on a tip from the musicmattersblog.com, a intro to an emerging website of free printable music theory resources for beginners; key signature drill sheets, reading bass clef (with accidentals!) and keyboard recognition (which is an essential skill for all musicians, even percussionists!). And did I mention it was free?

The Complete Beginners Guide to Practice is the How To Practice guide to getting started with music practice. Over 50 pages packed full of advice it is the perfect way to improve your practice.

If you are not already a member of HowToPractice you can join for free. Then if you would like to discuss anything you have read in the guide or ask any questions or get help with your practice then you can do so in the Music Practice Forums.

My most favourite quote on the practice of practice is not actually in this book, it's from the movie Godzilla: Final Wars: two brothers have a falling out and go into the battle practice room, one earnestly tries to do in our hero who, when he gains the upper hand, refuses to deliver a final blow. The teacher interrupts their quarrelling and tells them:

"The purpose of practice is not to better your opponent. The purpose of practice is to be better than you were yesterday."

From the Japan Wind Orchestra and Ensemble Competition, our twitter-pal @windband tips us to this video of a pretty impressive bit of school bandwork.