Category Archives: Tip Sheets

Friends Are Made By Music

TIP SHEET #4: Friends Are Made By Music

  1. At a new school? Join the band, orchestra, or choir to meet new people.
  • Start your home in the music room at school
  • A safe place to be where you feel less alone
  • Make your first new friends in an easy and fun way
  • Learn to read and become sensitive to “body language” and eye contact
  • You get to be loud instead of always being shushed up by teachers.
  1. You are part of a team that creates something together.
  • Work, learn, and play with friends
  • Get feedback from others and learn it’s not personal
  • Your contribution has value even if you don’t have the biggest part
  • Your self-confidence soars when you step out of your comfort zone, make mistakes, then learn from them in rehearsal
  • Travel with friends to far-away and local places.
  1. Form a “Music Team” to surround yourself.
  • Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins support and encourage you
  • Fellow musicians in school and in your neighborhood
  • Adults at church, temple and school
  • Neighbors might have unused instruments in their closets to loan to you.
  1. You learn determination and focus that carries on to “real life”.
  • Learning new music teaches you to solve problems, learn new skills, concentrate and “think out of the box”
  • Your dedication leads to your feelings of accomplishment
  • Practicing in a group teaches that your actions affect other people
  • Being on time for rehearsals and performances teaches respect and dedication.

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Why Listen to Classical Music When You Study?

TIP SHEET #3: Why Listen to Classical Music When You Study?

  1. Classical music benefits your brain, sleep patterns, immune system and stress levels.
  • Heightens your emotional state, making you more receptive to information
  • Musicians use “chunking” – tying together bits of information into groups, then remembering the group as a whole instead of the individual pieces – that you can use to study
  • Emotion from a calm piece of music generalizes to help calm you.
  1. Classical music lessens anxiety and reduces blood pressure.
  • Other styles of music – i.e., jazz, rock, pop – don’t reduce blood pressure
  • Slows your breathing and allows you to breathe deeply
  • Relaxes your facial muscles and jaw so you don’t clench your teeth.
  1. Classical music helps soothe sleepless nights from test anxiety.
  • If you tune into classical music before bedtime, you may fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer
  • Its rhythms and tonal patterns create a meditative mood and slows your brainwaves
  • Restrained music creates a nice background aura.
  1. Suggestions:
  • Brahms, Handel, Mozart, Strauss, Bach
  • Solo piano pieces – Mozart, Poulenc, Debussy, Faure
  • String quartets give regular phrase structure
  • Guitar and lute music produce soothing tones
  • Elizabethan consort music in the late 16th century was written to create a pleasant atmosphere at court without demanding attention.

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Do You Feel Called Toward the Arts?

Called Toward the Arts

TIP SHEET #2: Do You Feel Called Toward the Arts?

  1. Do you feel a connection to music where you can’t imagine being without it?
  • There is nothing else you can imagine doing: no alternative
  • You can express feelings in music you might not be able to express verbally
  • It is a quiet friend who listens and speaks.
  1. Do you thrive on challenges like…
  • … Learning a difficult piece and playing it well, solo or with your group?
  • … Discovering something new all the time in the art form and in yourself?
  • … Being really nervous but pushing through it?
  1. Do you have a never-ending source of inspiration?
  • No matter how many times you think about it or study a piece, you discover something new
  • One piece of music leads to another and another
  • Your appetite for learning and for music is voracious.
  1. Are you compelled and completely self-motivated to practice, play, or sing?
  • Your parents don’t have to nag you to practice
  • You get internal, quiet satisfaction from improving
  • Time flies when you play and you lose track of your worries.
  1. Do you retreat to music when life is complicated and difficult?
  • It makes you calm and peaceful and is your place of solace it has a physiological effect on your body and mind.

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How to Keep Music In Your Life

 TIP SHEET #1:  How to Keep Music In Your Life

  1. Schedule time playing music with friends.
  • Put it in your calendar as something you are committed to do
  • Play by yourself to get ready for the group and having fun
  • Music becomes more “real” when you share it with others
  • It’s ok to talk to your non-musician friends about your music and show them what you can do!
  1. Money is not a barrier to music.
  • Public schools
  • Community and county recreation programs
  • Youth orchestras have more challenging orchestral literature (they have fees but offer scholarships)
  • Churches and temples sponsor free choirs and performing groups.
  1. Listen to music on the radio and online with YouTube.
  • Classical radio announcers often put the music they are playing in the social context of the time, along with interesting facts about the composers
  • Learn new music by watching videos, reading tablature or “regular” music
  • Turn it up loudly so you can hear the subtleties!
  1. Make friends with trusted and trustworthy adults who play or sing.
  • They can refer and connect you to other people and methods and modes to learn
  • They may know someone who has an un-played and lonely instrument in his or her garage or attic that you can borrow
  • Make phone calls or send emails to those people: follow up!

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