You might have noticed that I've been updating the blog less frequently. It's because I started a new job on March 1st! I'm trying to adjust to my schedule and find a good balance between work vs. free time. Speaking of "time," when was the last time you worked on your time? If it's been a while, I got something for you!

Today, I'm excited to share "Test of Time Challenge" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link below)

Download the Challenge

No matter what instrument you play or sing, I hope you can agree that having a "good time" is essential to becoming a high-level musician. In most concerts, we don't get to play with a metronome. Whether you are taking an audition, playing a solo piece, chamber music, or an orchestra, "good time" has to come from within.

That's exactly why I made this challenge!

This challenge will help you to:

• practice keeping time even through rests

• develop confident and accurate internal pulse

• focus on making your time better without worrying about pitches

• form a great habit to practice time with a metronome

*Instruction on how to practice is on the sheet music PDF

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as useful to you as possible!

Here is an inspirational quote of the day 💫

"The heart of music is its rhythm. The heart of rhythm section music is the rhythm." - Wynton Marsalis

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day and President's Day. I enjoyed some extra free time this weekend as my regular teaching was off. I watched one of the movies that inspired this week's challenge! 

Today, I'm excited to share "Key Change Challenge #2!" (Miyazaki Film ver.)" 🥳

(You can download the PDF, click track, and reference MIDI via the button below)

Who loves Studio Ghibli films by Hayao Miyazaki? I do!🙋🏻‍♀️ It's safe to say that all Japanese children grow up watching his classics such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, and more. My name "Chihiro" is more known in the U.S. and the world because of his film Spirited Away, thanks to Miyazaki! Music by Joe Hisaishi certainly elevates all of his films. They are so many wonderful melodies that I love.

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That's why I made this challenge featuring his music. This is a sequel to the “Key Change Challenge (holiday ver.)”. If you enjoy this kind of challenge, check that one, too.

This challenge will train your ability to:

• React & process different key signatures quickly

• Change tempo right away

• Play with a click track

How to Practice:

• I recommend that you sightread this the first time you try playing so that you can test your sight-reading ability

• Practice with the click track

• Record yourself to double-check your accuracy

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as useful to you as possible!

Here is an inspirational quote from legendary pianist Chick Corea, who recently left the world. I never got to meet him, but I've been his fan - his album Crystal Silence with Gary Burton is my favorite. Every obituary written by my friends who had met or worked with him taught me how humble and generous he was. This quote really sums up his admirable attitude towards learning.

"My one thing is I continue to be interested and want to be a student. I don't want to be a master. When I'm learning something, I'm in my element." - Chick Corea

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

Chihiro

Happy February & Black History Month! As I write this email, New York City is getting a ton of snow ❄️It's a day like this, that I am quite grateful to have a warm home. I'm also excited that this is my 10th newsletter. If you want to see the past contents, you can always go to my blog page.

Today, I'm sharing my "Reading Challenge #2!" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

Learning that people enjoyed the “Polyrhythm Reading Challenge”, I made another open instrumentation rhythm challenge that contains 4 levels. This one is focused on our ability to recognize and play music with many rests.

I wrote this challenge in two ways: 1) with melodic material 2) rhythm only, so that one can choose to just work on the rhythm or both notes and rhythm. ⭐️💫

This challenge will train your ability to:

• Sightread rhythms and/ or notes

• Read various length rests

• Play rhythms accurately in quarter notes, 8th notes, triples, and 16th notes division

How to Practice:

• I recommend that you sightread this the first time you try playing so that you can test your sight-reading ability

• Always put on a metronome and incrementally speed up when you feel comfortable

• Record yourself to double-check your accuracy

• To make it more challenging, you can reduce the metronome “tick” - for example, silence the beat 2 and 4, so that you only hear the “tick” every half note. Similarly, you can silence beat 2, 3, and 4, so that you only hear the downbeat every bar to test your time.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as useful to you as possible!

Here is a little inspiration for today ⭐️

“It’s not where you come from, it’s where you are going that counts.”

- Ella Fitzgerald

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

Happy New Year!! 🎉 I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Some of you might know that it's the year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which happens to be my sign. Since Ox is the symbol of diligence, persistence, and honestyI created a challenge that was inspired by these great qualities of the Ox sign. 🐄

Today, I'm sharing my "30-Day Practice Challenge Worksheet" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link) I’ll be sharing my progress via Instagram & Facebook group, starting Monday, 1/11/20. Please join me on this challenge!

People often talk about New Year’s resolutions, but it’s not easy keeping up with the goal. Have you started something (new diet, new workout routine, etc.) with excitement only to stop after a few days? I certainly have (many times)!🤦🏻‍♀️

I was quite surprised with myself when I was able to complete a “30-day 10min Yoga Challenge” I found on YouTube in April. This unexpected success got me thinking, “Why did it work this time?” 🤔

👉I have 3 thoughts.

🌵1. Short time frame: when you create a routine that takes too long to complete, it’s easy to make excuses to get out of it saying “I’m too busy today”. If it’s 10min, it’s much easier to commit to than 1 hour every day. 

🌵2. Feeling of accomplishment: when you witness that you can continue something more than a few days, you feel accomplished and confident. This fuels your motivation to finish the challenge

🌵3. Positive results: you start to see the positive results of continuing the challenge. This is the most important part of doing the challenge in the first place. Just like you plant a seed, you water it every day, and you can see it growing - which should make you feel excited and happy.

That’s why I made this 30-Day Practice Challenge worksheet. 💪

👉 Here are some suggestions on how to use it:

• Each session can be as short or long as you make it, but I suggest starting with 10 min

• Set a timer for each practice session

• Print the worksheet so that you can physically write down your goals

• Goals can be short-term or long-term (ex. warm-up, work on a piece, sight-read)

• Check off each circle when you are done (you can put stickers if that makes you happy!)

• Skipped a day? No need to feel bad, just continue on the next day!

Lastly, here is today's inspiration ⭐️

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."

-Malcolm Gladwell

Have a wonderful first few days of 2021 🎉 & Happy Practicing!

Today, I'm sharing a challenge called "Rhythm Challenge (funny notation)" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

This challenge is inspired by my experience having to learn new music with awkwardly notated music. Have you ever worked on a piece that just looked “funny” (aka. very hard to read)? - the kind that has weird groupings of notes and unnecessary rests? I sincerely hope that you don’t run into many of these, but you never know. Why don’t I help you get ready for that by this challenge? This can be played by any instrument although it says “snare drum”. Just pick your favorite pitch and give it a try. 

This challenge will train your ability to:

• Read the same rhythms notated in different ways

• Stay calm and analyze the rhythm

• Learn good notation practice by seeing bad examples

If you do the challenge, please tag me on Instagram @chihiroplayspercussion with the hashtag #positivepercussionist - GOOD LUCK! 

Today’s challenge is called "Timpani Tuning Challenge (happy birthday)"!🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

This challenge is inspired by my DCI (Drum Corps International) days as a timpanist of the Glassmen, where I played basically a tuba part on 5 drums. This challenge will have you play the famous happy birthday song on 2 and 3 drums because we don’t always have 5 drums, right? Here are  some pictures from my DCI days.

This challenge will train your ability to:

• Plan tuning changes with a limited number of drums

• Work on pedaling

• Tune correctly & quickly

• Keep the phrasing going while pedaling

If you dare to do the challenge in public, please tag me on Instagram @chihiroplayspercussion with the hashtag #timpanituningchallenge - GOOD LUCK! 👍

Me playing timpani for DCI championship with the Glassmen

Today, I'm sharing a brand new practice challenge called "Key Change Challenge 1 (holiday ver.)"!🥳 You can download the PDF & click track here. 

This challenge is inspired by my days performing at Radio City Christmas Spectacular, where I played 90 min non-stop of holiday music all on click track up to 6 times a day! Broadway shows and film scores often have a lot of key changes and tempo changes. 

This challenge will train your ability to:

• react & process different key signatures quickly

• change tempo right away

• play with a click track

If you dare to do the challenge in public, please tag me on Instagram @chihiroplayspercussion with a hashtag #keychangechallenge - GOOD LUCK! 👍