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Teaching Methods

Music Instruction Expands Brains!

As an independent, private music teacher, I am always being forwarded studies and news articles about the benefits of music lessons.  It definitely feels good to be on the right side of this issue!   And it certainly validates my profession. This weekend’s Wall Street Journal has an article, A Musical Fix for U.S. Schools, which […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

Teaching Strategies For Growth Mindset

What is the most important factor in a student? Many people would say it’s talent, or effort, or persistence, or luck or some combination of these. Behind all of this is something that is more important – the proper mindset. Recent research (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007) has shown that there are two different mindsets among […]

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Teaching Methods

Why Memorizing Music Is So Important

By Andrew Ingkavet With all of my students, I stress the importance of memorizing their pieces, especially for performance at a recital. Here’s some of the reasons why. Repetition is the Mother of Skill How many times did Tiger Woods hit a golf ball before ever entering a competition? Apparently he was already golfing at […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

Why Music Recitals Are Like Life Skills 101

Or things I wish I knew when I was 8 years old… We had such a great recital last Saturday and it made me think of how important these events are for so many reasons. Deadlines Recitals are like so many things in life. It’s a due date when you need to really know something […]

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Blog News

Music lessons & effects on the brain

EVANSTON, Ill., July 21 (UPI) — Musical instruction can “prime” the brain to improve human skills in language, speech, memory and attention, U.S. researchers say. A study at Northwestern University found the effects of musical training on the nervous system can build meaningful patterns important to all types of learning, ScienceDaily.com reported Tuesday. Researchers studied […]