By Erin Cole Steele
Essential Elements Interactive Contributing Editor & Clinician
You are an INSPIRATION! You have defined resilience and creativity this past school year. This summer is a wonderful time for you and your students to recharge your batteries and get excited about making music TOGETHER again! Retention is the name of the game right now. Work to connect with your students over the summer and find ways to keep them motivated and excited about playing their instrument.
We all want to see our students practicing their instruments over the summer and staying motivated!
Hopefully these tips will help.
Summer Pass-Offs with Incentives
Consider having a summer pass-off system with some type of incentive for completion of the assignments. You can make assignments of music, exercises, or lines from the book that you want students to play over the summer. Have them submit recordings via the Music Studio in EEi. You can even give students feedback on their performance once they submit.
Are you using EE but have not enrolled your students in EEi?
It's FREE with the purchase of their student book and now it is easier than ever to get kids started. Students can create their own account and then join their teacher's class - no data entry necessary on the teacher's part. Click the link below for easy steps on getting your students enrolled so they can use EEi over the summer.
EEi Resources
(Written Assignments or Additional Music)
The EEi Resources Section allows you to upload and share resources to your students via the web. Give them assignments from the EEi Resources section or create an assignment using resources of your own that you can upload to EEi (videos, links, mp3 recordings, etc.).
"Student Choice" Music for Summer Practice
Summer is a great time for students to work on their favorite music. You can't always program the music every student loves, so encourage them to find their favorite songs in solo books that are written to their level.
Stream Digital Sheet Music!
Discover some new music to play on Sheet Music Direct. This website / app offers music from every genre, instrument and skill level for students to find. They can search for their favorites and browse all the latest new releases with arrangements for a wide range of instruments.
Sheet Music Direct PASS offers unlimited streaming of sheet music and access to over 1.1 million arrangements.
A FREE 30 Day Trial is available to start the summer. This is a monthly subscription service and parents will need to create an account if the student is under 18 years of age.
Find and Adapt Music on Noteflight Marketplace
Noteflight Marketplace includes over 70,000 songs all available as editable Noteflight notation files. Music can be printed, edited in Noteflight, and easily adapted for other instruments. Students may also compose and arrange their own music using a free Noteflight Basic account, available for ages 13 and older.
Communicate Summer Practice Expectations
(with students and parents)
Give the students expectations for summer practicing. It is ok to let parents know students need to play their instruments over the summer. Students have worked hard all year to develop skills. Summer practice will ensure they do not lose those skills.
Many parents will welcome an activity for their child to do at home during the day. You can even have them submit practice logs through EEi. Additionally, you can communicate with the parents through EEi to give them ideas on how to guide their young musicians in summer practice.
Parent Communication:
Summer Camps, Concerts or Events
The EEi Communication Section is also useful over the summer. You can send information to parents and students about summer music camps you would recommend they attend. While only a few of these camps may be taking place in-person, there are many camps that are being offered virtually. Check your regular summer music camps or even suggest students attend virtual camps at one of their favorite universities not in their local area.
Additionally, as things open back up, you can also let students and parents know about concerts happening over the summer in your area (symphony orchestra concerts, community band concerts, military band concerts, dci shows, etc.). Outdoor concerts are starting to happen regularly. Use this as extra credit if they attend. Students would just need to submit a program/concert ticket showing they attended.
Happy Summer Practice!
As you finish out the school year and get ready for summer, don't forget to give your students just a few suggestions for carrying their hard work through the summer into next school year. Have a great last few weeks of the year and a re-charging summer.