Give Yourself the Gift of Regularly Scheduled Practice Time by Alyssa Cowell, The Catoctin School of Music Self-care awareness is currently at an all-time high. It seems like every other article floating across my dashboard pertains to developing strategies to give your mind a rest, to practice personal-care rituals geared toward stress relief, or to embrace a quiet moment of reflection. This Valentine’s day let’s jump on the self-care bandwagon and...
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As young musicians, our tendency for practicing is to pick up our instrument and just go, essentially just hoping for the best. There is some progress you’ll see over a long period of that style of practicing but, ultimately, it is just shy of a waste of time. When you put a little time into organizing your practice session and understanding what you want to achieve, you’ll get more done...
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by Robert Fisher: The Catoctin School of Music I will never forget one terrifying Sunday morning as I began accompanying the church choir in a hymn on the piano. I was in high school at the time and through some fortunate circumstances was given the opportunity to serve as a part-time pianist and musician at my local church. Though I had taken private piano lessons...
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By Jamey Mann, Catoctin School of Music This is the time of year where college bound students are getting ready for college auditions. Students not far behind them are making the decision to peruse music or not. Something I try to do with all my students making these decisions is to be as realistic as possible with them. Too often I find that most students have...
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It’s that “most wonderful time” once again – and if your studio is anything like mine, you’ve been eyeing that stack of Christmas song books for the last few weeks wondering when the right time to start Christmas music. Here are a few ideas for incorporating Christmas songs into your lesson time to initiate thoughtful discussion with your students. Christmas songs are a great time to explore what it means to...
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