CatherineMcMichael.com - Catherine McMichael's Strategies For Musical Mastery

The Music Of Catherine McMichael: Strategies For Musical Masteryl

Strategies for Musical Mastery are my way of thanking you for visiting my site. The suggestions and explanations here are conclusions drawn from nearly 30 years of teaching piano and music enrichment to students from all over the world. In this series of articles you'll find FAQ's about music study for parents, teachers and students, and other insights into the learning process. Individual questions of general interest may also be answered in this spot. If you have a question, please e-mail me and I will answer in this column. In the future there may be a bulletin-board feature for you to help each other.

The Music Of Catherine McMichael: At the piano with daughter and student, Meredith.

Cover Art from Making Music My Own pedagogy series.

As the site expands, other topics may include How To Start Improvising, How the Brain Works In Practice (or Does Playing it 100 Times Really Help?), The Value of Listening, What Constitutes Progress Anyway?, Motivation Ideas, Goal-Setting Strategies, Exciting Repertoire, Competition and Contest Preparation, and more. Your input is always welcome.

The music in the background is repertoire chosen from my piano method, Making Music My Own, published by Heritage Music Press, subsidiary of the Lorenz Corp. in Dayton OH, and is available through your local music dealer.


STARTING LESSONS, FINDING A TEACHER, PARENT STRATEGIES How do I know my child is ready for lessons? How do I find the right teacher? How can I help once lessons begin?
HOW TO PRACTICE SUCCESSFULLY What's the best way to practice? What is review and why is it important? Practical Tips for Productive Practice
SURE-FIRE PRACTICE GIMMICKS "..well, I try to play it over and over, but I still can't get it right..." What's the best technique for a tricky passage that I start well, but don't end so well? Every time I add a new measure, the old part I just perfected falls apart! Why? Why does backwards practice work better than frontwards practice?
THE HUMBLE METRONOME What is a metronome and what is it used for? When am I ready to use the metronome? How do I incorporate the metronome in practice? How does it work?
YOUR MYSTERIOUS MEMORY How does memory work? How can I memorize reliably? How do I start memorizing a piece? What causes memory slips? I need a specific process. What do you suggest?

Check in from time to time for FAQ's on other subjects.
Topics in the future might include:

How To Start Improvising

How the Brain Works In Practice
(or Does Playing it 100 Times Really Help?)

The Value of Listening

What Constitutes Progress Anyway?

Motivation Ideas

Goal-Setting Strategies

Exciting Repertoire

Competition and Contest Preparation

and more.

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Check in from time to time for FAQ's on other subjects. Topics in the future might include:

Check in from time to time for FAQ's on other subjects.
Topics in the future might include: