In this episode John Kozicki (Michigan Rock School and RockSchoolProprietor.com) and Mandy York (Music Time of Milford) explain why play in music lessons should come before practice in part two of their three part series, Play Beats Practice. The duo explain how playful, experiential activities naturally lead students to pick up their instruments. They revisit a list of 10 play-based assignments—like sharing favorite songs, hosting informal concerts, learning from YouTube, songwriting, and trying new instruments—that replace minute-per-day practice assignments.
Designed for private music teachers, parents, and studio owners, this episode offers practical ideas to keep students engaged, build musical skills without pressure, and foster lifelong music lovers.
————————————–
Your ratings and reviews on Apple Podcast and Spotify are always appreciated!
Join our private Facebook group, “The Modern Music School,” a community for like-minded professionals to connect and share insights.
Looking for a simple and effective guitar curriculum that includes FREE instructor training and support? Consider John’s book, Complete Guitar Strumming.
Episode Transcript:
(Please note: This transcript was generated by robots. There may be errors. For the best experience, please listen to the podcast episode.)
John Kozicki (00:01.107)
Welcome to Rock School Proprietor Podcast. My name is John Kozicki.
Mandy York (00:10.821)
And I’m Mandy York.
John Kozicki (00:13.286)
And this is going to be our I guess part two of this little mini series of episodes that we’re doing on practice, Mandy.
last time we talked a little bit about reframing practice and and I don’t know, it felt like it it felt like a little push and pull between you and me, I think.
Mandy York (00:41.819)
Yes. It was I loved the episode. Yes. It was a good it was a good like talk through. I loved it. Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (00:51.368)
And yeah, and to recap, I was like, nope, practice is dumb. And you were like, No, practice is the best. And that not tr no yeah, not exactly. I think my position
Mandy York (00:58.215)
Important.
John Kozicki (01:08.716)
Which I guess more than anything, I’m coming at the idea of practice as something that is much more nuanced than well, of course you have to practice in music lessons. Yeah, you do have to practice in music lessons if your expectation is to see improvement on specific skills. I’m not downplaying that. but
Where I’m coming from is more play, more play in music lessons and less less expectation at every single lesson. The instructor says, All right, go home and practice this for 20 minutes every single day. And that being kind of this metric for success.
Mandy York (01:44.518)
Yes.
Mandy York (02:04.699)
Yes. And I am with you on that. I I’m absolutely always behind like more play. And I think the idea that we discussed is that there is much more beyond setting the egg timer for fifteen minutes and then putting the instrument down. There’s a lot more that that that constitutes as practice and music learning.
John Kozicki (02:19.756)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (02:30.496)
Yeah. And again, to sort of reiterate my position, I think that when we focus on play-based learning, that is that’s what’s going to inspire students to want to learn more and want to improve more. So I think it’s just it like I think we especially with beginners, and you know, who knows, maybe even a couple of years into lessons, I feel like it’s sort of backwards.
where, you know, lesson one, they learn something. Okay, go home and practice this. More play. More play is is my my position here.
Mandy York (03:11.855)
Yep. I like it.
John Kozicki (03:13.8)
and we also, here’s the other thing though, we also have this challenge with parents that they almost expect that. They almost expect like and they’ll ask, how much time should my kid be practicing? And our default response is to give an answer that is based on time. really should be practicing 20 minutes a day. And I think it’s a cop out answer.
Mandy York (03:43.9)
Yeah. It’s kind of yeah. It yeah, it’s it’s easy to give. It’s what we think that maybe the parent wants to hear, you know, something very concrete that they can go home and say, All right, this is what you need to do. Particularly if the parent is not a musician, doesn’t have any musical background, they they need to know what am I supposed to do at home? It’s an easy answer.
John Kozicki (03:44.834)
Like it is an answer. Sorry, go ahead.
John Kozicki (04:03.554)
Right. Yeah.
John Kozicki (04:11.106)
Yeah, and so we talked a lot about this way, way, way back in episode four, redefining practice, what counts as practice. and in that episode, we gave a list of a bunch of examples of things that you can do that look more like playing, but should count as practice. And I also broke that episode down or the the strategy down into two two
Types of practice. Skill building practice, which is what we’ve been talking about. Like, yeah, you’ve got to log hours, you’ve got to get repetitions in to see progress. And then this other category, experiential practice. in that episode, I also referenced Adam Grant’s book, Hidden Potential. And way, way, way back when I read that, well over two years ago, he devotes an entire chapter. It’s a book on learning.
Right, but he devotes an entire chapter on music and music learning and the importance of joy in the process rather than feeling pressure to achieve an outcome.
Mandy York (05:24.807)
Hm. Yep. Which is play. That is play, yeah.
John Kozicki (05:27.306)
And yes, exactly, exactly. And that’s in large part what this is this is kind of based on. So
What I thought we would do today is I’ve got this list of ten engagement and enrichment assignments that I think should count as practice, but they’re kind of more play focused and and exploratory. and so maybe I’ll read one. You give me your reaction and you you can you know you can put your
Performance major hat back on if you want. Or you can keep your current, you know, play-based instructor hat on, whichever you want. All right. okay, number one: have your student choose a song or piece of music that all that they already know and love to play. Include that as part of their practice for the week.
Mandy York (06:15.419)
Yes. All right. Let’s go through it.
John Kozicki (06:33.675)
and then additionally what you could do is you could have them keep track of how many times they play that piece throughout the the week. you could have them change it and use different different dynamics, play it faster, play it slower, play it louder, play it softer. What do you think?
Mandy York (06:53.723)
I love this. I love this. And I hear it happen at my house too, because I think this is a great example of experiencing joy through music. This is something that they enjoy. They get a lot of the student gets a lot of satisfaction out of playing this piece because they already know it, right? My my oldest daughter really likes to play ukulele. She’s not a performer like my other daughter.
John Kozicki (07:13.42)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (07:22.523)
Right. My one daughter’s a performer, the other isn’t. And I will just sometimes hear her pick up the instrument and and play around with it. many times she starts with something she knows, you know, and cause she loves it and she can do it well, that makes her feel good. And I think it’s really valid be for those reasons it’s valid, but also she’s she’s building muscle memory by playing that song, right?
John Kozicki (07:38.103)
Yeah.
John Kozicki (07:51.415)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (07:52.112)
She’s she’s still developing her skills, even though that it’s something she’s already learned. I’m all about this. I love it.
John Kozicki (08:01.323)
Yeah, and equally important I think is that she’s reinforcing that she can take this knowledge and this skill that she’s built and she’ll have it forever.
Mandy York (08:15.767)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
John Kozicki (08:17.517)
And in knowing that she has that forever, at any point she can decide to build on those skills. Any point in the future, right? And I think
I if if the approach, you know, if the approach with your students is you’re having them do competitions and and like tests and things like that, maybe yeah, you’ve gotta focus more on like that skill building practice. But if our goal in our studios is to create lifelong music lovers, lifelong music players, then we have to teach them how they can carry these skills with them forever.
Mandy York (09:02.396)
Yes.
John Kozicki (09:02.431)
And how to use them, not just something that feels like home.
Mandy York (09:06.439)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And as a as a singer myself, you know, throughout their your your career as a student, you are building a repertoire, right? And I loved it’s exciting to build your repertoire to learn new music. But then, you know, going back to a piece of music, pulling it out for a concert or for a competition, I really enjoyed that, picking something that I loved once upon a time.
and bringing it back and kind of breathing new life into it, right? You’re not gonna s y it it grows with you, right? As your skills develop and change. So I think it’s a great thing. Two thumbs up. Okay.
John Kozicki (09:37.078)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
John Kozicki (09:45.73)
All right, number two. Okay, cool. Number two, similar to number one, but have your student choose a song or piece of music they already know and love to play. Then plan for them to host a concert for family or friends at some point during the week. The concert can be informal, in person, via Zoom or FaceTime, like for grandparents or whoever. Okay, thoughts on that one.
Mandy York (10:11.663)
I really like this too a lot. And I think we need to be doing this more in general. I mean I I love the idea of like what I would call is parlor music. Everybody around the pe piano, you know, like I really love that and we don’t do that anymore in our in our culture and society. I think maybe nowadays it’s it is more likely to someone pulls out a piano or a I’m sorry, a guitar, you know.
John Kozicki (10:25.345)
Mm, mm hmm. Yeah.
Mandy York (10:41.049)
And we’ve talked about like the campfire sing along and stuff like that. I wish we were doing this more and like and normalizing it more.
John Kozicki (10:50.069)
The other thing about this that I I mean I’ve learned in in my studio at the rock school, when there’s a performance, there’s more practice. You know, when students know, hey, people are gonna be watching me play, right? Build that in, put it in there. You know, it doesn’t have to be for recitals or something else. Just plan a reason. Hey, do this.
Mandy York (11:02.189)
Yes, of course. Yeah.
Mandy York (11:19.503)
Yes. Yep. And I would say we’ve done we’ve done that in our family, extended family, even a little bit, where we’ll say, Okay, at Christmas we’re going to do this. So bring bring your violin and your clarinet and everybody will play something, right? But and I that’s that’s a little bit more what you’re talking about, a more of a prepared showcase. But it’s also really fun when it just comes out too. Yep. Informally.
John Kozicki (11:34.113)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (11:44.514)
Yes, yeah, yeah. All right, number three, let’s go to number three. Have your student learn something new, a song, a part of a song, video game, jingle, chords, scales, whatever of their choosing from YouTube. So they learn it from YouTube. It can be literally anything that you have not done in lessons. And then the following week, they should tell you or
play it for you or tell tell you what they learned and play it for you.
Mandy York (12:19.911)
I like it. I like it. I like tutorial videos kind of in general. So I can get behind this. I okay, so I’ll push back just a little bit because there’s you can find anything on YouTube, right? I as an instructor would kind of would want to know who’s who’s teaching you and what exactly are they teaching you.
John Kozicki (12:34.284)
Okay.
Mandy York (12:49.497)
You know, like I would get nitpicky, like, is that the st is that the sound we’re going for or the style we’re going for? Or obviously I’m a singer, but is that the finger position that I would recommend? I don’t know if that’s a thing, but right? So I would I I would get a little picky in that aspect, but I do love when kids take that initiative and and learn something.
John Kozicki (12:51.297)
Yeah.
John Kozicki (13:05.486)
I know you worry about bad habits.
John Kozicki (13:14.859)
Yeah, I have a reply for that. y you treat it as a learning experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had students come in and have taken it upon themselves to learn something or looked up a guitar tab online, and if it’s wrong, I say, well, does this note sound right? Does this sound like it’s supposed to sound? You know, listen to it.
So use it as a learning experience, right? They can make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.
Mandy York (13:48.167)
Yes. All right. I love that. Yep. Cool.
John Kozicki (13:51.115)
Okay. Number four, have your student find a new song or artist, then share that new song or artist with you the following week. Did they like it, dislike it, reasons why? They can get recommendations or suggestions from a family member or friend. they can explore on streaming apps like Spotify or Apple Music. So v no real playing assignment there. Just
Go find some music.
Mandy York (14:23.813)
Yeah, and I really like this a lot too. I think it’s important. this is something I’m even very conscious of in the early childhood music space. I’m telling my parents all the time. I I we have a really strong curriculum and I love the music that we that we use in classes. It’s traditional and it’s multicultural, but it it is simple and it’s children’s music, right?
John Kozicki (14:52.842)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (14:53.305)
I always encourage this isn’t the only thing we give kids though. Go home and what is what do you love, parents? What do you love to listen to? Play that at home too. Dance to that kind of music and different eras, different genres, all of it. Give those little ears, you know, a a smorgasborg of of music. All kinds of great.
musical food. I’m all about it.
John Kozicki (15:22.612)
What this yeah, and in my in my opinion, what this does is it it sort of feeds that exploratory mind in encourages s kids, students to just explore and find things that they like, and then that opens up a conversation. What do you like about it? What are you listening to?
I can’t tell ya how many times I’ve observed students changing how like I’ve seen how they listen to to music differently as they learn. So like if you ask most people who don’t play, if you ask them about a song, what do they like about it? They’ll tell you about the lyrics. They’ll sing along with the maybe they’ll get the melody, right? But
They don’t necessarily listen to anything else beyond the lyrics. And oftentimes I think students probably start the same way. If it’s a guitar student, maybe they’ll start listening to the guitar. But it’s it’s pretty rare that I’ve seen young guitar students start to see or listen for how guitar interacts with other aspects of the song.
I what it I mean, I guess what is that when you’re learning? Do you know?
Mandy York (16:57.583)
I mean it’s something I’ve experienced with young children, but my my daughters like this a lot. She’ll point things out in in a song, like, I love this part. Do you hear that bass underneath? or or or a percussion or s a specific percussion instrument. And you know, it’s her music. I’m just kind of hearing it in the background. But then when she points it out, I’ve I’m like, yeah, that very cool, you know?
John Kozicki (17:11.433)
Yeah.
Mandy York (17:25.133)
Or when she picks up a theme that comes back within music, it it’s very cool. yeah, they’re they’re training their ears. You know, that’s what this is. They’re they’re doing this ear training and analyzing music as they they listen. So cool. And as an instructor, you can you learn your student and you can say, Well, if you like this, try this. Maybe you would like this too, or which is just expanding their world even more.
John Kozicki (17:25.824)
Yes.
John Kozicki (17:36.01)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (17:51.646)
Yeah.
Right, and it’s all a jumping off point for understanding theory. Instead of like, okay, get out your theory book now. Right? When there’s no context for theory necessarily. okay, moving on. Number five. similar, have your student listen to five random songs. Shuffle mode or streaming apps or curated playlists are great for this, and rate them best to worst.
Mandy York (17:58.961)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes.
John Kozicki (18:22.464)
And then have them share their list and discuss it at the next lesson.
Mandy York (18:27.931)
Yeah, I like this. This kind of goes along with your last point, right? It’s a listening exercise and and training their ear to to listen for things and analyze what they’re hearing. That’s good. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
John Kozicki (18:31.348)
Yeah. Yes.
John Kozicki (18:39.904)
Right, expands that conversation. opens up opportunities to teach, I think, that are that are prompted by the student, not necessarily the instructor. All right, number six, have your student go to a concert, a recital, a live performance, or watch a live performance video of their choosing.
possibly the student’s favorite artist or musician, have them tell you about the details the following week.
Mandy York (19:15.867)
Yes. Absolutely. We’ve talked about live music before. Like, my gosh, live music is life. There is nothing like it. It is so exciting. and I know you have experienced this with your with your daughter at least, but watching your kid at a live music show is is very cool. It’s really fun to see like physically see what happens when they’re experiencing music and then the excitement after the concert.
John Kozicki (19:32.62)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (19:46.267)
them talking about it. It’s it’s like essential as far as I’m concerned, live music. Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (19:51.615)
I I agree. I mean, it’s literally I mean, we’re living in an age that is like if you compare all of music history and the age that we’re living in with recorded music, it it’s the minority on that timeline. Live music is is mostly what it’s about.
Mandy York (20:10.299)
Yeah. Yeah.
John Kozicki (20:17.226)
Okay, we’ll move on. number, what are we on? Number seven? Number seven. Have your student ask a parent or a friend who is your favorite musician? What is your favorite song? Then the student should listen to that song, discuss what what your student learned the following lesson.
Mandy York (20:23.687)
Seven.
Mandy York (20:41.605)
Yes. Yes. If you didn’t mention this, I was going to bring it up in the other exercises. Cause I think this is cool. Like, obviously my students are very tiny. Their parents are deciding what’s playing on the the Bluetooth speaker at home or whatever, right? they’re obviously they have preferences and they’re gonna ask for golden over and over and over again. But the parents also, the parents get to decide what
John Kozicki (20:45.663)
Okay.
John Kozicki (21:00.779)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (21:08.468)
Ha ha ha.
Mandy York (21:11.451)
what they hear. And we do that at our house. my kids are, you know, young teenagers, so we get some eye rolls. But other times, you know, especially my older, she’s like, this is actually good. Like she’s so surprised, you know? I think it’s really great passing music on is important and awesome. And the artists that they’re listening to now are influenced by all of these other artists that
John Kozicki (21:39.423)
Yeah.
Mandy York (21:39.749)
we, you know, that we listened to when we were young. So definitely. And yeah, the grandparents too. My my dad is a musician, so grandpa has an influence on my kids’ musical preferences too, to a degree. So yep.
John Kozicki (21:55.627)
Yeah. Okay. Number eight, have your student choose a musician, instrument, or any music-related topic to read about. Watch a YouTube video about, or otherwise learn about during the week. Have your student share what they learned at the next lesson. Now I will say, this starts to feel a little like home.
Right. And I was sort of railing on the idea of practice feeling like homework. but I think still breaks up that monotony of the expectation of practice as homework. And this becomes, you know
Mandy York (22:22.417)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (22:43.774)
A little something different.
Mandy York (22:45.487)
Yeah. Yes. I it this makes me think of like all of the really great documentaries that are out there. There’s you know, like that is really enjoyable. I know I’m thinking specifically like in college, we we watched a lot of musical documentaries, like whether it was rock documentaries or composers or
classical musicians, they can be really enjoyable. And at at least in my house, that’s something to do together that we would enjoy. Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (23:22.348)
Mm-hmm.
Alright, number nine, this is one of my favorites. Have your student write their own music. They can write a song, a part of a song, a simple melody, a commercial jingle for their favorite game, or anything else. They can write on their own instrument. They can use loops or an app like GarageBand. They can write lyrics for a song or anything else that allows them to create and explore.
And then have them share it with you.
Mandy York (23:58.418)
Yes. Yeah. What an amazing creative process. I love this. I love this. And we do like
Playing with music and songwriting in our house. My younger one especially likes that. yeah, what a talk about theory, right? What a great way to just play and informally do this. yeah, my my daughter doesn’t take piano lessons, but she messes around on the keyboard when she’s kind of thinking about songs. you know what’s come up recently?
John Kozicki (24:20.991)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (24:37.613)
She has said she really doesn’t like writing lyrics. She’s having a hard time with that. and we talked about Elton John a little bit. Like she brought it up, how he didn’t really write lyrics. And it so it’s like, well, can you find a poem that you like? Can you ask a friend? Like, could you team up? You know, make it more of a collaborative experience. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (24:43.229)
yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
John Kozicki (25:01.833)
Interesting, interesting. Yeah, some of the pushback I’ve gotten even from students on this one is, well, I don’t know how.
Right. And I I think that’s again, the it’s just about encouragement. Doesn’t matter. Like write whatever you think sounds good. It doesn’t have to like there’s no right or wrong. Right. And okay, like technically, yeah, there’s right and wrong. But in those early stages, it shouldn’t matter. Right. You should have the freedom to do it wrong and explore.
Mandy York (25:11.697)
Yeah.
John Kozicki (25:41.279)
I wrote the first songs I ever wrote, I had no idea about like I didn’t understand what key was writing in. I was just putting chords together and creating melodies. but I didn’t have anyone telling me, you’re doing it wrong.
Mandy York (25:55.771)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
John Kozicki (25:57.14)
You know? So I just kinda did it.
Mandy York (26:00.826)
Yeah, I think that’s really great. And the the earlier the better. I I mean, I’m thinking about college. I did not like writing. I did not like composing. And I absolutely felt like I was going to do it wrong and I did not know how. Right. It took, you know, it took a very long time and it had to be just right. But if I was in middle school and high school and was
John Kozicki (26:19.147)
Mm, yes.
Mandy York (26:29.221)
you know, encouraged to just play around and there is no wrong way, then that would have been a really great foundation for what comes next. Yeah.
John Kozicki (26:39.145)
Yeah. interesting phenomenon I’ve I’ve noticed when I’ve taught songwriting to guitar students in the past. and I’ve seen this a few different times where I’ve had guitar students for a couple of years and they get to be really good guitar players. And then they show an interest in songwriting, and I say, like, all right, well, let’s do this. Well, their their skill at playing the instrument is so high. But
they have this fear of playing something that they write at a level that’s so low. And so it’s like this it’s it’s this debilitating thing with their they’re afraid to make any sort of progress, they’re afraid to make any more mistakes because they feel like they’re above where they are. But it’s a completely different skill set. And and so I think it’s super important to just
Let people make mistakes and and let people explore when it comes to songwriting. Because those two things not related. And I think what you just mentioned, I think that sort of reinforces that phenomenon.
Mandy York (27:49.615)
Yeah. Yeah. That is interesting. I hadn’t thought about it that way.
John Kozicki (27:55.028)
All right, number ten, we’ll do this this last one. if access allows, have your student play or try to play any musical instrument besides the instrument that they’re studying.
Mandy York (28:12.091)
Yeah. I like this. I do.
John Kozicki (28:15.687)
Again, leaning into the idea of like just make mistakes, like do it wrong.
Mandy York (28:21.851)
Yep. I don’t play a string instrument, so I’m you know, I don’t have that background, but I would imagine and I I mean I have heard on certain instruments, you know, you can translate some of what you know on guitar to the bass, right?
John Kozicki (28:38.114)
one hundred percent. So easy.
Mandy York (28:39.173)
Right, yeah. Yeah. So I think that’s really well. This probably works more easily in a group setting, like your rock band stuff. ’cause I know that that’s where I’ve seen it happen. you’re playing, you know, lead guitar on this song, but they need somebody on keys for for another one. So you switch for the next song. And am I all ready?
John Kozicki (28:52.202)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (29:01.245)
I I think you I think you’re you’re I think you’re like thinking above already. I think like I think I think it could be as simple as like like let’s say you’ve got a piano student and that student’s dad has a guitar.
Play the guitar, you know, or you’re a guitar student and you go to your cousin’s house and there’s a drum set. Play the drum set. You know, like rhythmic concepts translate. You don’t need to know anything about how how the like how to find the right notes or pitch on those instruments. All rhythmic concepts are gonna translate across the board, you know, and and it’s a jumping off point.
Mandy York (29:18.213)
All right. Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (29:26.716)
Yeah.
Mandy York (29:36.647)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (29:45.343)
to to kind of understand how you can bridge the gap between what your your instrument is and anything else.
Mandy York (29:52.988)
Yeah. Okay. All right. I hear you. I feel you. And actually what I like about that is the same thing that you were saying about writing music is that it you’re just taking down the barriers and the fear. I like fe I really write it is fear, I would say. In that I like there’s no wrong way. Sure. I’m just gonna this is sitting in the corner of my house, I’m gonna play
John Kozicki (30:09.471)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (30:20.261)
Noodle around with this and see what happens and see what I can figure out. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So what? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes.
John Kozicki (30:22.431)
Yeah. Right. And you play a wrong note, what’s gonna happen?
You know, I even like I’ve been just yesterday I was telling a kid at the rock school, he was like, I’m so I’m so nervous about screwing up at this concert. So what? Make a mistake, you know, like made tons of mistakes performing live. It’s like it just happens, you know? Yeah. all right, I’ve got so that was 10, but I’ve got one one more honorable mention, I think, that I thought of earlier and I want to throw it in there.
Mandy York (30:42.127)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
John Kozicki (30:57.747)
Have your student teach a friend, a sibling, or a family member how to play something that they already know how to play themselves and feel confident playing on their own instrument.
So become the teacher for someone else.
Mandy York (31:12.859)
Yes. Yep. I like that. I like that a lot. And I I do see kids a lot enjoying explaining and teaching someone how to do a thing that they have mastered. I think that yeah. Mm hmm. Absolutely.
John Kozicki (31:26.801)
Mm-hmm. They take pride in it. You know, it’s a good confidence booster. okay, so to kind of bring this one home, again, the the idea behind all of this is that when we’re faced with that question, how much time should my child be practicing? have the conversation. Make it, you know, like.
Not so hyperfixated on that traditional idea of practice, but start to bring in this this broader idea of of what experiencing music and experiential practice means for the student. Long-term, big picture, keeping them engaged, keeping them interested.
Mandy York (32:17.861)
Yes. Yes. I love this. I love this whole episode. And you know what? I think about this with my young kids too, my tiny ones. We are not the goal is not to raise like the the best musicians in the country. I’m not trying to get, you know, orchestra level musicians out of out of my program, right? We are just trying to raise kids, teach kids to
John Kozicki (32:41.726)
Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (32:47.845)
love and appreci appreciate music, which I think will me, I think will make them better people. I think it will improve their quality of life and and really those around them too. That’s the goal here. And I think all of these things do that.
John Kozicki (32:55.39)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (33:03.049)
I’d argue
And I’d argue that if we aren’t
If we aren’t developing kids who love music, they’re never going to become the next great musician.
Mandy York (33:22.851)
No, no. Mm mm.
John Kozicki (33:25.298)
Yeah, so it has to happen. It has to happen first. all right. So this entire list, it’s been on our website on rock schoolproprietor.com for since we released episode four. So it’s in the resources section. So if you want that list and there’s a few things also in that guide, that is available there on the website. but we’ll wrap this one up.
Mandy York (33:28.113)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (33:53.812)
We’ve got one more part in this practice series and the next the next episode in this series it’s a little bit tougher, but like how to kind of convince maybe your instructors to have that conversation I think is is gonna be a a tougher one. because I get it. It’s it’s like you’ve got 30 seconds in between lessons to
Mandy York (34:12.954)
Mm-hmm.
John Kozicki (34:23.966)
Tell the the parent of the student you’re with what you worked on, what they should be doing, and then go into the next the next lesson. So, you know, path of least resistance. practice for twenty minutes. We just talked about this stuff for over thirty minutes. So I I get that it’s it’s a tough thing to do.
Mandy York (34:37.479)
Totally. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Mandy York (34:46.951)
All right. This was awesome. Thanks, John.
John Kozicki (34:49.245)
All right, we’ll see you next time.
Mandy York (34:51.335)
Sounds good.