Tips for Parents 5 Strategies for Drama-Free Music Practice

Tips for Parents 5 Strategies for Drama-Free Music Practice Suzy S. No matter how excited your child started out, sometimes getting him or her to practice can feel like an intricate balancing act. You want them to understand that hard work pays off, but also have fun and stay motivated. But the minute your child views it as a “chore,” even the best young musicians can be quick to start a fight. Here are 5 tips for easing the struggle: 1. Let them do their thing. Offer suggestions, guidance, and praiseâ€"but give your child her space. There is a fine line between staying active in the lessons and being a “backseat driver.” Avoid setting a timer, as this can result in inefficient practice and resentment. Instead, encourage her to set a measurable goal, such as “I want to play this passage perfectly by the end of this practice time.” 2. Establish a practice routine. Figure out what time of day works best for your child, and block it out on the calendar. When practicing becomes a routine, much like brushing your teeth or sitting down to family dinner, it’s more likely to get done. 3. Figure out what excites her. There will always be scales and etudes to practice, but it’s important that your child is also working on songs that inspire and motivate her. Some children are too shy to speak up, so check in with her every now and then, and ask if she likes the material her teacher selects. You can also encourage her to listen to music she enjoys, or take her to a concert or performance to show her positive role models. 4. Help your child set goals, and celebrate when he hits those goals. Reaching milestones can be a great motivator! Consider offering a reward that will inspire him, whether that’s a fun music book or a local concert. 5. Stay positive. Remind your child that every musician experiences frustration at some point, and success takes patience and hard work. With time, he’ll realize that the practice he commits to makes a direct impact on his progress and performanceâ€"and that’s definitely a lesson worth learning. Photo by tworedboots

How to Ace Your College Research Paper

How to Ace Your College Research Paper A common assignment that confounds many college students is the well-known and often dreaded research paper. Your professor asks that you use a variety of scholarly sources, but what exactly does that entail? And how can you find these sources? The following research strategies will help you ace your college research paper quickly and easily. Pick the right topic College research papers usually require that students select a topic of their choice. Compile a list of a few topics that appeal to you. Do some preliminary research using Internet search engines to ensure that there is sufficient information on the topics you have brainstormed. Then, meet with your professor to find out what he or she thinks would be the best topic for you to select. It is vital that the topic you select for your research paper is feasible. You must consider the assignments deadline, your understanding of the subject matter, and how much research information exists on the subject. An obscure topic could equate to weeks of unproductive, frustrating research and a low-quality paper. Here are some helpful tips for writing an essay. Use your schools online databases It is likely that your college library maintains a system of virtual databases. These typically allow you to access a vast supply of scholarly journals for free on any of your librarys computers. Most colleges allow access to their database systems through the librarys webpage. Ask a school librarian for the password, or if prompted, sign in with your school ID. Using an online database system is an efficient way to access high-quality scholarly information. Within each database system, there is typically a feature to locate specific databases by subject, such as anthropology or chemistry. Be sure to take advantage of the search tools within each database itself, which can save you a great deal of time. You can often find detailed information within a few seconds of searching. Research experience is important for grad school applications, so this may be your chance to prove you have what it takes if you plan to go on to grad school! Another benefit to using online databases is the ability to cite a source online (A.P.A., M.L.A, etc.). This capability makes it simple for you to select and generate the appropriate citation type. You can then paste the proper citation onto the Works Cited page at the end of your paper. Ask your professor which style is preferred for the class. Take advantage of your library and ILL Visit your schools library and explain to a librarian that you are working on a research paper. Librarians can provide you with the support you need to locate useful texts as sources for your paper. Large universities often have specialized libraries with reference librarians who are qualified to help you access specific material in a wide array of subjects, such as psychology or geology. Specialized libraries can make finding precise information much easier. If you cannot locate a particular printed text, or if a journal article is not immediately available from your library, consider utilizing your schools ILL service. ILL stands for interlibrary loan. With an interlibrary loan, you can typically obtain a physical or electronic copy of the text that you need at no cost from another library. An interlibrary loan will rapidly provide you with the resources you require. Sometimes, loans can even arrive the same day you make the request! Move from general to specific sources Begin your research by seeking out sources that broadly examine the topic you wish to study. These less specific yet pertinent sources can direct you toward other sources that are more precise. Inquire with your professor or TA about helpful general sources that discuss the subject you are researching. Try to constantly watch for additional sources. While reading a source, whether it is more general or more specific, be sure to review the footnotes and bibliography. By doing so, you will likely find a plethora of other relevant and credible references to point out in your research paper. These are some great tips to help you organize your notes. If you pinpoint your focus on the above strategies, your college research paper should come together quite effectively. Best of luck!

How Do Singing Styles Differ By Genre

How Do Singing Styles Differ By Genre Suzy S. How do vocal techniques change as you sing different styles and genres? Check out the video below as Brighton, MA vocal teacher Jacquelynn W. explains why its important to understand the style differences between genres, such as vibrato technique, use of chest voice and head voice, and diction. Want more? Check out our comprehensive guide to different singing genres and styles!   Jacquelynn W. teaches singing, Broadway singing, flute, music theory, opera voice, songwriting, speaking voice and acting lessons to students in Brighton, MA. She received her Bachelors degree in Vocal Performance from Berklee College of Music, and joined the TakeLessons team in October 2012. Find out more about Jacquelynn, or find a teacher near you! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher

Why you shouldnt take test prep advice from Homer Simpson

Why you shouldnt take test prep advice from Homer Simpson Homer Simpson provides test prep advice you should not follow!Depending on how familiar you are with the Simpsons oeuvre, you might remember an episode where Mr. Burns decides that he needs a male heir in order to pass on his fortune.  Naturally, Homer encourages Bart to audition for the part of Burns’ heir.  Bart, relying on Homer’s inept guidance, bungles the audition and misses out on the chance to inherit the fortune.  As the Simpson family walks out afterwards, Homer passes on some fatherly advice: “Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably.  The lesson is, never try.”Of course, no one is looking to Homer Simpson for test prep advice.  But the reality is that many students fall into the “Homer mindset”: I really tried my best on that homework/practice test/actual test and didn’t do well, so game over.  I’m never going to do better on the SAT!Where does failure occur during the process of test preparation?  It can happen during a tutoring session no matter how the tutor tries to explain that tricky algebra concept, the student just doesn’t get it.  It can happen on a homework assignment the student understood the reading comprehension strategy during the tutoring session, but can’t focus and complete the reading section at home.  It can happen on a practice test time runs out and the student only got through half of the math section.And of course, failure can happen on the big kahuna the actual test.  Anxiety got the best of her; he forgot how subject-verb agreement works; her calculator batteries died during the math section.  You try your best and just don’t get the score you want.So what do you do when you’re confronted with failure during test prep?  You see failure correctly for what it is: a learning opportunity.Many students are practically allergic to making mistakes in front of their tutors, preferring instead to maintain the illusion of perfection.  This attitude is typical of the “fixed mindset ”.  Carol Dweck, the pioneer of mindset thinking, defines the fixed mindset as one in which “students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits.  They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb.”Here at AJ Tutoring, we do everything in our power to break down the fixed mindset in our students.  The fixed mindset is the enemy of true learning and improvement on the SAT or ACT.  The fixed mindset denies students the chance to take risks, learn from mistakes, and experience the satisfaction that comes from working hard and mastering a skill.  In the end, you will only improve your SAT score if you’re willing to get questions wrong and then figure out how to get them right.Theorizing about failure in a blog post is one thing, but what do we tell our students when they fail?  How do we reconceptualize failure so our students can see it as a good thing?  Le t’s revisit the “failure points” during test preparation.Failure to understand a concept during the tutoring session.When a student has a hard time understanding a concept during a tutoring session, it usually comes down to one of two things: either they’re weak on fundamentals, or they’re terrified of “looking dumb” in front of their tutor.  If the student is weak on fundamentals ( for example, they can’t solve a system of equations because they don’t know how to solve one equation for one variable), the tutor can usually diagnose this issue quickly.  The sooner a student “fails” on a problem, the easier it is for their tutor to figure out the true issue and backtrack to the more elementary concept.  And if the student doesn’t want to miss a problem and look dumb, this too is helpful information.  It tells the tutor something about the student’s mindset towards failure and allows the tutor to take appropriate steps to change that mindset.This could lea d to your greatest success.Failure on a homework assignment.Sometimes a student understands a concept during the tutoring lesson, but can’t execute on the homework assignment.  Failure on a homework assignment tells us something important too either the student didn’t understand the concept as well as we thought they did (in which case, time to review), the student rushed through the assignment, or the student didn’t apply the correct strategies on the assignment.  In all of these cases, failure tells us more about the student’s approach to SAT prep when he’s on his own.   All of these problems are correctable given enough time.Failure on a practice test.Students (and parents) often expect great improvement on practice tests.  Sometimes students get a solid score improvement on a practice test, and sometimes they don’t.  As part of AJ Tutoring’s SAT and ACT prep process, we ask students to take at least 3 practice tests, and then we review those results with stude nts in their next tutoring session.  Reviewing practice tests with students is instructive it allows us to see exactly what happened if a student “failed”.  I had a frustrating situation with an ACT student last year whose practice test scores kept going down, even though he was doing great in our sessions.  After the third declining practice test score, he and I sat down for a serious discussion.  It turned out that the student was staying up late and then had a hectic morning of driving his siblings around before coming to our office for his test.  By having that discussion during his prep, we made sure that he didn’t repeat the same pattern on test day.  Sure enough, he got sleep the night before the actual test, and his ACT score went up by 5 points!Failure on the actual test.This is the scenario that strikes fear into the hearts of students and parents everywhere.  How is it possible to turn a test day failure into a net positive?  For starters, almost all studen ts take the SAT and ACT more than once.  It’s rare that students get the score they’re looking for on the first try.  Every time you take the test, even if you don’t achieve your goal score, you get a little more test-taking experience and you learn more about how you operate on test day.  And once you get your scores back, you know which sections and concepts you need to review for future tests.Do you see the common thread here?  Failure gives us more information.  Rather than seeing failure as a reflection of your intelligence, try to see failure as a diagnostic tool that helps you do better on the next homework assignment or test.Paul Tough’s book How Children Succeed is a worthwhile read on the factors that influence success in school.  Chapter 3 looks at the unorthodox teaching methods of a middle school chess teacher in Brooklyn, Elizabeth Spiegel, who is able to lead her team to unexpected success.  Spiegel’s teaching method is so unusual because she focuses on her students’ failures, analyzing wrong moves and bad games with the class until they deeply understand the right moves.Spiegel tries to lead her students down a narrow and difficult path: to have them take responsibility for their mistakes and learn from them without obsessing over them or beating themselves up for them. How Children SucceedWhen interviewed for the book, Spiegel noted, “It’s uncomfortable to focus so intensely on what you’re bad atIf you really want to get better at chess, you have to look at your games and figure out what you’re doing wrong.”The same thing is true in test prep if you really want a higher score on the SAT or ACT, you have to confront your failures head-on and figure out what you’re doing wrong.  For the student who is brave enough to do this, the rewards are many a higher test score, yes, but also the confidence to take risks, to sometimes fail, and to learn from that failure and do better the next time.[Note: Many adults have a hard time with failure, let alone high school students.  Failing well is a learned skill!  Our SAT and ACT tutors are happy to help guide your student toward testing success.  Please reach out to us for more information!]

Deal With - Phrasal Verb of the Day

Deal With - Phrasal Verb of the Day Todays phrasal verb of the day is: Deal WithInfinitive form: Deal WithPresent Tense: Deal With/ Deals Withing form: Dealing WithPast tense: Dealt WithPast Participle: Dealt WithDeal With is an inseparable English phrasal verb. It can be used in two different ways:When you do everything you must do to solve a problem or complete.1. Now that Danas sister is here to help with the children, shes got one less problem to deal with.2. The detective confirmed that the kids vandalized the school. Now he has to deal with telling their parents.When it is about a certain subject of an article, book, curriculum, speech, film, etc.1. TED talks are supposed to deal with Technology, Entertainment and Design.2. Fast Furious 6 deals with a cop getting help from criminals to catch a global criminal.Exercises: Write your answers in comments and we will correct them.Fill in the gaps from the video above:Wow! You just had to open your mouth. Now, we got a big-ass plane to ____ ___.Can you recall a tough situation in the past? How did you deal with it?Complete the sentences below with the correct form of Deal With.1. Terry is strong enough to ____ ___ the problem on his own.2. Titanic _____ ____ a man who happens to be in the right place at the right time  to prevent a woman from jumping off a, ship and falls in love with her.3.  You know, I read an article the other day that ____ ___ drunk driving. I cant ______ ____ this right now, though. I have enough problems already!4. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom _____ ____ surprising yet interesting theories about the afterlife.5.  After lunch, the police will ______ _____ the criminals who set Mrs. Doublets house on fire.Change the example sentences above to negative sentences (or positive, if the sentence is already negative). Then change them to questions.

Several Tips for the Positive Start of the New Study Year

Several Tips for the Positive Start of the New Study Year The beginning of the school year is always rather stressful for students after having good time and relaxation during summer time. At the same time, the new study year provides good chance to review the attitude to the study process and the relations with classmates; and to take some actions to win recognition of your virtues both by peers and by school teachers. The status you manage to obtain during school and college years creates the basis for the further success in university and career, so do not waste this favorable time. Be active and show your worth. Do not allow others to manipulate yourself. Teach yourself to reject attempts to make you do somebody elses work. Be confident reciting the lessons and persist in your opinion. Value the results of your work. Dismiss with a joke or say strong “No!” to the annoying idlers who are asking to crib your assignment or test. Your diligence should work for your own benefit. Be brave and self-confident. Get rid of old inferiority complex. Stop hiding your right and interesting thoughts from others. Do not be afraid to hold up your hand and to give a certain answer to a tutor’s question. Take over the control of your life and your decisions. Make a list of goals for the next academic year and develop a strategy on attaining them. Select the most interesting subjects and the major subjects needed for your future speciality. Whatever it be math, chemistry, physics or computer turn particular attention to that subjects. Find a private tutor to help you to become an expert in that most important disciplines. Aim at all-round development of yourself. Experiment with hobbies and learn something new. Take music, dancing, vocal or art classes at some art school or with an individual tutor. New skills not only develop your natural abilities, they also attract the interest of other people and make them respect your advanced personality. Be independent of other peoples opinion. The sudden changes in your way of life may draw attention of some envious mates and may give food for gossip. If you notice this this is a sign of your success, you have attracted the interest. Those, who gossip of you, are dreaming to become like you but they can’t. No matter what they say, you can just smile! And, last but not least  remember that going back to school does not only mean return to hard study. It also means meeting with old friends. Each new school year promises not only new study tasks and challenges but also new amazing acquaintances and who knows, maybe even love! If you need a tutoring assistance for you of your child visit TutorZ.com. Our tutoring service is designed to  help students to find best personal tutors in any subject: math,  algebra, calculus, science,  physics, chemistry, biology,  English, Spanish, French, computer, music, dance, voice, arts  and many others.

?? Top Yorkshire Book Shops for Children

?? Top Yorkshire Book Shops for Children Top Yorkshire Book Shops for Children Sheffield - Rhyme and Reasonhttps://rhymeandreasonbooks.wordpress.com/We had to start in Sheffield... we love Rhyme and Reason because it's how all good bookshops should be... crammed with books! It is a magical little shop, located next to Endcliffe Park, so a great place to pick up a book for some afternoon reading in the sun. Rhyme and Reason - SheffieldHuddersfield - Children's Bookshophttp://www.childrensbookshuddersfield.co.ukWhat a fantastic place to inspire young readers! The shop has regular visitors from authors and illustrators and is a wonderful place to help your child find a new book.With tens of thousands of titles on the shelves, the beautiful shop has staff who are passionate about reading and will happily recommend the best new releases which will engage your child.We're sure that it's a place you will visit time and again with your child! Children's Bookshop - HuddersfieldLeeds - The Idle Hourhttp://www.the-idle-hour.co.ukThis is a fantastic bookshop for young readers. What particularly caught our eye was the under-16 book which groups, which are a brilliant initiative! With regular story-telling time for little ones, this is wonderful place to inspire children to read. Matlock - Scarthin Bookshttp://www.scarthinbooks.com/ David (a Yorkshireman), at Scarthin Books, is passionate about engaging young people in reading. The outreach work the bookshop undertakes in inviting children to write book reviews, or to come in and meet local authors, is exactly why shops like this can be a focal point of the community. This is a wonderful place to take your child if you are based in or near Matlock, which we know is not in Yorkshire, but we love the shop so much it's sneaked in here!If you would like to suggest other bookshops in the area, please comment below and we will happily feature them if we think they're worthy of a shout out!

Happy Monday

Happy Monday Hi, happy Monday to all our tutors and students! I`m not sure whether you like Mondays or not. I guess it depends on how much you like your job or don’t like it. I happen to love mine so I’m going to give you  some advice: Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life! If you are looking for a passionate and committed tutor to help your struggling student, you will find him on  TutorZ.com. Wishing you a wonderful week!