Other researchers have found that novice adolescent musicians tend to exhibit inconsistent practice habits. Rohwer and Polk (2006) categorized the practice tendencies of students as holistic/noncorrective, holistic/corrective, analytic/reactive, or analytic/proactive. They described analytic practicers as those who were prone to remediate sections of their music both proactively and reactively, and they found that these students made significantly more gains than did the holistic practicers. Barry (1990, 1992) focused on the use of structured practice time and supervision in middle school instrumental students and found that the students were significantly more able to prepare a musical etude when practice was carefully structured and supervised. Like McPherson and Renwick (2001), Barry found that students who engaged in unstructured practice tended to play their music faster, use a metronome less, use fewer mental practice strategies, and self-assessed less than those who engaged in structured and supervised practice.
amgartner on 26 May 17This article provides ideas for small budget ensembles to make a dream of commissioning a new piece of music a reality. Commissioning music is a great way to get singers invested in music-making, yet the monetary restrictions can be huge. This article encourages the reader to not be afraid to reach out and see what opportunities are possible just from a simple conversation.
