Those of you who had your second lesson of the semester this week (i.e., W-F lessons) had me ask you some version of "what grade do you give yourself for how prepared you were for this lesson?" Each of you answered with a very low grade (which was appropriate in each case).
Especially for first-year students, adjusting to college life and cello lessons as a graded course is a big challenge. Which you are up to, of course! Hence the golf-ball video and the exhortation to use a written schedule for planning practice and study time yesterday.
We each need to discern or choose what the "big things" are in our lives. And then we need to decide what it means to handle each of those things well.
When it comes to studying your major instrument, that means you and I need to agree on what it means to be well-prepared for a lesson, among other things.
Last spring, I hosted a discussion on this topic on the blog on my website. Read it (the word "discussion" in the previous sentence is a link to it) and then work out your own definition. What, for example, would be an "A" level of preparation, and how would you know you've achieved it?
Write a response as a comment here, and we'll also discuss this in your lesson and studio class.
I apologize for not posting my review on lesson on the day of my lesson again.
ReplyDeleteIn my lesson yesterday, Dr.Edberg told me some stories about how to prepare for the lesson. The one thing I noticed that I was wrong about was the ratio of practicing basic technical studies and pieces I work on. As I did through this week, I tend to spent most of my time practicing the pieces I work on. I'd put off scales and etudes earlier this week, then I got busier, was not able to handle my first week of classes, and I ended up not being able to find enough time to practice scales. Dr.Edberg told me about a well accredited violinist who spend most of his practice time for scales and arpeggios. ( I cannot remember his name.) That was a memorable story for me.
As a first step to to make sure that I fill out my bin with golf balls before pebbles, I bought a small notebook to write down my schedule of a day everyday. I set my goal to practice at least 3 hours a day, and to spend 2 hours for scales and an etude.
My ideal preparation level is to be able to start lesson with confidence. Being well prepared erases my fear of disappoint teacher which makes me nervous and make easy mistakes, and I can throw my motivation of getting as much advises as I can strait to professor.