Things to know about lessons….. from your teacher, Amy Wilhelm

ATTENDANCE: Please let me know as soon as possible if you can not make a scheduled lesson. Try not to miss unless you are truly sick. Rescheduling frequently can be a big hassle. It would be very helpful for me to have phone numbers for you, if I should need to cancel a lesson. My numbers are (home) 651-779-7046 and (cell) 651-246-5975. If absences become a problem I may need to consider making your lesson time slot available to other students.

PRACTICE: Practicing guidelines are variable depending on each student’s unique situation, but here is a rough ball park to guide you…also, aim for six days a week:
Beginners: 10-20 minutes daily, Intermediate: 20-30 minutes daily, Advanced: 30-40 minutes daily
The student, parent(s) and teacher should understand and agree to the student’s daily and weekly goal. I will do my best at the lesson to help the student improve musically, but a lot will depend on the practice put in at home. Please write down practice minutes and remember to have parent signature each week.

NEEDED EQUIPMENT: For all students, some kind of kitchen timer is very helpful to use while practicing. Set the timer for your goal and try not to let interruptions interfere with your focus. Also, I ask piano students to have a metronome to use. I can give you details and suggestions about this. Another helpful item is a folder to use to keep loose sheets of music and/or assignment journals in.
Piano students must play on a keyboard with full size keys. Once the piano student is past the beginning level, I strongly urge you to practice on a real piano, not a keyboard.
Instrumental students must rent, borrow or own their own instrument and are responsible for upkeep and repairs of their instrument. For instrumentalists it is helpful to have a music stand or something to hold your music at eye level. Posture affects your ability to breathe correctly and directly affects your tone and technique.
Also, I will suggest music books for you to purchase which we will use at lessons. Music books may be bought online or in a store such as Schmidt Music near Maplewood Mall.

LASTLY REMEMBER: Music lessons are never a waste, even if a student only takes a year or two of lessons. Though, I hope you will continue for a lifetime because the rewards are great! The things learned can serve students well in many other facets of life. Here are just a few examples: 1) Students will have the ability to read and process symbols (learning another language). They will simultaneously read and convert those symbols into lovely sounds to be enjoyed by all. 2) The language of music involves math concepts of rhythm, counting and division of the beat. 3) Creating music calls upon emotions and feelings because it can touch our souls in ways that words alone cannot. 4) It broadens our view of history and places and cultures and people because it is so diverse. 5) Regular practice forces students to experience discipline in their lives, which is a huge benefit that can transfer to other subjects in school and life. 6) Taking music lessons allows a student to set short and long term goals, allows them to work (yes work) towards them and ultimately achieve them. 7) Participating in performances gives students a chance to be in front of an audience and helps promote a positive self image with each experience building upon the previous to shape a confident young adult.