“JUST – KEEP – GOING”
That was the phrase I had to keep repeating to myself a few weeks ago, to stop from throwing my phone across the room. I had been learning Swedish from an app for about a week. It was fun and exciting for the first few lessons….until the app revealed that Swedish uses sounds not found in English, and they were unrecognizable to me! The grammar is strange, I couldn’t find a pattern to why word endings were changing, and some really negative thoughts started creeping in to my mind—“You will never understand this.” “This is pointless.” “I should give up and stop wasting my time, because this is not ever going to make sense.”
Those terribly destructive phrases threatened to sabotage my efforts for several minutes, before some other part of my brain finally woke up and came to my defense. “YES, I WILL eventually learn this. I have learned things in the past, I will learn this. It doesn’t have to all make perfect sense. JUST. KEEP. GOING.” And that has stayed my mantra as I continue to battle with Swedish word endings and sounds.
Learning anything, be it a language or a musical instrument, will have challenges. Especially in the beginning, it can seem like it is too big of a task, too much to learn. But I hope in those moments, our music students will look at the next step ahead of them, and just keep going. One tiny step, one movement forward is all it takes. Because Swedish really is beautiful. And when I travel there this summer for the first time, I will be so proud of myself to speak a little bit of the language. And you will be so proud of yourself, with every musical milestone you accomplish!
Thank you for making KCRB part of your musical journey, I’m so proud of each and every one of our students. If there is anything you need, or any way I can make your musical education with us better, please don’t hesitate to contact me!
Laura Lee Crandall
Owner, KC Rock Band & Guitar School of Music
816)419-8526
lauralee@kcrockband.com
Student of the Month – Piper DiSalvo
Piper has been a KCRB piano student for two years! Her teacher, Karren Schiele, choose Piper because, “Piper has shown improvement in her practicing. Her practice habits are to play each hand separately, clapping the rhythm, and putting it together at a slow pace.” Way to go, Piper! Here’s a little more about her:
Age: 11
Grade: 5th
Why did you start taking piano lessons? I love how the piano sounds and I can play cool songs.
What is your favorite song you’ve played so far? A Minuet for Mr. Bach’s Children
Do you play any other instruments? I’m in Band at school, playing percussion
What do you want to be when you grow up? An elementary school teacher
What’s your favorite book? The Babysitter’s Club Series
Any advice for other music students? Practice your notes a lot because it will become harder when learning new music!
Way to go, Piper! We’re so proud of you!