Harmonious.ly's blog

If you are a teacher who users computer software to create printable sheet music, there’s good news. This week, MakeMusic Inc. announced its latest version of Finale, the premier music notation software, and the new version has several features that make the upgrade especially worthwhile for educators.

800 Customizable Worksheets
Finale 2011 now offers 800 customizable music education worksheets–500 more than previous versions. The worksheets are educator-approved, and range from well-made basics to creative games and puzzles on music theory topics. You can check out some examples here. Finale worksheets can be printed or emailed to students using the free Finale Reader program.

Flashcards
Finale 2011 offers flash cards of key signatures and note names in two different sizes for classroom or individual use. This is sure to be a major time or money saver for any taxed classroom music teacher.

Ear Training Help
Finale 2011 includes printable worksheets for interval and chord recognition and dictation. Students use Finale Reader to listen to the examples and then write their answers on the worksheets. The worksheets and examples can be edited by users, so teachers can easily tailor ear training exercises to individual students and provide as much at-home practice as is needed.

Repetoire
The new version of Finale offers over 50 pieces of standard jazz repetoire (also printable or emailable), tons of public domain music including folk songs, and all the Bach Inventions. Neat!

Other Improvements
Finale 2011 makes it much easier to enter lyrics below staves, control their appearance, and view lyrics as they will print. It also gives users more options in terms of easily hiding or moving staves around on the page, so that users can work in any order they please. (This movie provides a nice tutorial.) Lastly, the new Finale has added a whole slew of new, quality sounds to its library.

Finale 2011 is not available yet, but will be soon. Check SoundTree online for updates.

Think it’s worth the upgrade? Leave a comment here on the Harmonious.ly blog and share your opinion.

Are you ready to get started on a new instrument, but not ready to commit to purchasing one? Are you looking for an instrument for your child? Rental is a great and affordable option. Here are some tips to help you find the right rental instrument and a great deal.

Costs
Rental instruments typically cost between $20 and $60 per month. This is usually dependent on the kind of instrument you are renting (trumpets cost less than cellos), rather than on the quality of the instrument. Most rental instruments are student-quality.

Rent-to-Own Programs
Many music shops have rent-to-own programs, which means that a large percentage of the monthly cost of your instrument will go towards purchasing the instrument later.
For kids’ instruments, rent-to-own is an especially good option. A good student-quality rental instrument will be good enough for at least the first several years of your child’s music lessons.
Make sure your rental company doesn’t take too big a cut of your monthly fee. In a good rent-to-own program, the entirety of your monthly payment should be applied to eventual ownership. If the shop takes a cut at all, make sure it’s not more than 10% of your monthly fee.

Buy the Insurance
The best part about renting is that, should your rental instrument break or be stolen, you’re covered. Most music shops offer insurance for a few extra dollars a month. It’s worth it!
Additionally, some rental instruments are used, or of lesser quality. Keys can stick, or wood can crack. Buying the insurance means that if any of this happens, all you have to do is trade the instrument in at the shop for a different one, at no cost to you.

Make Sure You Know What You’re Getting
Occasionally, a not-so-great music shop will attempt to sell or rent you a bunch of gadgets that you don’t need, when all you want to do is rent a trumpet. Beware of this. If you are renting an instrument for your child, approach your child’s teacher or band director for a list of exactly what you’ll need, and don’t buy anything else unless you’re sure about it. If you are renting for yourself, look around on the internet, or ask a musician friend to find out what basics you’ll need to get started. Most gadgets such as neck straps for saxophones or chin rests for violins are more cheaply purchased than rented.

Find a Trusted Shop
Small, local instrument shops are usually the best places to rent. If you can find a local shop that specializes in your particular instrument, that’s even better. This kind of shop will be more likely to offer you a high quality instrument, provide you with solid advice about purchasing an instrument later, and will be more attentive to you and your needs.
Many small shops charge slightly more, or have fewer rent-to-own offers, but (at least in this musician’s experience) the trade-offs are well worth it.

Don’t Buy Until You’re Sure
Rental is an especially great option for beginners, because it takes time and skill to discover what you are looking for in an instrument. Some instruments are better-made than others, but in the end, you will need to find an instrument suited to you, your body, and your tastes. For adults, it’s a good idea to play for at least a year (or several) before making a commitment to an expensive instrument. Small, reliable, local shops can be great resources during the purchasing process, too.

Do you rent or own your instrument? Do you have a question about renting or purchasing one? Leave a comment here on the Harmonious.ly blog and let us know.

Happy practicing!

Even if you know that practicing a piece slowly is the path to quick progress on an instrument, the temptation to speed up is hard to resist. Today’s post is a friendly reminded to stay in the slow lane.

In a previous article on learning from mistakes, I wrote that every mistake has something to teach you. That is to say, your goal is to make each mistake only once. Make the mistake, learn from it, and try again, using what you have learned. Practicing too fast can cause us to accidentally teach ourselves to repeat mistakes, because we lose the chance to fix mistakes mentally before they happen on physical autopilot. We lose the chance to give mistakes the mental attention they need in order for them to become learning tools.

This excellent article over at Molto-music is a great reminder of the reasons for slow practicing, and the pitfalls of speeding up prematurely.

Occasionally music students end up practicing too quickly because they are bored with the music they are playing. Remember that speeding up won’t make it any more interesting–in fact, it will do just the opposite. Slowing down gives you a chance to change mental angles, notice new aspects of the sounds you are producing, and think creatively about phrasing and dynamics as you work through a piece. Playing it right is always more fun than playing it fast. Feel bored? Slow down, listen more.

Happy practicing!

Do you have a practice tip to share? Leave a comment here on the Harmonious.ly blog and let us know.

In an effort to rebuild a once-forbidden musical culture, a group of Afghani musicians and international supporters are working this month to open the first music education institution in Afghanistan since before Taliban rule.

In 2005, after becoming the first Afghan to receive a doctorate of music (abroad), Dr. Ahmad Sarmast returned home to Kabul to compile a fieldwork report about music in his home country. Years after the ban on musical instruments in Afghanistan was lifted, Sarmast reports, music in Afghanistan had still not taken root.

The problem, he says, is in large part due to a lack of funding, infrastructure, and skilled musicians. Afghanistan’s musical culture was so depleted in 2005 that Sarmast reported few musicians remained in the country who were capable of teaching traditional music. “There is not a single sarang and santur player, while only one dilruba player is left to carry on and transmit his skill and knowledge to others,” Sarmast reported.

Together with a long list of supporters from the international community, including the Royal College of Music in London, Monash Asia Institute, and Monash University Australia, Sarmast started the ROAM project to revive traditional music in Afghanistan, as well as provide a viable career option for the more than 150 orphaned children who will be trained as musicians in the school. The project also offers a structured plan for rebuilding music education in Afghanistan on a long-term basis, citing lack of infrastructure as one reason for music education’s “patchy” and “intermittent” revival thus far.

ROAM is the parent organization of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), Afghanistan’s first music school of this kind. The institute accepts students at age ten, plans to teach them for a full decade, and aims to prepare them to pass international music standards tests. ANIM is still in the process of gathering resources, such as tables, desks, bookshelves, and musical instruments, but it is already open to 300-some students.

A recent report from the Wall Street Journal tracks ANIM’s progress this month.

The school is also hiring qualified music and English teachers from abroad for one-year positions. You can find out more on the program’s website.

Do you have a comment about this post? Leave a comment here on the Harmonious.ly blog and let us know.

An ensemble coach once told me, in a moment of profound pre-performance anxiety back in college, “Don’t be nervous. It’s not about you. It’s about the music.” She was right.

But it can be awfully challenging to focus on the music when performance anxiety takes over. You just know you had that piece sounding perfect and confident in the practice room, but in front of an audience (or worse, audition judges) everything seems to fall apart. What to do?

Musicians each have their own solutions to the problem of performance anxiety. In general, it’s a good idea to sleep and eat well, and avoid caffeine before a big performance, but that alone won’t cure stage fright. Some musicians recommend focused breathing, meditation, or stretching, while others find that those exercises make them too calm to give an inspired performance. What calms one musician may distract another. Performing is an individual process, and you’ll have to find what works for you.

There is no easy answer, but there is good news: dealing with performance anxiety is all about learning to unlock your expressive abilities–and that’s the exactly the same challenge you face in the practice room. Being expressive in front of an audience is the same old challenge, just more of it. So go ahead: challenge yourself. See what you can learn.

Think of it this way. A mountain climber can practice in the gym all she likes, but she’ll never get really great at climbing until she tries a real mountain. The real mountain has an unpredictable terrain, and the stakes are higher. Moves that seemed easy at the gym suddenly become risky endeavors. The climber has to unlock her ability to problem-solve on the go, to address the task at hand for all its unpredictability and scariness. Her aim is to forget about her nervousness and just climb, one step at a time.

Perhaps a routine move can’t be remembered under pressure. Or perhaps a certain muscle doesn’t turn out to be as strong as she thought. No problem: now she knows what to practice. And afterwards, that climbing wall at the gym never seemed so tame. A little scare now and then can turn out to teach us a lot.

There’s only one way through this process that I know of, and that’s practice. Perform in as many different situations as you can, show up to auditions just for the sake of auditioning, and practice performing in front of friends and family members as much and as often as you’re able. Facing the fear will help you learn how to navigate it in a way that works for you.

Believe it or not, a scary performance situation may also show you some expressive abilities in yourself that you didn’t even know you had. Be open to finding those, and try to enjoy the process. Good luck!

Do you have a great tip for dealing with performance anxiety? Leave a comment for us here on the Harmonious.ly blog. We’d love to know.

In yesterday’s post, I talked about the importance of getting your new student making sound on their instrument during their first lesson. In this article, I offer a few extra tips on how to structure active music-making with a new student for a successful first lesson.

Give Your Student a Sense of Accomplishment
Even if your new student is a total beginner, concentrate in your first lesson on teaching your student a short exercise that they can learn successfully in one lesson and that she can take home and practice during the coming week. Make sure the student attempts the exercise and grasps the concept during the lesson. This way, your student will remember that they walked out of your studio with a sense of accomplishment and engagement, and will leave ready to go home and practice what you’ve taught.

Be Sensitive to Your Student’s Learning Style
Working through a short, simple exercise in a first lesson has the extra benefit of helping you, as a teacher, get a feel for your student’s learning style. Does your student understand concepts better when demonstrated? Verbally explained? Through trial and error with a little bit of guidance from you? This is your chance to build the foundation for a great communicative relationship with your student.

Give Specific Feedback
Give your student specific feedback—both positive and negative—during the first lesson. Let your student know, in an organized way, what she can work on in the coming week, and be sure that she has understood all your directions.

Mention Long-Term Goals
Learning a short exercise in the first lesson will anchor a student’s practice in the beginning, but most students need to envision long-term goals in order to feel inspired. Balance discussion of short- and long-term goals during the first lesson. Mention what kinds of long-term technical issues the student might begin to think about, let the student know that those techniques will take time to learn, and give specific advice about how to prepare for that process. Your student should leave your studio feeling accomplished and inspired to accomplish more.

Are you a seasoned teacher with a great teaching advice tip? Do you have a question or comment about your teaching practice? Leave a comment here on the Harmonious.ly blog and let us know.

Starting out as a private music teacher isn’t easy. Even if you’ve been hired at a lesson studio, you face the initial challenge of getting, and keeping, new students. Here are three basic tips that will help you give a successful first impression and first lesson to new students. Check out the Harmonious.ly blog throughout the week for more great tips on starting your career as a private music teacher.

Let your new students know you’re listening.
Offer to speak with prospective new students over the phone or in person, for free, before their first lesson with you. This is your chance to find out about your students’ musical interests and background, which will help you tailor first lessons targeted to their needs.
Initial student-teacher interviews are important because they let your new students know that you are receptive to their concerns. Your students will likely have lots of questions for you, too, so be sure to be open, patient, and ready to talk about your own background.

Get them making music in your studio as quickly as possible.
Especially if you are working with absolute beginners, get your students’ hands on the instrument and making music as soon as you can during their first lesson. This lets your students know that they don’t have to wait around to become actively engaged in the process of music-making if they take lessons from you. Your students don’t have to play Paganini by the end of the lesson; just be sure that they get to dig in and make some sound.

If you are working with students who have prior musical experience, have new students play a short piece at the beginning of their first lesson. This allows students to get comfortable playing in your studio, before becoming bogged down or distracted by direction or new ideas. Once you’ve heard your new student play, you’ll be able give specific feedback that your student can hold on to during their first week of practice time.

Hook one student. The rest will follow.
It takes time to build a base of students, but once you’ve forged a great relationship with your first student, you’ve made it over the first hurdle. Most independent music teachers report that they find the majority of their students through word-of-mouth: one happy student tells another, and before long, the schedule fills up. You can use the Harmonious.ly site to build a teacher profile and locate new students in your area.

This article is part one in a series of help articles for new teachers here on the Harmonious.ly blog.

Music students, you can get tips on finding and building a great relationship with your new music teacher here.

Have a comment, question, or tip? Leave a comment here on the Harmonious.ly blog and let us know what you think.