by TPSMTS Team

Back To School: 5 Tips For An Easier Transition

Written by Gabriella Serruya

Welcome back!

I hope you had a good summer and a good start back to the school year. After a summer of fun and different routines, it’s always good to get back to the school routine. With it, we welcome our school year activities which include music lessons/sessions (unless you continued taking lessons/sessions through the summer!).

For me, back to school means getting back to “work” after a more leisurely summer – literally and figuratively! I get to start seeing students that took a break from lessons over the summer, and it’s also a good time for me to get organized and have a new start. After the summer, I’m always energized and ready to tackle the new year.

Here are some tips for making the transition a bit easier:

Make time for practicing

Getting back into routine includes making time for homework and practicing music. I put those together because they are similar. They both need to be done regularly to ensure success. For success at music, we need to be playing our instruments almost daily and playing the songs multiple times. While practicing isn’t always fun, the payoff is worth it!

 

Practice a small amount each day

These first few weeks can be challenging as we adjust to the new routine. Practicing a small amount every day or so is a good way to get going and start a new habit! This can also help keep frustration lower when learning new material.

 

Give it time

For some students, it’s been 2 months without a lesson/session (and likely practicing!). It will take time to get back into the swing of things.

 

Make sure your piano is properly tuned

If you haven’t had your piano tuned in a while, it might be time to take care of it. It’s harder to play on an untuned piano. It’s distracting and can take away from the music. For beginners, it can be particularly distracting because the notes might not sound the same at home and at the lesson/session.

 

Speak to your teacher/therapist about your goals for the upcoming school year

Your teacher/therapist is here for you! Having short term and long term goals to work towards throughout the year will help with motivation and practicing. Goals can be anything from learning how to play your favourite song, learning how to play a new style of music, completing an RCM exam, or starting very early preparations for our annual “End-of-the-Year Party and Recitals.” We want your lessons/sessions to always be productive, positive, and rewarding.

With these tips in mind, I wish everyone a smooth transition this month!

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 by TPSMTS Team

Four Ways to Tackle Your Recital Jitters

Conquering stage fright

Written by Beatrix Yip

With the end of the school year upon us and our End-Of-The-Year Party and Recitals around the corner, sharing music with others in a performance setting may feel scary and challenging. While preparing your song well in advance with your music teacher is a big help, it may not be able to calm all of your recital jitters (which is completely normal!).

Here are some ways to calm your nerves leading up to and during the big day:

 

Remind yourself that you are not alone!

More people have stage fright than you think, with approximately 73 percent of people reporting some kind of nervousness or fear about presenting or performing in front of people – this could even apply to your music teacher!

 

Talk to your music teacher, parents, and friends and ask them about their experiences with stage fright, as well as strategies they have used to cope with it. Not only is this a great way to remind yourself that you are not the only one feeling stage fright, you could even find new and different ways to prepare for your recital!

 

Practice performing!

While preparing and practicing your actual song is important, practicing for the performance aspect of the recital is just as important. Take some time when practicing at home or with your music teacher in your lesson to rehearse going up to the piano, sitting, playing through your song, and then going back to your seat.

 

Analyze, Discuss, and Create!

Studies have shown that analyzing the performance song in the context of the recital can help to minimize nerves and the impact of potential mistakes. Discuss and create strategies to deal with worries you may have such as making a mistake, or having many people watching you perform. Preparing well to set yourself up for success can play a large role in calming recital jitters leading up to the big day.

 

The order of your performance can matter on the big day!

Identifying and reducing factors that could potentially make you feel more nervous on the day of your recital can help as well. Performing at the beginning or near the end could potentially help, especially if you either want to get your performance out of the way so you can enjoy the recital without feeling nervous, or watch other students perform first to get a feel for the environment and the audience expectations. Talk to your music teacher about the possibility of arranging the order of your performance, or see if you can find out the performance order so you can prepare in advance.

 

Recitals are a wonderful way to show all that you have learned and worked on over the past year in your lessons, and every performer should be proud and trust in all the hard work and learning they have done to get to this point.

Whether this is your very first recital or if you have performed in recitals in previous years, feeling nervous is completely normal!

There are many ways you and your music teacher can work together to tackle any feelings of fear and nervousness so you can focus on what is important – having fun and celebrating all the wonderful things you have accomplished this year!

 

Resources

 

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 by TPSMTS Team

The Benefits of Music

Written by Gabriella Serruya

 

Music benefits us in so many ways.

Listening to music and making music are just the beginning! There are emotional, physical, social, and cognitive benefits to music, as well!

 

There are several emotional benefits to music. One is that it helps lift mood.  Music can boost the production of the hormone dopamine which can lead to a lighter mood.  Think of a time when a song made you smile or when you were singing along to a song when you were feeling down and your mood brightened.

 

When learning new musical skills or pieces, it can be something to be proud of and help increase confidence.  Also, there’s the sense of achievement in mastering that new piece. Music can also lull us to sleep – there are lullabies and calming music apps just for that purpose.

 

Next, there are physical benefits to music. Music can lower your blood pressure and stress levels.  In fact, doctors are using a patient’s preferred music during procedures to help reduce stress levels.  Playing an instrument is also physical, as breathing, coordination, and fine motor skills come into play.

 

Dancing and moving to a song is also physical.  Music can help give us more energy and can lead to us to do more/better when exercising, or workout longer.

 

There is a social aspect to music as well. Working in a group – big or small – and making music can bring people together. Playing in a group requires co-operation and awareness of the others around us.

 

Another part of the social aspect of music is enjoying music together in concerts.  There’s nothing like that feeling of being at a concert and enjoying the music with hundreds or thousands of other people!

 

Finally, there are cognitive benefits of music. In children, music can help with language development, in particular learning new vocabulary or concepts.   Sometimes people that have trouble with speech will be able to sing (e.g. people who stutter).

 

Discipline is required to make music.   Practicing to master a song requires a lot of patience and discipline.

 

Music can help with memory.  When listening to an old song, we can often remember where we were and what we were doing. It’s powerful!

 

Music can lull us to sleep or give us more energy for that workout and everything in between.  So enjoy music, but know that it’s doing so much more for you than you realize!

 

 

RESOURCES

 

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 by TPSMTS Team

Neurodiversity Within Teaching and Therapeutic Settings

 Meeting the needs of neurodiverse learners in music education and music therapy 

Written by Yu Kwei Chan

Last November, I had the opportunity to attend the annual symposium run by the Geneva Centre for Autism.

 

During the 3 day conference, one of the presentations, led by educator Laura Dymond, discussed adaptations of learning to honour classroom diversity. In her presentation, she emphasizes that the suggested strategies discussed below were best practice for all learners as every child is unique. These concepts not only apply in a traditional classroom, but to all of us as music educators and music therapists.

 

As you begin working with a new student/client, conference with the student/client and their parents or caregivers. TPSMTS does this with every new family during their consultation ahead of the start of lessons/sessions. Define what’s challenging for your new student/client, what works best when teaching them, and what they enjoy. From there, you can plan all subsequent lessons/sessions based on these learned items.

 

It is important to always remember:

  • Continuously building rapport is important.
  • Neurodiverse students/clients can try to hide things to pass off as “normal.” This is called masking.
  • There is no “one size fits all” type of lesson/session.
  • Neurodiverse students/clients may have a smaller working memory as they are processing so many other elements during the lesson/session.
  • Keep your responses consistent. For example, if the student/client should not be throwing instruments, do not allow it the first few times and change your mind. Enforce the rule again and follow through.
  • Being physically safe within the environment does not mean the student/client feels safe to be themselves, participate, and share. Allow time and space for them to feel comfortable to do so.

 

Some strategies that Kara suggested include:

  • Give clear, concise information to ensure comprehension.
  • Clear clutter from around the room.
  • Chunking: teaching components in small steps.
  • Provide visuals to aid comprehension.
  • Input choice.
  • Provide learning tools to meet a variety of needs.
  • Provide a safe environment.
  • Teach self regulation and collaborative problem solving strategies (learn more about motivation and growth mindset here).

 

Works Cited:

Dymond, L. (2022, November 4). Learning through an Autism Lens: Easy Adaptations to Honour Classroom Neurodiversity [Conference presentation]. https://symposium.autism.net/en/#

Autism Masking: To Blend or Not to Blend — https://www.healthline.com/health/autism/autism-masking

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 by TPSMTS Team

Music and Synesthesia

Written by Jane Hong

Did you ever wonder what it’s like to “see” music or to “hear” colours? This sensory condition is known as synesthesia.

While there are many types of synesthesia, the phenomenon is generally described as when a sensory experience in one modality (e.g., hearing music) causes a sensory experience in another modality (e.g., seeing colours). For example, Chromesthesia is the ability to see sounds as colours.

 

A number of well-known composers like Alexander Scriabin and Franz Liszt are said to have had Chromesthesia.

 

Scriabin associated musical notes and keys with different colours: for example, D would be represented as bright yellow, A looked like dark green and D-flat was seen as a dark purple. He also created a “keyboard with lights” (Clavier à lumières) – an instrument that displayed colours that corresponded to different notes in his pieces.

 

Another composer, Liszt has been quoted giving directions to musicians such as, “A little bluer, if you please! This tone type requires it!”

 

More recent musicians, such as Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, and Billie Eilish have also claimed to have the condition.

 

Music is not the only thing that can trigger chromesthetic experiences. Sounds found in our daily life, such as birdsong, waterfalls, cars, and even voices of the people nearby may elicit a psychovisual response.

 

Chromesthesia is not limited to colours. Some people with chromesthesia ascribe shapes to the sounds they hear – such as circular figures or wavy lines. The range of chromesthetic experience may differ depending on qualities in the music or sound itself (pitch, key, timbre, melody, dynamics etc.). Some have described that they perceive shapes and colours in a mental screen around their body, while others have reported that the shapes and colours appear in their minds. Purportedly, the experiential attributes of chromesthesia can differ between individuals.

 

The following musical works have been written by musicians with synesthesia. We can explore within, how music and visual art can intertwine:

A. Scriabin – Prometheus (The Poem of Fire)

M. Torke – Bright Blue Music

Billie Eilish – Ocean Eyes

 

Sources

  • https://synesthesia.com/blog/sound-synesthesia/
  • Cytowic RE (2018). Synesthesia. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-53509-0.
  • Cytowic RE, Eagleman DM (2009). Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia (with an afterword by Dmitri Nabokov). Cambridge: MIT Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-262-01279-9.
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 by TPSMTS Team

Happy Holidays Playlist

Celebrate the holidays with music!

We all need a little holiday music, don’t you agree? Please enjoy our holiday playlists (almost 2 hours long!!), available on both YouTube & Spotify.

YOUTUBE

 

SPOTIFY

 

NIFTY GIFTY CERTIFICATES

Our nifty gifty certificates are also still available, if you are in need of a last-minute holiday gift for a loved one. You can also support our small business while also supporting a family in need. Purchase a gift certificate here.

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 by TPSMTS Team

Supporting Your Child’s Musical Journey

Four ways to encourage and help your child in music

 

As music therapists and music educators, we are so thankful for the support that we continuously receive from the parents of our students. We often see how invested and involved you are in your child’s growth and progress.

Parents frequently ask us how they can best support their child’s musical journey.

Here are some ways that you can support your child in their music lessons or sessions:

Communication

It is important to keep in contact with your teacher/therapist about your child’s progress. Clearly communicating with us what you and your child’s goals are and is working and not working throughout their musical journey will help us figure out more quickly what teaching and therapy style works best.

 

Practice, practice, practice!

Most students have one lesson a week, and usually by the following week the concepts taught in the previous lesson have been mostly, if not completely, forgotten. Practicing throughout the week will help your child to not only retain the concepts learned, but to also improve at a much faster pace.

 

We often suggest creating a practice schedule with your child to help ensure consistent practice time throughout the week. Especially with our younger students, sitting down to practice with them (even if you don’t play piano yourself) is a great way to spend time with them and helps them to stay engaged.

 

Consistent practicing leads to improvement, which is motivation in itself for many of our students!

 

Performances and exams

Playing for others, whether it is for family members at home or complete strangers in a concert hall, is often intimidating for a lot of our students. However, musical performances and exams not only gives your child a goal to work towards (also a great way to motivate them to practice), but also teaches them many skills that can help with their future endeavors.

 

Exams, specifically, provide students with feedback on their playing level and are a great way to set goals for lessons.

 

Performances help students to be more comfortable with public speaking and presentations, teaches them to recognize and celebrate their accomplishments, and teaches them to be able to make mistakes in front of others. TPSMTS offers our students an opportunity to participate in the End-of-the-Year Party & Recital every year (you can read more about how we prepare for the recitals AND peek at our virtual recitals from 2020 and 2021!), but feel free to arrange for informal, mini “recitals” at home as well!

 

Encouragement

Most of us understand that encouragement, especially for children, is very important for growth (read more about our thoughts on growth mindset here). However, we cannot stress enough how crucial it is for their musical learning process. Make sure that you acknowledge every little milestone with them. Whether it is learning a new note to finishing their book, every bit of encouragement means a lot to your child.

 

Of course, verbal praise and rewards are effective, but you can also show your appreciation by asking your child to show you what they have learned or maybe to play for you their favourite songs. You can record videos of their playing to send to other family members. Learning a new instrument is hard, but acknowledgement of all their efforts goes a long way in both their improvement and enjoyment of the learning process.

 

Every student’s needs are unique, so if you have questions about your child’s progress, please let your teacher/therapist know. We are more than happy to give you tips to further support your child’s musical journey!

If you are interested in music lessons and/or music therapy sessions for your child (or yourself!), please reach out and contact us.

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 by TPSMTS Team

Music Therapists Need Music Therapy, Too: A Reflection

How music helped soothe an exhausted and stressed music therapist.

Music Therapists Need Music Therapy Too: A Reflection
Written by Tamara Leszner-Rovet

 

Speaking from my experience, I have been laser focused over the past 2.5 years in supporting my students/clients (both that I work with directly and indirectly), their families, our team, and my own family through all the ebbs and flows of this pandemic.

 

I have been running on fumes. I have been in a constant state of exhaustion which has shown up in my physical and mental health. I have been feeling so “done,” burned out, and my motivation to practice self-care has gone by the wayside.

 

I have found that finally going back to “normal,” while it is absolutely wonderful in itself, has been even more exhausting (in some ways, more than the pandemic itself!). This has shown, yet again, how deeply this pandemic has affected everyone in various ways. It has been just joyful to see normalcy and people finally living again. Still, it has been extremely hard to readjust.

 

I had the privilege of listening to one of my long-time students as they prepared for our “End-of-the-Year Party and Recitals” a month ago. They will be off to university in the fall, and this was one of our last lessons together. After working with this student since they were a young child, this almost felt surreal.

 

As they did a practice performance run on this particular day, playing two pieces by two of my favourite composers, watching the sun hit the trees just right through their bay window, I felt my body relax for the first time in a long time. I was able to sit back, enjoy their music, and realize just how truly exhausted I have been.

 

As a music therapist and music teacher, often at the end of a long clinical day we want to do anything but listen to music after singing, performing, and listening to other people’s musical preferences all day long.

 

On this day, the student became the teacher. This amazing student gave back after all the years we have spent fostering a love of playing the piano, of music in general, and cultivating a passion that I know will continue far beyond our lessons together. I do not believe in that moment this student realized how much I needed what they gave me.

 

For a few minutes, all the stress I had been feeling just melted away. For a few minutes, the world was still and I felt a sense of calmness I had not experienced in a long while. For a few minutes, I experienced joy and a sense of hope.

 

And as I drove home with tears streaming down my face so grateful for this experience, I realized that every minute of hard work and laser focus has been worth it.

 

Those few minutes renewed my passion for the work I do and what the future holds. Now more than ever, music therapists need music therapy too.

 

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 by TPSMTS Team

Using Music To Help With Anxiety And Stress

Easy ways to lessen anxiety and stress through music

 

The world we live in today is a very fast-paced and complicated one. As a result, most of us experience anxiety in our lives. It is important to address this and ensure that we take care of ourselves and prevent burn out.

Here are five ways you can ease anxiety and stress in your life:

 

Listen to music

Most of us listen to music regularly, whether it is in the form of listening to the radio, putting on a CD, or streaming music off a platform. Research has shown that listening to relaxing music can decrease our biological stress responses (Thoma, 2013).

Being intentional in choosing what music we listen to can help with our mood and mental state. It would be helpful to have a playlist of music that we find relaxing to listen to at the end of a busy and stressful day, or when we are feeling overwhelmed by all that is going on.

 

Learn an instrument

Many of my students, whether adult or younger students, often come into their lessons telling me that they are stressed or frustrated by something but leave feeling much more relaxed and refreshed.

When you are focused on learning a completely different skill, your mind is temporarily distracted from the problems and stressors that you are thinking about and dealing with. Not only does playing an instrument provide you with relief from stress, it also helps train both sides of your brain and teaches you different skills, both mentally and physically (Stoklosa, 2016).

 

Join a choir, band, or orchestra

Playing an instrument or singing provides you with the same relief from stress while exercising your brain. However, some people find learning an instrument or solo singing to be stressful in a different way – there’s the pressure of needing to practice, and some people feel nervous about playing in front of their teacher.

Singing in a choir or playing in a band or orchestra means that you are not performing alone, and that you have the support of all your fellow musicians if you have less experience or did not have as much time to practice during the week. There is also the added bonus of having plenty of opportunities to make new friends and create meaningful and supportive friendships to help you deal with the anxiety you are experiencing, even outside rehearsal times.

 

Join a community drum circle

If you like the idea of doing music with a group of people, but singing or playing in a band/orchestra is not quite your thing, it might be a good idea to see if there are any community drum circles in your area. Drum circles are similar to choirs, since it involves playing with a group of people, but also provide a physical way to release pent up negative emotions.

 

Music therapy

Last but not least, we would definitely recommend looking into music therapy if your anxiety and stress is becoming too overwhelming.

Music therapists are trained to use music as a tool to improve your mental and physical well-being, and we can create a unique plan to help you with dealing with the anxiety that you may be feeling. From simply helping you find relaxing music, to songwriting, to learning a new instrument, we are able to help you find what works best for you. Contact us to set up a consultation.

 

Resources

Stoklosa, Anne R.. “Instruments of Knowledge: Music and the Brain.” The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research 17 (2016): -. Web. [April 25, 2022].

Thoma, Myriam V et al. “The effect of music on the human stress response.” PloS one vol. 8,8 e70156. 5 Aug. 2013, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070156

 

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 by TPSMTS Team

Should I learn more than one musical instrument?

Why learning multiple musical instruments can be beneficial and fun

Written by Jane Hong

 

There have been many studies to demonstrate the benefits of how learning music affects the brain. Learning a musical instrument can lead to greater levels of patience and discipline, increased confidence, improved motor skills, and the list goes on.

This creates the question: Should you learn more than one instrument? Some think that learning two instruments at once would be confusing or too much to handle.

Read More›
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