Summer's (Almost) Here! The sun is out, school's (finally) wrapping up - it's time to get out and have some fun! So how can we stay motivated and keep learning when there's so much more that's fun to do? We all know that taking the whole summer off from music lessons results in losing skills, which means that going back in the fall is frustrating because we "could totally play this, before!" A New Attitude So, first of all, we need to re-adjust our attitude towards music less

It's a valid question. When I was a young music student in Canada, it seemed crazy to even consider taking music lessons over summer vacation, and I'm sure my parents were happy that they didn't have to drive me to my music teacher's house in the middle of summer with no air conditioning in the car! But I also remember going back to my lessons after a long summer holiday and being frustrated that the songs I'd played so beautifully in June seemed impossible in September. As a

“I didn’t have time to practice this week; I had a birthday party/sports event to go to.” “I didn’t get much practicing done; it was really busy at work/school.” “I can only practice at my grandma’s house, ‘cause she has a piano. She lives in Spokane.” “I left my music at Dad’s/work/my boyfriend’s place, so I couldn’t practice.” Every music teacher I’ve ever known has heard all of these, and a hundred more. From child, teenaged and adult students, from parents and grandparent