Opie really enjoyed yesterday’s Challenge. She was instructed to do her scales (this week learning F major thirds, plus playing G major thirds and C 2 octaves for speed with metronome) and then to play five to ten of her favorite songs, each twice through.
She must have played 10 to 15 different pieces, leafing through her “Oboe for Kids” book and stopping for anything that looked familiar. She smiled, she sparkled, she talked a lot — can you guess what this one is? How about that one?
The benefits I could see:
- a good, long practice session with some sight reading and different key signatures
- a reminder that she enjoys playing the oboe
- a reminder that she can play a lot of songs quite well
- a reminder that there is a lot of different music out there
And there were more benefits today: at practice this afternoon she was more focussed and paid more attention to what she was doing, even though she was tired.
Obviously she can’t play favorites all the time if she’s going to improve, but I’m definitely putting this challenge back into the deck for sometime in the future.
