Why We Are Different 

 

We teach teachers, students and parents (of students) how to learn faster, easier, with less stress so that students can accomplish more in less time with less difficulty. 

Students at Sdoia-Satz Music Institute learn two to four times faster using the Husky Gang Method than with any other program of learning.  We have fifteen (15) years of television news stories (not infomercials) demonstrating the success of this system.  As of 12/07, a Google search of “sdoia-satz” brings up more than 30,000 stories.  

With minor modifications, the Husky Gang Method works for anything that requires practicing, repetition and studying.

1. How, when and where to practice and study
2. How to deal with frustration and maybe get rid of it
3. Best times to practice and study
4. When to stop. Is there such a thing as over-studying?
5. How to deal with nervousness: how to avoid it and/or make it work for students
6. How to memorize so that students retain the information longer
7. How to helps students use what they learn
8. How to keep the “enjoyment” in learning

 

A Few Examples:  

 
  1. How to Study - 

• Don’t try to learn something all at once. Break down what you are learning into small parts. The secret to learning is repetition. The more you repeat something, the better it gets. 
  The smaller the part you work on, the faster you learn it.  Begin from the smallest possible part and, as the learning becomes automatic, slowly build from there.
  Never labor through something just to listen to it or try to get the “gist” of it. 

 
  2. When to Study - 

• Don't just study/practice once a day
• Study a few minutes here, a few minutes there, 10 minutes here, ten min. there, whenever you have a little free time. The idea of “doing it all at once” ensures only that you will learn something for the moment only.

 
  3. Where to Practice -  

• For music lessons, it is best to study in a place where you are free, in a quiet room, somewhere that no one else bothers you, where no one is watching TV at the same time on a place where you don’t have to make adjustments. 
  Make sure the instrument is in good working order. If it doesn't, fix it.
  Translated into general studying, this would require a few adjustments, but the concept remains the same. No one can study if the desk or table they are sitting at has a broken leg.

 
  4. How Much to Practice -

• NO clocks. -- Never time practice or study
• Just do it, when you get tired, stop and go back to it later
• The more you practice the better it gets
  If at all possible, try to take a few breaks in between studying. It freshens the mind.

 
  5. How To Deal with Frustration and Maybe Get Rid of it Altogether -  

• Throw the music on the floor, and then  pick it up
• Run around the block
• Throw the music again and pick it up
• Run around the block again or whatever you can do to expel the energy
• Scream and yell at the music
• Do some physical exercises
• Throw the music again.
• The trick is to pick up the music one more time than you throw  it down

 
  6. Best Times to Practice -

• When you are comfortable – or not
• When you are alert and/or when you are tired,
• A good time to practice is when you're tired.  Sometimes the information goes straight into the head with no resistance when you're tired
• Often, it is wonderful to practice just before bedtime. That gives the subconscious mind something to chew on because learning happens at night when we’re sleeping as well as during the day
• When you are hungry and/or when you are not;
• They all work, depending on your own mood. A little of each works best.

 
  7.  When to Stop Practicing; Is There Such a Thing as Over-Practicing?

• When you can play each part a lot more correctly, than wrong, then you should stop. 
• Or when you are so tired that you can no longer see the notes.
• Or when you fall asleep at the instrument.
• No, there’s no such  thing as being “under-prepared”. 
  Just be sure not to attempt to learn it all at once.

 
  8. How to Deal with Nervousness: How to Avoid it and/or Make it Work for You -

• Create situations where you would naturally be nervous, so that you can control the nervousness
• Ask people to walk around while you play;
• Play for people
• Tape your playing,
• Ask folks to cough while you practice
• Watch everything you do as if you were on the stage performing for someone. Don’t let the performance/study become automatic. Always think about every aspect
• Create a situation that will make you as uncomfortable as if you were playing before people. That way, controlled nervousness will work in a positive way. Learn the piece a little slower than you want to play it, so that when the adrenaline kicks in (and it will), the speed will be just right.

 
  9.  How to Memorize so that you Retain the Information Longer –

• Learn whatever it is in different ways, using different speeds; different rhythms; different articulations; in chord groups, with reversed hands;
• Each time you learn something in a different way, you discover new things about it. This freshens the memory.
  Teach it to someone else. That keeps it interesting and gives you a new way to focus on it.

 
10. How to Use What you Learn to Keep the Enjoyment in Music Lessons and Learning of Any Kind -

• Keep playing the pieces you know just for fun.
  Play them for anyone who will listen -- if there's no one else, call in the dog.
• Translated into general terms, this means, don’t just learn it and forget it. 
  Keep finding ways to use it until it becomes a part of you.