I am so very proud of my students Jordana & Michelle at OboeVision Studio. First time playing in a recital and they totally rocked it!
Kudos and Congratulations!
Just wanted to say congratulations to my voice students who courageously auditioned for and performed in their school musicals this year. Also Kudos to the piano students who have “graduated” and gone up a level in their books. I’m proud of All of you!
Violet Corallo has switched from Voice to Piano and is doing quite well.
Lydia Atkinson, Parmis Sadeghian, and Maddie Yuh graduated from the Faber Primer level into the Level 1 books.
Kylee Fisher was a “Not Dead Body” and a lady of Camelot in SPAMALOT at Mechanicsburg Area High School.
Maggie Dorrell was cast in the jazz troupe in THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, but due to ill health was unable to perform with the cast.
Cecelia Connolly has been busy performing in various productions.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM ALL!!!!!
Dawn Bennett, Voice and Piano Instructor:
An Intern’s Perspective in the Drum Studio
Perfect 5th intern, Michele, wrote this after observing a lesson with Jeremy Hummel:
Recently I was able to observe a drum set private lesson with Perfect 5th instructor Jeremy Hummel, and I was very impressed! The lesson included many tools that helped the student learn. The first tool that I noticed was the practice calendar in the room with an inspirational quote at the bottom and a famous drummer at the top….very cool!
Additionally, Jeremy videotaped the lesson for the student to watch which allows for better retention of musical corrections. I found the videotaping to be a useful, visual tool for the students to utilize. From my prior knowledge, (masterclasses or a lesson from reputable teacher) many lessons are often videotaped because of all the information and tips thrown at a student at once. The lesson was structured and effective, evident in the student’s reaction, initiative, and motivation during the lesson.
- Jeremy and the student started with drum sets and headphones, and they begab playing a “groove” and basically ran through a piece of music.
- When there was a part the student could not do Jeremy slowed it down and they broke it down. He taught by playing the song with the student and the student would follow him if confused. This method enables the student to be proactive and learn the song completely.
- Jeremy even showed a youtube video that we watched during the lesson to give more insight on the technique and styles they were using which was awesome!
-Michele P5 Intern
Jeremy Hummel is a professional drummer and educator. He is also a clinician, studio musician and columnist for Modern Drummer Magazine. Jeremy’s popularity as an educator stems from his engaging personality and practical concepts. His lessons are fun and sometimes unorthodox.
As a player, Jeremy puts his focus on two main projects. He is involved with a jazz trio called “EVE.” “EVE” does some fusion, electric dates as well. Jeremy also serves as the musical director of “Into The Spin,” an eight-piece horn band.
Jeremy’s most popular recorded works came with platinum-selling rock artists Breaking Benjamin. He was a co-founding member of the group and played on the band’s first two records, “Saturate” and “We Are Not Alone.” During his tenure the band scored two #1 hits in the Active Rock Format with “So Cold” and “Sooner or Later.” Additionally, Jeremy has recorded with a variety of artists and styles over the years.
His broad taste in music has made him the musical chameleon he is today. Over the years, Jeremy spent time in a variety of bands ranging everywhere from blues and jazz to reggae and funk. Jeremy also spent time in a 50s-60s era theme band.
For more info on Jeremy Hummel or to sign up for lessons, please visit : https://www.theperfect5th.com/staff-jeremyhummel.html
POSITIVE THINKING IN PRACTICE
POSITIVE THINKING IN PRACTICE
When practicing, one usually focuses on the hard parts that are not perfect, but, every once in a while, you will accidentally play really well! You might be able to play for hours without getting tired, you have a good reed day or you can tongue faster than normal! Of course, the opposite can be true. If something doesn’t work today – move on to something else – don’t force it. Practice something slow and legato. Practice scales, even with a dead tone – you are still making progress (Molly, our flute teacher would be jumping for joy – right?!)! If nothing else – mentally practice, listen to recordings of accomplished musicians on your instrument, research articles or books related to styles of music or your instrument. All musicians (students AND professionals) have off days – the universe will align once more!
Reference: “Oboe Art & Method” by Martin Shuring
One Day in the Flute Studio with Molly
My Intern wrote this little essay “One Day in the Flute Studio with Molly” as I was teaching in my studio on Wednesday. This is just a smattering of what I do every day, (6 days a week!) as I am constantly developing new ways to teach every student, from the 4 year olds to the retirees! I have so many ideas that pop into my head to adapt to each student’s needs and musical interests, and it was so nice to have InternMichele Arnold observe and write this little essay to explain a bit about how I teach! Of course, there are lots more ways that I teach each person, and I am always trying to adapt activities to fit each and every personality and ability level. I find my career to be so interesting and an absolute joy (most of the time!).
One day in the Flute studio with Molly…
…I played a super fun ice-cream game!
At Molly’s studio we play a game that consists of trying to stack an ice cream cone with as many scoops of ice cream as possible. When it gets to high and the ice cream falls, Molly picks out a corresponding number of rhythm cards for the student to clap, say, and then play. Whoever knocks the ice-cream over has to give the other person the cards after playing them, to counts as points. This is an innovative and creative game that gets students excited to play more challenging rhythms.
…I won m&ms in the five note pattern challenge!
In Molly’s studio, specifically for the younger and intermediate students, we begin learning all 12 of our five note patterns, which are the foundation for playing many different pieces. When the student comes in the room they are asked to play a certain five note pattern and for every pattern they get correct they will receive m&ms in a baggie. At the end of the challenge period the student with the most m&ms wins and of course they get to eat all of their hard work in the form of m&ms!!!
…I played my song and there were lots of blips!
Never fear…Molly’s metronome is here! When students are having trouble with smoothly transitioning from note to note we call this a blip. When this occurs in the studio we first identify what is causing the problem (tension, finger coordination, mental focus, etc). Then we practice the transition correctly with the metronome (at a slow speed). Once we achieve our goal at the slow tempo we speed up the tempo (ad nauseum). The notes that are causing trouble are recorded on the students special blip page called “Baffling Blips That Drive You Bonkers”, and that page goes in their binder to take home and practice.
…I just could not play a hard passage correctly…
Never fear… Molly’s awesome learning techniques are here! When this occurs in the studio Molly will have the student practice the passage with a learning technique. Some techniques that we do are chunking, syncopating, playing at different speeds, slurring/tonguing everything, saying the rhythms, playing a passage backwards and repetition with the metronome.
…We played warmups!
Some awesome warmups we do are galaxy/space notes in which we play a low note and over blow to get an overtone out… This dynamic warmup prepares and works the student’s embouchure to play notes in the correct register!
…We danced!
Today in the studio to try and encourage a student to put more energy and soul into their playing we danced around to get a feel for the music. Molly and Miss Michele were both waltzing around the studio with excitement and thus the student showed more enthusiasm. Music is fun, which is easy to forget when your mind is wrapped around trying to get the rhythms and notes correct but it’s important to remember to have fun and love what you’re doing!
A Trip to the Symphony
A wonderful way to encourage your child to learn more about their instrument and hear it played by professionals is to take advantage of the reduced prices for tickets to concerts of area orchestras. Your child’s teacher will quite often have comp (free) tickets to the orchestra’s they perform in as well. High school musicals are happening now – take advantage of high quality, inexpensive productions!
Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra
20% off individual prices (25 years old and younger)
http://www.harrisburgsymphony.org/pricing-information/
York Symphony Orchestra
$5 tickets for children for any concert (except family programs).
Saturdays Family Concerts (next one is Harry Potter – June 9th at 4:00 pm).
FREE open Dress Rehearsals on the day of the concert
http://www.yorksymphony.org/education-youth/
Lancaster Symphony Orchestra
Free open rehearsals (comes with voucher for buy one children’s ticket and bring one adult for free to a concert)
http://www.lancastersymphony.org/CommunityEngagement/OpenRehearsals.aspx
Maryland Symphony Orchestra
Free tickets for students in K-12, children under 5 as well as $5 college student tickets.
3 Types of Goals
On a whiteboard in my flute studio, I ask my students one question a month. January’s was: “What is your New Year’s Flutalution?” (resolution in flute language!)
It was clear that most students had things that they wished to work on in their flute-playing. It did not matter the age of the student, or how long they have played, but from beginners to advanced, they had ideas and knew what they were aspects of their playing they wished to improve. Here are some of the answers:
*Head up, feet solid, not slam my fingers (6 year old)
*Practice more often (5th grader)
*Learn my high trills (11th grader)
*Not clipping my notes (7th grader)
*Change Embouchure to get a better sound (7th grader)
*Keep Pinky Down on most notes (6 year old)
*Long Tones for a better sound (adult)
*Use my Tongue (7th grader)
*Fuller sound (beginner)
*Get 3 songs ready for every lesson (a student who has been playing for 4 years)
*Tension free playing (student who has played almost 2 years)
*Try to ace my college audition (senior in HS)
*Learn more high notes (10 year old, and yes, she has achieved this and learned most of the upper register in a month!)
*Memorize all 5-note patterns (7 year old)
*Improve Rhythm (8th grader)
*Get my plugs out and get in symphonic winds (Junior)
*Stop hanging my fingers over the keys (10 year old)
*Practice at least 3 days a week (Beginner)
*Learn to play a lot quieter (Junior with a great big, full sound)
*Memorize all my 5-note patterns (4th grader)
*Follow Miss Molly’s advise and listen better, also, get fingers closer to keys (10 year old)
*Practice with a journal while getting ready for college auditions (senior)
*Work extensively on a new Natural/melodic/harmonic minor scale each day (Senior who just got accepted into the Marine Band!)
Now that you have read the list of goals that students wrote down, try to think about each one and if it fits into one of the following categories: Long-term, Medium-term or Short-term goals.
1. Long-term, missional based goals: These goals are based on your core values. In terms of flute playing, it may mean that you would be setting a goal based on how long you wish to play throughout your life. You may wish to play just through high school, or make flute your career, or you simply wish to experience the day-to-day pleasure of playing as an amateur. Perhaps you find some healthful benefits to playing, and you wish to keep playing on a regular basis due the stress release it provides, or breathing benefits.
You may ask yourself, how does playing your instrument fulfill your perceived purpose in life? Some goals may center on this. For instance, if you say “I am making a goal to have fun while I make music”, then you are filling a very needed purpose to add some joy to your life. Or, you may decide that your were given talents to help others experience beauty in life and perhaps turn their eyes from sorrow, so your goal may be to continue playing so that you can help others.
I do not see any answers from my students on the whiteboard to suggest that the students are thinking long term, but I do know that many of them are thinking long term. Apparently, they tend to think automatically about short term or medium term goals to improve their playing. Asking them about their long term goals may be another question that I would like to explore with my students in the studio in the near future.
2. Medium term, strategic goals: I would consider most of the above of my students goals to be medium term goals. Once you come up with something you need to fix in your playing, you then will set yourself a time limit to focus very hard on one aspect for a month to perhaps 3 months. You might not work on this exact goal every time you play, but you may decide something like this:
“I will focus on not slamming down my fingers while doing my scales for the next 2 months”
“I will look in a mirror and improvise music while relaxing my embouchure as completely as I can for 1 month”.
3. Immediate, tactile goals: Some of the goals written down by my students were more immediate in nature. These are more organizational centered goals, where a student decides that they will try to practice more, or they will try to play 2 more songs well in each lesson than they usually do. Focusing on a to-do list will help you achieve smaller objectives that you desire to work on in your playing, but also you may find that writing down a small to-do list for each day for your practice session can help you organize your thoughts and larger goals.
Obviously, we often have to change focus to learn music quickly for a concert or audition. When this happens, we need to set aside some of the long-term and medium-term goals we have so that we can focus on achieving the immediate needs of the audition or concert. This would be another example of a short-term goal.
As an end note, take time to write down all of your goals that you can think of into the three categories. This can help you jump-start your practice sessions by organizing and prioritizing your daily life so that it meets your flute goals. I would also take time to ask yourself which goals were given to you by a teacher or another person, versus the goals that you came up with yourself. This could also be another meaningful exercise, and perhaps a whole other blog post!
Guitar Builder Spotlight: Derek Heffner
Hello readers! Justin here to present a very special blog post! My long-time guitar student, Derek Heffner, has made me a beautiful Goldtop Les Paul style guitar! I cannot express just how blown away I am by Derek’s talent and kindness! Derek honed his building skills under the tutelage of the guitar tech of Les Paul himself, Thomas Doyle. While studying with Thomas, Derek learned to build guitars and pickups in a classic style and has expanded to make his very own pickup designs. I am so thankful for all Derek has done for me and can proudly recommend him to those looking for affordable guitars and high end guitar pickups.
10 Tips on How to Prevent Practice and Performance-Related Injuries
10 Tips on How to Prevent Practice and Performance-Related Injuries
- DO arm up (take a walk, stretch, begin slowly and easily on your instrument)
- DO take breaks (10 minutes per hour, minimum)
- DO sit/stand with good posture (shoulders down and back straight, feet flat on floor)
- DO increase your practice load gradually and vary your repertoire
- DO stress-reducing relaxation activities and exercise (yoga, massage, swimming, bicycling, for example)
- DO take one day off a week.
- Do be easier on yourself when you are under duress or when you are overtired.
- Do move (sitting very still can build up tension – wiggle and stretch and avoid being static in one position).
- DO breathe deeply.
- DO practice AWAY from your instrument (listen to recordings, study scores, mental preparation and visualizing performing well).
Reference: “Playing (Less) Hurt” by Janet Horvath
The BumbleBlog
Would you give The Flight of the Bumblebee to a 6th grade student, still in the beginning stages of learning their instrument? I recently said YES, and gave it to a student who:
- Went from practicing 1-day-a-week to EVERY DAY, several hours at a time (and actually now has trouble putting her flute down)
- Recently started to come to her lessons more well prepared than ever with material from her 1st lesson book
- Started listening to YouTube videos of flute pieces and famous flutists
- Has clearly developed a passion for playing her flute
- Recently exhibited much more comfort in the balancing of her instrument and has demonstrated a much stronger sound
- The Flight of the BumbleBee is mostly chromatic scales, with a few surprise leaps, so it is rich with note-learning and finger-change possibilities, that can only enhance the flutist’s learning experience
- She looked at me (wide-eyed) and asked me if she could please play the Flight of the Bumblebee!!!
I do not have issues with giving her this piece, for many reasons. If a student develops a passion for their instrument, it is my job to nurture that passion, because when a fire is first lit, it can go out easily. But, I must proceed with caution and not damage the passion by giving her an assignment that is way to hard for her. So, I decided to make the piece all about finger, tonguing and tone exercises. I simply handed it to her and gave her 2 measures to learn. I told her to do the two measures in manageable ways:
- Turn the measures into a long tone exercise, playing each note so slowly that you make each note big and beautiful, full and rich
- Play each note in each measure 8x each, on a breath attack, so she could work on the quality of her sound while slowly learning the notes
- Play each note 8x as a slow double tongue passage, so that while learning the notes, she could start to work on her double tonguing.
- Since the piece is pretty much all 16th notes, I was able to teach her about how to work on difficult pieces by chunking, the lingering method, syncopating, etc. These tools are invaluable for learning difficult music, but she would be able to do this in one week, because, after all, it is only 2 measures of the piece!
Here are the measures I gave her last week, which she actually learned very well and played at a fairly quick piece this week : 
During this week’s lesson, she played the above passages for me, and we worked on lightening up her fingers, keeping her fingers closer to the keys and how to listen for un-evenness in the passages. I showed her how I would sound if my fingers were far off the keys, as a beginner tends to play. Then I showed her how the piece was so much easier with my fingers close to the keys, and I played it delicately and fast. I sent her home with the assignment to work on those aspects of playing well. I also gave her a few more measures. She then asked me to teach her the very beginning of the piece (students ALWAYS want to start at the beginning, even when I do not want them to as much) At the beginning the flute music starts up high and moves down quickly in a chromatic passage. Even though she was not playing those high notes yet in her lesson book, I decided that she probably could start playing that notes based on the quality of her sound production. I gave her the fingerings and sent her home with just the beginning 5 notes of the piece to learn. For the record, we continued to work in her 1st lesson book, so that we do not miss any important progressive flute-learning steps along the way!
The Perfect 5th Musical Arts Center 