Summer Blues

It happens every year. Around this time of the summer, students and their parents start to see the end to the long summer days and that school will be starting very soon. How can they get themselves back into playing piano if they have taken some time off?

The three most important areas that will give them a jump start back into piano practice are:

1. TECHNIQUE at least 5 min - Play your 5 finger scales (also called pentascales which means 5 note scales). Both major and minor 5 finger patterns show up everywhere in their pieces. Chords and 1 or more octave scales for more advanced students. I have added some technique downloads to the Resources page, so feel free to print those out and have them start back up. Challenge them by getting out the dreaded metronome!

2. THEORY - Get back into musictheory.net. There are so many different exercises and lessons they could challenge themselves with on this site.

3. SIGHT READING at least 5 min - Sight reading is playing music they have never seen before. They don’t have to sight read a whole piece. Just start with a few measures that they

have never seen.

4. REPERTOIRE - Revisit their favorite pieces. Play through songs they played last year, and then they can move on to the following songs.

The most important thing during the summer is to have fun with piano music!