June 1, 2023 by TPSMTS Team

Four Ways to Tackle Your Recital Jitters

Conquering stage fright

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

Bockarova, Mariana. “Local Perspectives: Singing with Stage Fright.” Edited by Vanessa Lancaster, Psychology Today, 16 Mar. 2023, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/romantically-attached/202303/local-perspectives-singing-with-stage-fright.
Lehmann, Andreas C., John A. Sloboda, and Robert H. Woody, ‘Managing Performance Anxiety’, Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills (New York, 2007; online edn, Oxford Academic, 3 Oct. 2011), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195146103.003.0008, accessed 22 May 2023.
Lehrer, Paul M. “A Review of the Approaches to the Management of Tension and Stage Fright in Music Performance.” Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 35, no. 3, 1987, pp. 143–53. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3344957, accessed 21 May 2023.

October 17, 2022September 10, 2023 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.

June 20, 2020February 11, 2021 by TPSMTS Team

End of the 2019-2020 School Year Wrap-Up During these Extraordinary Times

What our team has learned and experienced so far in 2020…

Though the beginning of our 2019-2020 school year started off strong, 2020 has already been quite the year and it’s already June.

Back in March, maybe you were thinking, “It’s only March and this is how the year is going?!” To be honest, a part of me was in disbelief as well. The year 2020 will be known for many reasons, one of which here at TPSMTS, will be the year that we had changes we never would have anticipated!

We moved to Telehealth

Our music therapy sessions and music lessons have thrived for 13 years as in-person, in-studio or in-home sessions/lessons and for the first time ever, and now offered on a regular basis, we moved to Telehealth (online). If you have not heard of Telehealth yet, it is “the provision of healthcare remotely by means of telecommunications technology” (SOURCE).

In March, we immediately shifted all of our lessons/sessions to Telehealth. If you want to read more about that experience, you can read our previous blogs HERE and HERE.

Practicing and Intrinsic Motivation

Encouraging students to progress and grow in music lessons

Written by Tamara Leszner-Rovet

With the new year now upon us, it is a time for reflection and resolutions, including when it comes to music lessons. One aspect of music lessons that comes up frequently in conversation, especially at the beginning of a new term, is practicing.

In general, I have found that the key to long term progress, success, and enjoyment of playing an instrument is intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviour that is driven by internal rewards. The motivation to engage in a behaviour arises from within the individual because there are natural rewards associated with it. In other words, students practice because they want to progress (similar to playing sports, where there is a motivation to practice in order to develop the strength and skills to progress). In my experience, students who want to practice their instrument and continue to progress are the ones who reap the most benefits and rewards for themselves, and are more likely to continue lessons long-term.

Extrinsic motivation typically doesn’t work well as a long term solution. Rewards such as candy, toys, etc. may not be effective when it comes to music practicing. This is not to say that they won’t work in the short term, but often they satiate and eventually are no longer motivating. The point is that practicing equates to further progress, which is motivation in itself. While rewards may not be an optimal long-term way to motivate, positive reinforcement (strengthening an action with praising words, a pat on the back, performing for others, etc.) can help to further encourage growth and skills to develop intrinsic motivation.

Tips for a Successful Piano Recital

Helping students prepare for a recital

Written by Gabriella Serruya

Here are a few things that can make a piano recital easier for students…

Practice your piece “a million” times and then play it a couple more for good luck! The more we’ve played our songs before getting to the recital, the easier it will be! When nerves start, we can count on our fingers to know just what to do – I sometimes think our fingers can think for themselves!

Make some opportunities for mock recitals. Family is always good for that – grandparents are particularly appreciative! Also, getting your stuffed animals set up as an audience can be helpful. They don’t clap very loudly, but they generally love a good concert! Pets work too! My piano teacher’s dog used to howl along with me when I was sounding extra great!

Bring your book to the recital, even if you have the song memorized! Just in case your fingers need a quick reminder of the notes before you walk up to play.

Remember that all the people there are students or family of students. We all want to each other to play well and are encouraging you no matter what happens.

It’s nice to get a little dressed up for the recital. Make it an occasion! Ball gowns and tuxedos are NOT needed, but something a little more fancy than every day is always lovely!

One of the biggest things to remember is that recitals can be FUN! A little nerve-wracking, but fun. Enjoy hearing other students playing music – maybe get inspired! You might hear a song that you want to learn. You might hear someone more advanced than you and think about when you’ll be playing like they did!

I’m always so proud of my students at recitals! They’ve worked hard to learn songs through the year and have a chance to show off!

Instead of an in-person End-of-the-Year Party & Recital in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, our students/clients recorded and shared music selections that they had studied and prepared. Please enjoy their performances below!

2020

2021

in Gabriella / Music Lessons / Music Therapy / TPSMTS News 0 comments

Music Recitals