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This podcast episode looks at two ideas that may be useful to ease the friction associated with practicing: activation energy and juggling. For many people, finding a way to adjust or minimize the amount of energy it takes to activate or initiate the practice session will help immensely to ease the pain of getting the practice going. Juggling provides us with easy to understand metaphors and observations of how a practice session for learning music might be structured.

I mentioned a few resources in the podcast episode. If you are interested in any of these resources, please consider using the links I have provided here. You are not under any obligation to buy anything, but if you decide to purchase any of these resources and use the links provided, the podcast receives a small benefit at no cost to you.

I started my juggling experience with this set of materials. Everything I needed. Click on the picture for more information.

I have used these balls recently and enjoy them. Click on the picture for more information.

Here is a link to a terrific juggling instructor:

Juggling Video (3 balls): Niels Duinker breaks down the juggling experience into small steps that make it easy to understand, practice, and progress.

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If you are a parent of a beginning violin student and looking for help in between lessons, consider my book The Twinkle Project as a resource of teaching points, learning steps, and games and activities to assist the parent in practicing at home. I include a great deal of information, tools, worksheets, and checklists to assist parents. A parent who struggles to remember what to do in between weekly lessons will find all the answers in this book.

Many teachers will also find this book a helpful resource because it gathers in one place all the information to be used to teach a beginning violin student from the initial start up steps to the point of performing all the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star variations. I have included all the tiny steps that I use when I begin a young violin student.

wonderful resource and guide that has all the nuts and bolts organized so nicely for the twinkle stages of study … looking forward to sharing with parents as a useful tool towards goal setting, pacing and achievement! — MD Suzuki teacher

For more information about The Twinkle Project, including the two short movies that explain why I wrote the book and give a good overview of what the book is about and what it contains, visit here. You can purchase the book here.

If you have questions or answers or you would like to comment or leave me a voice mail, you can do so at (512) 537-6356. If you would like to send me an email, you may do so at paula@teachsuzuki.com. I welcome comments and questions about this episode and am interested in hearing about the perspective of other parents and teachers.

You may find more information and useful articles on my blog at: Teach Suzuki Blog.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

—– Paula —–

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

Join the Teach Suzuki Community!

If you would like to make a donation to support the Teach Suzuki Podcast and the blog, click here to donate.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Stephen Covey’s Habit 7, Sharpen the Saw, may be one of the most important habits that Suzuki teachers and parents cultivate. Habit 7 fills our reserves for creativity and energy and helps us be our most effective selves as teachers and parents.

I mentioned a few resources in the podcast episode. If you are interested in any of these resources, please consider using the links I have provided here. You are not under any obligation to buy anything, but if you decide to purchase any of these resources and use the links provided, the podcast receives a small benefit at no cost to you.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (here is the Kindle version)

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (here is the Kindle version)

Here are the other podcast episodes in the habit series:

7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers & Parents – introductory episode

Habit 1: Be Proactive | Take Charge

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind | Scrooge & the Future Ghost

Habit 3: Put First Things First | Manage Yourself

Habit 4: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood

Habit 5: Think “Win/Win”

Habit 6: Synergize

Here are my blog articles about the GTD (Getting Things Done) Method by David Allen:

GTD for the Music Studio Teacher

GTD Step 1: Gather and Capture

GTD Part 2 Clarify

GTD Step 3 Organize

GTD Step 4 Review & Reflect

GTD Tools & Resources

 

**********************************

If you are a parent of a beginning violin student and looking for help in between lessons, consider my book The Twinkle Project as a resource of teaching points, learning steps, and games and activities to assist the parent in practicing at home. I include a great deal of information, tools, worksheets, and checklists to assist parents. A parent who struggles to remember what to do in between weekly lessons will find all the answers in this book.

Many teachers will also find this book a helpful resource because it gathers in one place all the information to be used to teach a beginning violin student from the initial start up steps to the point of performing all the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star variations. I have included all the tiny steps that I use when I begin a young violin student.

wonderful resource and guide that has all the nuts and bolts organized so nicely for the twinkle stages of study … looking forward to sharing with parents as a useful tool towards goal setting, pacing and achievement! — MD Suzuki teacher

For more information about The Twinkle Project, including the two short movies that explain why I wrote the book and give a good overview of what the book is about and what it contains, visit here. You can purchase the book here.

If you have questions or answers or you would like to comment or leave me a voice mail, you can do so at (512) 537-6356. If you would like to send me an email, you may do so at paula@teachsuzuki.com. I welcome comments and questions about this episode and am interested in hearing about the perspective of other parents and teachers.

You may find more information and useful articles on my blog at: Teach Suzuki Blog.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

—– Paula —–

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

Join the Teach Suzuki Community!

If you would like to make a donation to support the Teach Suzuki Podcast and the blog, click here to donate.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Suzuki teachers and parents need to think  about Stephen Covey’s habit 6, synergize, in order to be effective in relationships with others. This is the sixth habit in the series of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers and Parents, based on the 7 Habits as set out by Stephen R. Covey. This episode discusses the importance of synergy in our relationships and offers ideas for how to build more of it in the Suzuki relationships.

Here are links to the resources mentioned in the podcast (affiliate links):

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (here is the Kindle version)

7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers & Parents (podcast)

Habit 1: Be Proactive | Take Charge (podcast)

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind | Scrooge & the Future Ghost (podcast)

Habit 3: Put First Things First | Manage Yourself (podcast)

Habit 4: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood

Habit 5: Think “Win/Win”

Top 10 Things a Suzuki Parent Should Know (including the Suzuki Triangle)

**********************************

If you are a parent of a beginning violin student and looking for help in between lessons, consider my book The Twinkle Project as a resource of teaching points, learning steps, and games and activities to assist the parent in practicing at home. I include a great deal of information, tools, worksheets, and checklists to assist parents. A parent who struggles to remember what to do in between weekly lessons will find all the answers in this book.

Many teachers will also find this book a helpful resource because it gathers in one place all the information to be used to teach a beginning violin student from the initial start up steps to the point of performing all the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star variations. I have included all the tiny steps that I use when I begin a young violin student.

wonderful resource and guide that has all the nuts and bolts organized so nicely for the twinkle stages of study … looking forward to sharing with parents as a useful tool towards goal setting, pacing and achievement! — MD Suzuki teacher

For more information about The Twinkle Project, including the two short movies that explain why I wrote the book and give a good overview of what the book is about and what it contains, visit here. You can purchase the book here.

If you have questions or answers or you would like to comment or leave me a voice mail, you can do so at (512) 537-6356. If you would like to send me an email, you may do so at paula@teachsuzuki.com. I welcome comments and questions about this episode and am interested in hearing about the perspective of other parents and teachers.

You may find more information and useful articles on my blog at: Teach Suzuki Blog.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

—– Paula —–

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

Join the Teach Suzuki Community!

If you would like to make a donation to support the Teach Suzuki Podcast and the blog, click here to donate.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Suzuki teachers and parents need to think  about Stephen Covey’s habit 5, “win/win,” in order to be effective in relationships with others. This is the fifth habit in the series of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers and Parents, based on the 7 Habits as set out by Stephen R. Covey. This episode discusses the importance of the quality of our relationships and behaviors that contribute to building a trusting relationship with others.

Here are links to the resources mentioned in the podcast (affiliate links):

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (here is the Kindle version)

7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers & Parents (podcast)

Habit 1: Be Proactive | Take Charge (podcast)

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind | Scrooge & the Future Ghost (podcast)

Habit 3: Put First Things First | Manage Yourself (podcast)

Habit 4:Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood | Listen From the Heart

Good Parenting & the Parent Report Card (podcast)

10 Rules for Success for Suzuki Parents (blog article)

If you have questions or answers or you would like to comment or leave me a voice mail, you can do so at (512) 537-6356. If you would like to send me an email, you may do so at paula@teachsuzuki.com. I welcome comments and questions about this episode and am interested in hearing about the perspective of other parents and teachers.

You may find more information and useful articles on my blog at: Teach Suzuki Blog.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

—– Paula —–

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

Join the Teach Suzuki Community!

If you would like to make a donation to support the Teach Suzuki Podcast and the blog, click here to donate.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Stephen Covey’s Habit 4 advises Suzuki teachers and parents to seek first to understand, then be understood in order to be effective when working with children. This type of listening from the heart can be one of the hardest habits to develop because it demands that we actually share the feelings and thoughts of others before we communicate our own.

This is the fourth habit in the series of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers and Parents, based on the 7 Habits as set out by Stephen R. Covey. This episode discusses how habit 4 might look from the teacher’s or parent’s perspective and offers a few ideas about how to manage habit 4.

Here are links to the resources mentioned in the podcast (affiliate links):

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (here is the Kindle version)

067: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Suzuki Teachers & Parents (podcast episode that introduces the series)

Habit 1: Be Proactive | Take Charge (podcast)

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind | Scrooge & the Future Ghost (podcast)

Habit 3: Put First Things First | Manage Yourself (podcast)

Brene Brown’s video about empathy (video)

Asking the Right Questions (podcast)

If you have questions or answers or you would like to comment or leave me a voice mail, you can do so at (512) 537-6356. If you would like to send me an email, you may do so at paula@teachsuzuki.com. I welcome comments and questions about this episode and am interested in hearing about the perspective of other parents and teachers.

You may find more information and useful articles on my blog at: Teach Suzuki Blog.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

—– Paula —–

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

Join the Teach Suzuki Community!

If you would like to make a donation to support the Teach Suzuki Podcast and the blog, click here to donate.