Shine Music School's Blog

ork is often not completely understood by students until later in life when they realize that actually taking the time and putting in the effort to do one’s homework was what got them through school, finishing a degree, studying for exams, and so on.

Being a uni student, I have now realized just how important doing homework really is (yes, a bit slow I know). Doing homework can in actual fact be the deciding factor on whether you will get an A or an A+, or if you come first or second in your grade.

Whether it be for a straight hour or for two sets of thirty minutes (or more), every day students should be setting aside time to complete their homework. Not only will this confirm your knowledge of  concepts learnt during class, but it will also make revising for exams easier as you have already familiarized yourself with how to apply the theory you’ve learnt to solve questions.

Doing your homework will also help you keep up to date with the work in cla

o practice is just like disciplining yourself to do any other difficult task, such as dieting. Knowing far too well how hard it is to draw up a plan and stick to it (yes, those one-day-’diets’ got me nowhere…), and having had piano lessons back in the day, I know how hard it can be at times to drag yourself to the piano (or other instrument) and keep your mind focused on practicing and practicing well.

Although you get drilled by your parents and your teacher to keep practicing and studying and the like, because you’ve heard it so often, their ‘helpful encouragement’ doesn’t really get you motivated to practice… again, just like dieting. Although the thoughtful “I think you’ll look great if you were a few kilos lighter” remarks from my mom are… gratefully accepted by me, it doesn’t give me quite the right motivation to start and stick to a diet.

Sometimes the best forms of motivation come from the unexpected, and this makes perfect sense, seeing as it carries the element of surprise on their side. After tragically putting on some weight over the summer break, my coach’s coach for volleyball came in to one of my team’s training sessions one day as a ’special guest’. After training, we were having a few drinks (so much for the training), and out of the blue, the coach turns to me and says “Oi. You’ve gained weight haven’t you? I can tell.” Although it wasn’t the first time I have heard it, it was certainly a shock to hear it from him.

Since then I watch what I eat (well at least in front of him any

always wonder how you can put a quantitative unit onto music – the music industry seems to put a price to different albums, singles, and even individual songs (for e.g. on iTunes). The worth of a CD when it first comes out can be almost up to $50 per CD, depending on the number of tracks, the popularity of the artist and the popularity of any of the songs on the album. After time, perhaps in a year or even in a few months, the worth of the album as well as the songs on that album, decrease gradually until you can find ‘CD’s For Sale’ in those large bins/boxes at JB HI FI!

My mother personally thought she had wasted her money after I have up violin lessons after 6 years. Despite all of the telling off I received after I told her that I didn’t want to play anymore, I don’t think it was a waste. I now know and understand concepts of music that someone who never learnt music would know. When I feel like it, during the holidays and occasionally t

o play an instrument can be a fulfilling, life-long achievement. You can play music you enjoy at any time of your life; whether you’re stressed, bored, or asked to play at a wedding or event – it can benefit you for the rest of your life! Of course, you have to master it as well as you can for a good decade (give or take a few years depending on your level).

Despite the beauty of it all, sometimes (and this happens quite often) people choose the wrong instrument. Why is it wrong? Well, I don’t mean the word “wrong” here as the dictionary might define: “not in accordance with what is morally right or good”. I mean it to mean that an instrument can be wrong in accordance with you as a character. Some people can spend years trying to learn an instrument that they might have been forced to learn, or one they initially thought they would enjoy. However, after the years pass and your interest dwindles away…people find themselves having wasted all this time and effort on something they choose not to play. Of course, this time hasn’t been really wasted, as learning music will benefit you in many aspects of your life. It just may have been that you could have spent that time on the instrument most suited for you.

If you don’t enjoy an instrument – you might not practice enough (or even want to practice), you should stop playing it. Unless you try and find some form of motivation and encouragement that works for you, it will be a waste of time and m

udent who has captured my attention for a couple of weeks now has such a passion for playing the piano. As young as he is, the dedication that he demonstrates for the instrument is not even facilitated by any external factors such as his mother but rather for his love and interest for the piano.

Today, as he came in the usual body language of “ready to go” with a big smile on his face. As his teacher comes out he races to the run

ying the guitar look so easy, just sitting there, relaxed, strumming away at the guitar strings, often accompanied by some light singing. Whenever I watch guitar players, they always seem at ease, as if the world is their oyster. So last night, I challenged myself to learn a whole song on the guitar.

I was over at my cousin’s house for a family gathering, so I asked my cousin, who has been playing the guitar for quite some time, to teach me how to play “Angel of Mine” by Monica (I don’t know why he knows how to play this song… I think I should give him some sheet music for songs like “American Idiot” by Green Day or something…).

However, after I watched him play the first chord about 35 times and then tried it myself, it was so difficult to even get my hand wrapped around the …I want to say finger board?… or even getting my fingers in the right place! After about 10 minutes, I finally got them in place and strummed the first chord, which I now practice at home on my brother’s guitar (yes, it is just one chord, but it is so ha

a new year and start of school, the stresses of life eventually get to you and tear you apart. After feeling sick with a drastically mutated form of the cold for over two weeks now, my once healthy and strong body is slowly breaking down. My eyes are red, teary and straining to stare at the screen; the skin on my nose so torn apart I need to apply paw paw ointment to keep it from hurting when I have to blow my nose (a once every few minutes occurrence) and overall, I look…sick. I have now realised, the way you feel is the way you look from the outside. When someone is truly happy and excited, you can tell by the radiant smiles, eyes crinkling, lips upturned – like most of the students who walk in. On the other hand, I have become something like a monster… physically looking ill with characteristic dark circles under the puffy eyes, a pale face, red nose and a tissue attached almost permanently to my nose.

When I feel sick, I don’t want to face the public unless I have a balaclava, scarf and am basically unrecognizable to the public. I can imagine the shock and horror some of the students and parents would feel if they came in and saw me sitting here with a balaclava on. The students on Thursday afternoons have become accustomed to seeing my face, usu

of our previous blog posts about how music is such a mood setter, I’ve also noticed how music softens the blow of awkward moments. I myself am quite the awkward person at times, not knowing what to say to certain people who are too outgoing for my simpleton mind and quiet personality.

Today at uni, I happened to meet eyes with a person that I met at a uni event a few months back. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and we were not that well acquainted, so our awkward “Hey, how have you been?” conversation lasted about 7 seconds before we felt the cold wind blowing, heard the crickets chirping, and saw the crow flying over our heads “Gah… Gah… Gah…”…
… which led me to remember a time when I felt that similar awkward moment at Shine.

A student who had been coming for a few weeks just walked in, so I said a friendly “Hey Rebecca!” to her. All would have been swell… except for the fact that her name was not Rebecca (although it did start with an ‘R’).

I continued looking at her, waiting for my response, but the only thing she responded with was a puzzled face. I looked back with an even more puzzled face thinking ‘Why is she looking at me like that… Is there something on my face…’.

She muttered a soft (possibly forced) ‘hi’ and sat down in the waiting area. I soon realized that her name wasn’t Rebecca, and let out a short but audible ‘oh!’ gasp, which “Rebecca” obviously heard, because she avoided any eye contact after that. The awkward silence that followed was even more painful than being hit in the face by a volleyball. Out came the imaginary crickets, the crow, and a tumbleweed that rolled between us. I was thinking ‘Should I say sorry and get back to work? Should I say sorry and laugh it off? Should I even say anything?

he inspiring moment when you see a student running out of class, a new piece to play in their hands, begging to go home so they can start practicing their new song. But it is even more touching to see a student loving their music lessons so much that they recommend their friends to learn!

Today a student came in with her brother and sister who both had lessons. She was waiting for their lessons to finish, so one of our teachers was talking to her. She told him that she

#8220;the sky is the limit”, I automatically put it into a pile of motivational, life-encouraging quotes; these quotes are nice to read in a little book, or on the side of a newspaper. For me, these quotes usually seem so far out of reach; far enough to not be a part of your own reality. Teachers, parents, other adult-figures always tell you to become someone hectic later on in life because, of course, the sky is the limit! This doesn’t really help the journey you have to make to reach the sky. No one tells you how hard its going to be, or how much practice, effort and time you have to put into achieving this goal. Sometimes you just have to learn on your own. If a teacher discourages a student by saying that he or she can’t play this piece or be prepared in time for exams, I think that the student should fight back and say that he or she can. They just have to put it the effort and really try!