Sally Buxton Piano Studio
Mrs. Sally Buxton NCTM5711 Kenawee
Wichita, KS 67220Phone: (316) 744-3577Email: strbux@cox.net
Thousands of athletes all over the world are training hard this year, hoping to get to be in the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. In the same spirit, we can begin training this year for our own Wichita Metropolitan Music Teachers Association "Music Olympics" festival next summer. Even those athletes who do not make it through the final trials develop great skills and go on to use them in great ways in their lives! We can plan to do just the same!
Phase I of our preparation will be spent in learning new skills, polishing them as we go. We'll need our parents help in charting our progress as well as making sure we understand where we're going, and how we will get there! There will be some incentives along the way to keep us going!
Phase II of our preparation will be similar to the Olympic Trials that are held across each country to test those new skills and the endurance it takes to complete those worthy goals. Just as there will be incentives for Phase I, there will be rewards for accomplishing Phase II, to encourage you to "hang in there!"
Phase III will be the finals for our year of preparation. Some of you will want to team up to compete in the festival. (This is a festival where you can actually WIN!) Some of you may want to enter individual competitions. Some of you may not be available for the festival day, but we will have our own competition day with a chance for you to win awards and prizes.
I have ordered some special materials called "Piano Olympics" and have heard that the students who participate in this program like to play scales and chords so much, that they don't even like to take time to play songs! That's really hard to imagine, isn't it! So, that won't be our goal. We'll just aim for enough of those scales and things to give us new skills for learning great new songs and for being creative with our music.
I hope you'll catch the excitement of all the great things we can accomplish this year, just like all those hard working athletes. And just think, you won't have to watch your diet or get up at 5:00 a.m. each morning and work out to warm up before your "training sessions" (piano practice). Of course, you may do that if you'd like! If you find a regimen that works, let us all know about it! Otherwise, Happy Training!