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About Practice Lab
The Practice Lab is an innovative practice system Further Music develops to teach music students independent practice skills and accelerates achievement. Lab students move faster through their music, are better at practicing, and are more self-sufficient learners. For most beginning to intermediate students, it’s the best way to learn.
How it Works
In a 45-minute class, four to six students work separately at their pianos with headphones, alternating between interacting with the teacher and independent learning. The lab is compatible with any curriculum, preferred method or repertoire. Each student’s progress is completely separate and independent from everyone else. In addition to their regular curriculum books, Lab students work from Further Music's proprietary Lab curriculum which fills learning gaps and makes drilling scales and techniques fun!
Why does it work?
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Lab students have more support, better-developed practice and sight reading skills, more back-and-forth feedback from the teacher during Lab, and more time spent actually playing in class. The result? Practice becomes easy! Easier, more efficient practice means less struggle at home, faster progress and skyrocketing confidence. Here’s how all that happens:
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1. Better sight reading: There’s time for sight reading practice during class and students are pushed to be more independent in learning new songs.
2. More time for supplementary material like warmups and scales, games and composition because of the longer class time.
3. Improved muscular learning: Students are assigned pieces to work on at home that they already worked on in the Lab. This means that they’ll be spending the whole week rehearsing something they already know with their brain and learning it deeply with their fingers. And strong muscular learning (aka “muscle memory”) is a huge part of how future music-reading becomes easier and more fun!
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Why Students AND Parents Love Practice Lab
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The lab has been shown to dramatically improve a student’s sight reading skills. This is the biggest skill that students need in order to learn music quickly.
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Students move through their books faster.
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Students learn more music each week.
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Includes proven practice techniques so home practice is all about review and increasing speed.
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Less tedium = more fun at home.
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Minimizes the parent's need to supervise practice at home. Fewer battles about practicing and just more fun!
Who is the practice lab right for?
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The practice lab is great for students who are at least 6 years old, demonstrate independence in learning, follow directions easily, and are excited to learn piano!