recital
"Playing" Your Instrument
by Ginevra Ralph, Director of Education
“Summertime” evokes playing and having fun. "Playing" a musical instrument should too – after all, that is the word we use to describe what you are doing!
At The Shedd we expect students to leave their lesson wanting to play their instrument at home. Too often going home and being required to practice implies sheer drudgery. (Our professionals are the ones who need to practice—we’ll be paying to hear their proficiency!) A student isn’t typically gearing up for a big performance, and, if they aren’t thoroughly enjoying making music, something is wrong. It’s a critical moment for an adult student or a parent of a younger one to examine why not. There are many changes that can be made to maintain that enthusiasm that was the reason they wanted to learn in the first place.
Granted, for a mature student, there indeed can be intellectual and emotional satisfaction from deliberate practicing – the reward of accomplishing something that was difficult, or even, as author Stephanie Judy noted simply observing “ourselves in the act of learning.” But these are more self-reflective and sophisticated enjoyable moments than the broader reasons that most people say they like making music.
As a Shedd music student, you will change over time – and as you do we want you to keep the playfulness and joy of making your own music first and foremost in your experience.
Term Announcements
Summer Term 2016 begins Sunday, June 19.
Begin private lessons anytime!
No camp sessions scheduled: Monday, July 4 (Independence Day).
- Summer SongFest! (June 20-July 22)
- Musical Theatre Training Academy (June 20-July 8)
- Jazz Academy 1 (July 5-8)
- Mariachi del Shedd (July 5-15)
- Musical Theatre Sampler (July 5-July 22)
- Beginning Strings Camp (July 11-15)
- Caribbean Rock (July 18-22)
- Jazz Academy 2 (July 18-22)
- Chamber Strings Camp (July 18-22)
- Acoustic Guitar Camp (July 25-29)
- Junkyard Bucket Band (July 25-29)
- Junior Vaudeville (August 1-5)
Focus on Summer Camps
SongFest 2016
SongFest 2016
Every year, elementary school children enjoy The Shedd Institute’s Summer SongFest, 4 one-week music enrichment camps with kid-friendly themes. This year's themes are:
Globetrotters (June 20-24)
Circus! (Jun 27-Jul 1)
Tall Tales (July 11-15)
Water Water Everywhere! (July 18-22)
MTS
Musical Theatre Sampler 2016
The Shedd Institute's musical theatre camp for middle schoolers offers 3 stand-alone week-long camps that each focus on a different era of American musical theatre over the past 100 years. Read more...
MTTA
Musical Theatre Training Academy
The Shedd Institute's intensive training camp for young adults returns June 20th. Taught by actors, singers and dancers at the top of their profession, this 3 week camp affords the dedicated thespian a compact, serious course in what it really takes to be a "triple threat". Read more...
Wells Fargo Bank
Music School Supporter
The Eye Center
Shedd Presenting Sponsor