Welcome to the study of your instrument! C4EStudio, will help you with all applied music studies under the term ‘instrument’ studies just as a violin may be your instrument, your voice is an instrument, a composer’s medium is their instrument, and a conductor’s ensemble is their instrument. You’ve already decided that studying an instrument is important. Here are some reasons why your commitment to learning an art – particularly playing a musical instrument – will have meaningful and lasting benefits.
• Learning to play an instrument improves brain function
• Playing an instrument builds confidence
• Practicing improves patience, time management, and organization skills
• Playing music engages creativity
• Playing music is fun!
C4EStudio mentors are here to help you experience all of these aspects of musical growth and enjoyment and is organized to encourage the development of the entire musician. Our mentors focus on the development of the musician through a leveled pedagogical system that offers discipline–specific repertoire, exercises, and individualized instruction with experienced mentors.
Our mentors are artists and teachers with significant professional experience who are here to help you as your online coach. They may be college or university faculty or members of your community who teach privately.
Our mentor pools provide affordable one-on-one online mentoring sessions scheduled on your own time and location. We encourage you to examine their backgrounds and strengths and enrich your skills and understanding of your chosen instrument with their guidance.
We encourage you to examine the variety of offerings in our mentor pool and consider supplementing your curriculum or your practice sessions with one of our mentors.
How do levels work?
Our music sequence is based on and correlates with, the ABRSM graded system. These grades (which we call levels in this course) are designed to establish proficiency benchmarks for students who are studying an instrument from beginning to advanced ability.
What is ABRSM?
The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music), established in 1889, is an examination board based in the United Kingdom. It is accredited by the UK’s National Qualifications Framework.
How do I know what to practice to level up?
Once your level is determined through an initial level placement (ILP) with your mentor, you will work with your mentor to choose 3-4 solo works from the ABRSM-suggested repertoire for your instrument/level. Your mentor will guide you on how to make your choices from each of the 3 lists (A, B, C). You will also choose one additional solo, which can be from any of the three lists – or another work that you would like to study that is not on these lists. You should also plan to study a certain number of technical exercises. ABRSM guidelines suggest scales for each level, which are a good place to start.
Program Paths
PATH 1
Some institutions will offer bundled mentor credits in a package.
PATH 2
If you do not have credits bundled, you may choose to acquire and pay for your mentor sessions on your own.
