Making the Most of the Summer Season: Tips from MIC Faculty

The summer months can look different for every musician. While the structure of the school year may leave young students with more flexibility, the season can be just as rewarding for adult learners. Summer offers an opportunity to explore, reconnect, and engage with music in new ways.

We asked Music Institute of Chicago faculty to share their favorite tips for making the most of the summer season.

Erin Cano | Violin & Viola Faculty (Suzuki); MIC Suzuki Program Data Specialist

Summer can be a wonderful time for musical exploration, whether you’re a young student or an adult learner. Ask your private teacher for a list of recommended artists. Then, watch videos or listen to recordings of their performances.

Next, try playing in the style of those artists. You can pretend that you’re Itzhak Perlman, Wynton Marsalis, or even Taylor Swift! Explore different aspects of their style, such as tone quality, expressiveness, or vibrato. Eventually, you can combine aspects of different musicians’ technique with your own creativity to develop your own style!
 

Melissa Arbetter | Violin/Viola Faculty (Suzuki and Traditional)

• The warmer longer summer days call us outdoors! I encourage young students to attend live outdoor music events during the summer. Many free concerts can be found at farmer's markets, community festivals and fairs, libraries or outdoor performances venues such as Millenium Park's Pavilion or Ravinia. Attending outdoor concerts can create summer traditions and lasting memories and thus help provide a source of connection and identity for young music students.
   
• I encourage adult students to approach summer lessons with more experimentation, if they have some extra leisure time. Try a new genre of music different than what you regularly study, or be brave and try that song you always wanted to play. There's no time like the present!

Dr. Jeong Min Lee | Piano Faculty (Suzuki)

I love encouraging young students to watch movies or documentaries about the composers they played during the school year, read fun music biographies, or put on a playlist of that composer's broader repertoire while they relax. It sparks their imagination and makes the pieces feel like living stories rather than just notes on a page, which naturally brings out their inner artistry.

Matt Stalzer  | Flute Faculty

• The teacher in me has to mention that practice in the summer is important, but my best advice is to go out and listen to some music! I moved to Chicago because it’s an amazing music city and I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. Go grab lawn tickets to Ravinia, or go see a concert down in Grant Park. There are tons of little festivals that go on throughout the year, from neighborhood street festivals to cultural festivals that feature incredible musicians. Don’t just stick to one genre, either! Be adventurous and listen to things that may not be in your wheelhouse.
• For adult learners: I still find this to be a challenge at times. I like to find different ways to fit music into my life, in different contexts. Summer in the city is a great time and I try to spend as much time as I can outside to make up for the “inside time” of the winter. Sometimes, that means finding a recording of a piece that I’m working on and going on a lakefront walk with it in my headphones, or perhaps stopping by the Art Institute and wandering the galleries while listening to something new to accompany the art. Cook dinner and have a little recital in your home for some friends! Music is meant to be shared everywhere, not just the concert hall!