... and so are my students, apparently.
Last week I did not teach any of the kiddos because I was inhabiting one of the "isolation booths" (yes, that is what the sign on the door actually says) in the computer lab taking my comp exam. But I gave them all an assignment based on their all around rather poor showing in our previous week's lessons.
I sent them an email about how to be an effective music student. It's a top ten list put together by the tuba professor at the University of Georgia and that Dr. Dennis AsKew shared with me at the start of last year. The top ten list is as follows:
1. Take your classes seriously, including theory, ear training, and music history.
2. Listen to as much music as you can.
3. Learn and know your scales and arpeggios, they are the building blocks of western music.
4. Schedule your practice time as though it were a class, and make yourself a tough attendance policy.
5. Go to concerts!
6. Embrace what technology has to offer us in developing as musicians.
7. Be curious! Strive to know the repertoire for your instrument.
8. Play with your peers.
9. Be serious about your pursuit of excellence. You owe it to yourself to be the best musician you can be.
10. Know that every great musician in the world still considers himself or herself a student of music.
I then asked them to spend the next week seriously contemplating this list, analyzing how successfully they have implemented the suggestions in this list and what they can work on. Before their lessons with me this week, they all have to write a blog post about their musings.
I'm hoping that this will serve as a mini "wake-up call" for each of them, in different ways. And that they take this assignment seriously. But we'll see. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment