Collaborating Together—It’s more fun making music with friends!
Monday, May 16, 2022 by Bonnie Synhorst | Uncategorized
One of the things that I really love to do as a musician is make music with others. Not only is it fun and rewarding, it provides many opportunities to learn and grow as a musician.
Music is a TEAM sport—don’t believe it? When was the last time you went to a band or choir concert or played or sang in one? With the exception of when individuals had solos, were you focused on one individual performer or the group as a whole?
You may not have given a lot of thought to the subject, but in a group the parts are designed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Every piece is important and they all come together as one to make a wonderful picture or performance! But of course it’s a bit more complicated than that as, sometimes individuals must learn to step back and support the other players as the other parts take the lead as well as learn how to still blend with the other parts when their part does take the lead.
When working together, rhythms and notes must be in sync so students learn to look and think ahead to what is coming next. After all, they wouldn’t want to not be playing the supporting part and let their partners down. Therefore, students usually work harder to complete their pieces and play them more fluently.
Students learn valuable skills in listening as well as detailed counting. Students that are more accustomed to using their eyes to determine where they are in the music must engage their ears more to hear how the other parts fit with their part. Students that are more accustomed to listening only have to engage their eyes more to see where their part does or doesn’t match the other person’s part. They also have to problem solve when the brain doesn’t remember quick enough and look and listen to determine how to get back on track while the train is still moving.
Preparing for an ensemble recital is both invigorating and stressful, but the benefits gained outweigh all the challenges.
I’m both excited and nervous about our upcoming ensemble recital! But I always tell the students that when we are doing things that are hard and a bit uncomfortable, we are learning and growing. So let’s embrace it and keep pushing forward!
Reflections on Festival & Ratings
Sunday, February 27, 2022 by Bonnie Synhorst | Uncategorized
su·pe·ri·or
/səˈpirēər/
adjective
1.
higher in rank, status, or quality.
2.
having or showing an overly high opinion of oneself; supercilious.
noun
As I will be posting the results of the festival in the coming days, I’d like to encourage all students and parents to reflect upon the rating that the students were working toward. Some of you will see this word, Superior, circled on your rating sheet and others will not. So before you know what your result is, please take some time to reflect.
In light of recent world events, I have a rather negative view of measuring one's status against another human being, so I think it’s also imperative that the students (as well as parents) know that the judges were not comparing you to the other performers—-they were comparing you to YOU. They (and collectively, we) can usually measure up your potential to play the pieces you presented to a certain level and then compare that perceived potential to the quality you have shown. It is actually the quality of the performance presented that is deemed to be superior, not the quality of your performance in contrast or comparison to the other students.
And to those students that did not receive superior ratings—you have been given a gift. It doesn’t seem like it and you will be crushed, but I want you to think about this strongly before the ratings come out. Did you really do your best? Did you really, honestly present the best preparation to me and to the judge. If the answer is no—-if you procrastinated and did not follow the direction and advice, you know what you should have received, but will probably be pleasantly surprised that the judge still saw your potential. Just remember that potential is NOT achievement and therefore not superior. But your gift is the chance to learn from the experience. You see, if they had told you that what you did was superior, you would simply think that the minimum or shoddy preparation is status quo for next time. Now you know what you need to do in order to achieve Superior results in the future. What a wonderful opportunity!
Lastly, we should also consider the second definition of ‘having or showing an overly high opinion of oneself’, and be reminded that, with great ability comes a heavy responsibility. How can you encourage and help your friends displaying a humble spirit? Talent is worth nothing if not utilised properly. Ability is wasted if it is only self-serving. Some may hear this week that, despite the rating, they are not really superior as there is still room to grow.
I’ll step down from my soap box in a moment, but these experiences are why we teach. Not to show you how to read the notes or how to make pretty sounds on your instrument, but how to think for yourself, make decisions, reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of those decisions, and to use your experiences to grow into a wonderful and sensitive human being.
a person or thing superior to another in rank, status, or quality, especially a colleague in a higher position.
Explorations in Language Learning
Tuesday, August 11, 2020 by Bonnie Synhorst | Uncategorized
I love to learn new things! As some days our world outlook as looked very bleak recently, I turned a bit unsociable (I know it's probably hard to believe that I actually COULD keep more to myself) and retreated to my own pastimes. Instead of my old standby of learning and practicing music, over the pandemic I turned to language learning and in doing so, I got to experience many of the things students experience as they embark on their journey to learn to play an instrument. Because of that realization, I know I'm far overdue in sharing my experiences and revelations and want to both do that now as well as track my thoughts for future reference.
For me, deciding to dive into language study wasn't so much out of boredom, but instead out of a need to build something and grow for something that I won't reap the benefits of until probably far into the future. I know one day, we will be able to travel again and there are so many places I want to see in person! I know that being able to speak fluently with the locals isn't a requirement, but I also know it will make the experience much more fulfilling. But what language to choose? Over the course of my schooling, I've had the privilege to learn a bit of Spanish, German, and French already so I really wanted to try something new and different. Inspired by one of my students and hoping studying a common language that he speaks can help connect more to him, I chose Chinese. I had no idea what I was getting myself into nor was I aware of the added benefits I would find from choosing this language.
As I jumped in, with any new venture, I was excited and progressed quickly through the beginning levels of the language apps I chose: Duolingo, Busuu, and Rosetta Stone. One of my early observations, that learning to recognize each character along with the sounds of the words really was not unlike learning to recognize notes on a page or repeat a pattern of sounds. My reading and understanding skills were increasing while my brain was getting a memory workout! As the days and weeks progressed, I found the pressure of the increasing difficulty and would shy away from my practice rather than get excited for it as I once did. I thought of my young students for whom it is just starting to get a bit challenging to either physically play the level of music they are coming to or even understanding the notes and the rhythms on the page.
I've always said that it's a benefit that I learned some of my instruments as an older beginner because the struggle is memorable to me, but this challenge of language learning is now fresh in my mind and I am thankful to now be able to relate even better to my students. Even though I am an adult and able to choose whether to practice my skills and/or work on improving them, I could readily see how the apps that provided incentives and reminders were the ones that I gravitated to in my learning. I especially am still drawn to the one where I earn points and have been able to move up the leaderboard.
Some takeaways from this process of language learning strongly parallel those young musicians encounter:
1. Practice is of paramount importance: If I skip a few days, I feel like a take a few steps back in my ability to recall words or recognize characters. Daily practice is not always about progress, but about reinforcement of known material and progress can't be made without this reinforcement.
2. Tracking is key to constancy: I enjoy seeing my days of consistent practice and if I wasn't keeping track, I likely would be more apt to skip days. Out of sight, out of mind really is true, and if we don't see what we haven't done, how do we know we haven't done it? I provide a subscription to Tonara for this purpose and strongly encourage ALL students to use it and if that's not feasible, be sure to track practice AND progress via some other means. This holds you accountable!
3. Don't forget to set goals: I can see the milestones in each app and some of little incentives and new items that open up when you hit them. I also like seeing my progress percentages and want to increase those numbers. As I release studio events and incentives, please encourage and help the students to participate. These little projects are preparing them for their future when they have big long term school or work projects.
谢谢 Thank-you for reading my post and I hope some of you will join me in embarking on new personal goals and adventures! Maybe those will even be musical goals, in which case I'm always happy to help!
Bonnie
