read my original post. With any luck at all, you’ll be fine. Remember these key points: DON’T PANIC! Broken [...]
The kids just hopped in the car on the way back from school and already the complaining begins. “I don’t want to practice music, it’s boring.” Once home, the the arguments pick up steam as notebooks and music are nowhere to be found. Finally the practice begins, through your kids gnashing teeth and still grumbling. [...]
Bill Alpert, Violinist, Teacher, Founder of InvincibleViolinist.com
