Shane Cook & The East Pointers!

I am too excited.

The East Pointers continues to be one of my favourite new groups and Shane Cook although I have grown up listening too, just keeps getting better.

Shane Cook is a MUST SEE violin/fiddle performer. I am offering this performance up to ALL REGISTERED STUDENTS regardless of if you have participated in a show or not. Tickets are going quick so send me your ticket #'s ASAP. He will be playing at:

Siloam United Church (yes, where we have group class!) 

Saturday October 13th at 7:30

The East Pointers are something a bit different, still featuring traditional celtic music, they also perform many original pieces arranged for Fiddle, Banjo and Guitar/Piano. The only percussion is some really unique foot work by the fiddle player which is really something to see. They feature some vocal tunes and up beat tunes with a lot of harmony and rhythm variations. This unique performance is offered to those who did not participate in the LEAHY show last year (although I do recommend going anyway if you can!).

They are playing at:

Aeolian Hall

Sunday November 4th at 8:00

Have young ones like myself who these shows are just too late for? Help me keep an eye out for some interesting matinees!

Practice, Practice, Practice

The theme for September is PRACTICE and the goal is EVERYDAY.

But why?

Playing EVERYDAY can be hard. It takes commitment and discipline, perseverance and consistency. It becomes even harder to not only play everyday, but to practice the right way so that we can be constantly improving and constantly making ourselves better.

Why should parents in particular put in the effort to establish daily practice for the young 3 & 4 year old's and encourage teenagers and the ones making their way through high school and beyond? What is the point when there can inevitably be immense struggle? It can take so much energy to establish, maintain and then reestablish these routines. So why do we do it? Is is just about the violin? About what level we can get to and what pieces we are able to play?

We need to remind ourselves as Suzuki Students & Parents that we establish daily practice because of WHO WE WANT TO BECOME WHEN WE DO IT. It's about what we are learning from the act of daily practice and not necessarily the end result of it on the violin.

Imagine two students leaving high school who have practiced daily from childhood and one has finished Suzuki Book 9 going off to University for Music and the other has completed Suzuki Book 5 and leaving for business school. Just because they are entering University at two different violin levels, does not mean that they are entering school with a lesser understanding of how to work hard, how they learn, how to break things down into small chunks and how to not give up. The act of daily practice can set both of these students up to be successful in their chosen field. The speed at which we learn the violin does not discredit the skills we learn through daily practice. For all we know, that Book 5 player may be far more proficient at their review pieces than the Book 9, which is setting them up with a strong foundation of skills they will carry through their entire life.

Suzuki violin lessons is not just about how high we can push our violin skills, although this can be fun and rewarding work. Suzuki Violin Lessons has always been about, first and foremost, creating exceptional human beings. It is about who we become in the process of learning the instrument and what we learn about ourselves along the way. These are the skills that will benefit us in all areas of our life regardless of if we ever fully master that fast finger passage in Gossec Gavotte. The struggle and the effort is what matters and it sets the stage to who we are as parents and who our kids will grow up to be.

So parents, keep doing your best, encourage every child to do their best, and remember to ONLY PRACTICE ON THE DAYS YOU EAT!

Happy Practicing.

Happy Labour Day Weekend!

Even though lessons don't start for another week, take the opportunity this week to experiment with your schedules and decide where practice is going to fit in to your daily routines.

The amount of time you set to practice isn't really the point here. Although the more we practice, the more we learn and the more we will accomplish and be able to do, however, deciding to one day practice for 3 hours isn't going to make any difference in the long run. Without a daily routine, we are setting ourselves up to make learning the violin or any skill for that matter, a lot harder than it needs to be.

5 minutes of focused practice everyday, as a starting point, is an incredible habit to form. If we can make this feel easy, then we can eventually turn that 5 minutes into 10. 10 minutes into 20. 20 minutes into 30. And so on.

So start easy this week. Start with the minimum and put all your effort into just finding the time and playing something simple and easy. The work will begin soon enough - then the real fun starts!

Have a good first week back at school. See you all soon!

Suddenly we are ready. Daily practice begins!

A post shared by Amy Rose (@amysviolinschool) on Sep 1, 2018 at 5:45am PDT