Wilson Music Studio

Amazing Race Task 2

Thursday, September 15, 2022 by Alaina Wilson | Amazing Race Tasks

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Our second task is a learning task. Students will travel to Australia to learn about composer Percy Grainger. Brittanica Kids has some great information about him here.

I do apologize for forgetting to print the form for this challenge. If you can print it at home, that would be great! If not, please let me know and we'll make adjustments as necessary. You can find the form here. (It is the second page - job application) Students will fill out the information as though they are Percy Grainger applying for a job. Have fun with this and see if you can convince me to hire him!

Good luck, and may the winds be in your favor.

Amazing Race Task 1

Saturday, September 10, 2022 by Alaina Wilson | Amazing Race Tasks

TASK NUMBER 1:

This week's task is considered a Practice task. This may require a bit of parent help, but it will set the tone for our year. Students need to think of three intentional goals for the piano year. One is a practice goal, one is a performance goal, and one is a musicianship goal. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Practice Goal should be something the student does at home during their practice time.
    • using a metronome
    • penny practice
    • isolating difficult sections rather than running through a piece
    • focusing on posture
    • building practice stamina
    • time management
    • organization of materials
  • Performance Goal should be something the student wants to accomplish this year.
    • learn a favorite song
    • finish a book
    • memorize a recital piece
    • master a certain number of pieces
  • Musicianship Goal should be a musical skill the student wants to improve.
    • focus on dynamics
    • focus on articulation (staccato, legato, accents, etc.)
    • keeping a steady beat while playing
    • playing a piece as a musical whole rather than individual notes (we call this robotic playing)


Ideally, this will be completed and returned by their next lesson, but ALL tasks will be given a 2 week grace period to complete. If your student has misplaced their goal sheet, you can access a copy 

here

. Time spent on all tasks will count toward their practice minutes for the week. Good luck, and may the winds be in your favor!




Fall Break

Thursday, October 11, 2018 by Alaina Wilson | Uncategorized

There will be no lessons the week of October 15. Enjoy your fall break and I'll see you the following week. Bonus - students only need 100 minutes of practice over TWO weeks, so all students should be able to meet this goal.