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Dear Friends,
Before we get started, I wanted to let you know that I've created an archive of my past issues of this newsletter. I used to send it rather sporadically to just a small group of people, but now this newsletter is something I send most weeks to more than 4000 people 🤯, so the format, tone and focus have shifted significantly over time. Here's the link, if you're interested!
Anyway, yesterday I turned in my final grades for the semester! The life of a college professor follows rhythms not unlike those of a college student... minus the parties, perhaps! Life is measured in 15-week increments; we have periods of intense activity interspersed with stretches with very little structure. If you're a fellow music teacher or university faculty member, you know what I'm talking about! But I also know people in other fields experience similar feast-or-famine cycles in their professional life. If you’re an accountant, there’s tax season. If you're a pastor or church musician, there are the big festival seasons. If you work in a corporate role, the end of the calendar year often brings a mad dash to tie up loose ends.
My husband is also a professor at my same university. One advantage of having a spouse who’s also an academic is that we’re on the same calendar. The downside? We’re both busy at the same time. Nobody wants to clean the house or do the grocery shopping. Years ago, we created a little sign to get us through this season. It's a piece of paper with words printed in big, bold font. It says: “It’s the end of the semester. We are both doing our best. Give each other grace.”
We keep the sign tucked away in a drawer, and twice a year, in mid-April and early December, it comes out. If either of us gets a little snippy, we can just point to the sign. It’s a small thing, but it helps us approach this season with humor and reminds us to breathe.
These past few weeks haven't been for leisurely music listening or creative focus. Instead, I was teaching final lessons, writing recommendation letters, meeting with students to discuss their repertoire for next year, grading résumés and websites for my “Careers in Music” class, attending holiday open houses, and answering emails. So many emails.
And although I’m itching to push all of this aside and get back to practicing, what I’m learning is this: every season has its purpose.
Right now, this season's purpose isn’t to create, but to wrap up: to bring closure to the work of the semester. It’s a different kind of focus, but no less meaningful.
It would be easy to resent these busy seasons, and to want to rush into what comes next. But every ending makes space for something new. Soon, there will be time to sit at the piano, recharge, and dive into fresh projects. For now, I'm taking satisfaction in seeing things through to the finish line - and reminding myself (and my husband) to give each other grace.
So, my question for you this week is this: How do you navigate your own busy seasons? Do you find ways to embrace these times, or do you count down the days until they’re over? Write back and let me know - I always love hearing from you.
👋 Have a great week! Happy practicing! 🎹
-Kate
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This Week's Practice Tip: Reinforce Memory Through Chunking 🧩
Try this experiment:
Read the following sequence of numbers out loud once, wait 20 seconds, and then try to write it down from memory: 4872826.
Now, do the same with this one: 8675309.
You probably found the first sequence tricky but manageable. If you recognized the second as the phone number from the hit song Jenny, it was likely effortless.
This is chunking at work. When you’re already familiar with a sequence, like a phone number or a familiar melody, your brain groups it into one meaningful unit instead of processing each digit (or note) individually. Chunking reduces cognitive load and allows you to remember large amounts of information more efficiently.
The same principle applies to learning music. Instead of playing one note at a time, you can train your brain to recognize patterns, phrases, and structures as meaningful chunks. Here's how:
This Week’s Exercise: Practice in Chunks
- Identify and practice phrases or small sections.
Playing through a piece from start to finish is a common habit, but it’s also inefficient. Instead, select a small section of music and break it into discreet musical ideas and phrases. Practice these phrases repeatedly until they feel secure before moving on to the next. Build the piece phrase by phrase, rather than treating it as one block.
- Look for repeated material.
Music often repeats itself, whether it’s a melody, a motive, or an entire section. Identify these repetitions and practice them side by side. An example of this is practicing the same theme in the exposition and development of a sonata movement, back to back. Learning repeated elements well will solidify them in your memory and make the piece feel more manageable.
- Recognize chords and chord progressions.
Chords aren’t just root-position triads. They appear in inversions, different rhythms, and in different patterns. If you start recognizing chords and chord progressions in all their forms in your music, tricky accompaniments (especially in the left hand) will suddenly seem simple. Label chords in your score to help spot patterns more easily.
- Connect new pieces to familiar ones.
If a piece you’re learning reminds you of something you’ve played before, trust that instinct! Ask yourself what makes the two similar. Is it a rhythmic pattern? A chord progression? A melodic shape? By drawing these connections, you’ll sharpen your pattern recognition - and start to see how musical elements resurface in dozens of other pieces.
Chunking transforms the way you learn and remember music. Instead of getting stuck on individual notes, you’ll begin to see the bigger picture: phrases, patterns, and structures that make learning faster, easier, and more musical.
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🎥 YouTube Video: What I’ve Been Up To - Semester Update! 🎹
My most recent video is a new format for me. I give a brief summary of my Fall 2024 semester: what I've been practicing, teaching, performing and creating. It was fun to take the opportunity to think back and reflect on this past semester. Click here to watch the video!
My next tutorial video, in January, will be an answer to a question I often receive about wrist circles: which direction should your wrists go, anyway?
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Quote of the Week
“Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets. Art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.”
- Ludwig van Beethoven (Born December 16, 1770)
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Copyright 2024 Kate Boyd, All rights reserved.
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