Tai Cheri

#practice #lessons #musiclessons #victory #taicheri #taicherimusiclessons

When I started to name this post, I was going to direct this post to the busy adult. But these days - with schools adding extra work now that they feel they are more confident in zoom learning and then the activities kids are in to help them stave off the separation that being in a pandemic has caused - Kids are just as busy. How do we get in practice despite? Well for one we need to think about what we are doing in all of the inbetween. Are we just sitting mindlessly at time

So I am always telling my students how important it is to practice. Even when we are professional musicians we have to keep working on our craft. It's like a muscle, if you don't use it, it goes limp and weak. I keep up my practicing but it was just sort of feeling routine. Practice for a lesson, practice scales, practice some old pieces, practice some new pieces...With no accountability each week, I realized I have to be my own instructor. Tell myself to work on this or that

The adage goes: Practice Makes Perfect. It’s literally an impossible task. Why? Because no one in this world is perfect. Philosophy aside...it should be that Practice Makes Better. Before I go further let’s start from the beginning: Little tiny Taí...wait was I ever tiny? I digress. Little tiny Taí who has been playing piano for a couple of years finally gets to play the instrument of her dreams, violin. Enthusiasm allows for practice which pushes me past my contemporaries fa

When I am performing, I try and go all out. My father has always told me that you are only as good as your last performance. If anything can attest to that, look at the many celebrities or big names people that we have seen fallen. Do we remember whatever things we liked about what they’ve done before, or do we only see their major character flaw now that that has been put foremost in our mind? With that said, I do not want to leave a bad taste in my audience’s  mouth. So I a

Why do we do scales? For many adults that attended music lessons in their youth, they will tell you it was a torturous device that us music teachers give. They will say that it is just busy work. That is not the case. I am here to tell you that there is another purpose and it helps all instrumentalists including vocalists. So here it goes! First, lets take the very simple scale in whatever key (cause it doesn't really matter). Once you learn the framework of where your finger

Often times my students psych themselves out at our lessons. They have practiced all week and have worked really hard and then they get to me and get nervous. Do I have high expectations? Sure I do. But not in the way that anyone might think. I highly expect my students to do their best. I expect them to have fun. I also expect them to play at the speed that is most comfortable for them. Just because you are performing for me, that does not mean you have to go at record speed

Many people find that when they are playing an instrument, their ring finger tends to feel the weakest. Why is that? It is the way the tendons connect. Those last three fingers are actually connected. That is why exercises to strengthen and create independent fingers make playing easier. Try placing your hand on a table or holding a pencil. Then tap each finger with small taps on the surface to work on independently moving each individual finger and allowing the muscles to ta