How to Cure Your Procrastination Rut!
Monday, September 9, 2019 | practice ideas
Have you ever been on the way to a lesson, club, activity, school, maybe even work, and found yourself thinking, "Oh no. Where did the week go? I haven't actually done/finished/started this project/activity/assignment!!!!"? (Probably not in those exact words, but you get the gist.) Every single person on the planet has probably had that happen to them at some point! Sometimes you get busy, sometimes things happen, and sometimes you fall asleep and wake up and it's been an entire week. Sometimes you just can't bring yourself to work on what you need to be working on - it's human nature and completely understandable. So how do you break out of the rut and make it not feel like a chore?
We've gathered up some easy ideas to help with this dilemma!
- DICE - Yes, dice. Grab some (1, 2, whatever) out of the old copy of Monopoly you have up in a closet. Look at your task and think about different ways you can break it up. If you're playing a song, make some sections and assign a dice roll of 6 to line 6 of your song. If you have to do some homework, you could roll the dice for how many questions you have to answer before you can take a break. There are LIMITLESS opportunities and fun to be had with dice, which brings us to the next idea.....
- There are free apps and websites designed to help you create an interactive spinning wheel. Slap some choices on the wheel, hit spin, and start having fun! Ms. Brittany's favorite practice wheel at the moment includes options like "play line 1", "play measure 8 at 45 bpm with a metronome", and "eat 5 grapes". It's also fun to put the musical alphabet on a wheel and then find the notes on your instrument or play that specific scale/chord/arpeggi. https://wheeldecide.com/is an excellent web-based options!
- Set real and attainable goals. Not a massive goal that will take forever to achieve - something more like "play for 15 minutes today" or "look at 3 vocabulary words". Make a chart or list and keep up with what you're doing and remember that every long mountain climb really actually did begin with a single step. A tiny improvement is better than no improvement at all, and a lot of tiny improvements lead to a big change.
- Go play! Use google or ask a teacher for some educational games. Enjoying learning is half the battle - no one wants to be bored, but most people want to learn new things. Want to start picking up a new language? Duolingo is free and awesome. Want to memorize your guitar fretboard? Search guitar fretboard in any app store and go to town!
Looking for Student Writers!
Monday, August 26, 2019 | news, student involvement
Do you like to write? Are you interested in getting your ideas voiced to others? Dream of being a future reporter?
Ms. Brittany is looking for students to help with the blog! Requirements include correct spelling and grammar and the post should be related to the topic of music. Poetry, short stories, interviews, history essays and more will be gladly and willingly accepted! Authors should include a brief biography and picture (if desired). Interested but not sure what to write about? Concerned about spelling or grammar? See Ms. Brittany for ideas and help or email her at brittany@nugentmusic.com.
We're looking forward to seeing what you can come up with!
Technology Highlight
Saturday, August 10, 2019 | technology highlight
Isn't it amazing to live in a year as advanced as 2019? The past 20 years have brought so much technology with it that it's sometimes hard to keep up! "Boring" theory worksheets have been replaced with flashy games that keep score of points and dole out stars upon the player's victory - how cool is that? Keeping students engaged with what they're learning has been a struggle for teachers all over the world for centuries and now for a purchase of $5 or less (often free!) the problem is solved! The other upside to using technology for theory help is that students can review anywhere and anytime. Theory books are no longer written in, forgotten, and thrown away!
The technology highlight for this month is the website https://www.musictheory.net/. This website offers free lessons and exercises for music theory at various degrees of difficulty. The exercises have options to allow students to focus on specific topics - naming only the space notes in the bass clef, building chords on a keyboard, naming frets on a guitar, and ear training for everything! The website is also great on mobile devices, so students can play on the go! And to top it all off, their "tools" section includes everything a future composer needs - a tempo tapper, pop-up on screen piano, and staff paper that's downloadable! Try out https://www.musictheory.net/ for yourself and let us know what you think!
