Can you believe we are in our final days of September?! Where did this month go? We are already beginning week 4 of our new year now and off to a great start! It has been wonderful to re-connect with all the returning students and meet the fresh, new faces of our little Sunbeams 1 class!
There is lots of news as we head into October and reach cruising speed in our studio. I will try and keep it all as short and to the point as possible.
STUDIO POLICIES
Just a quick reminder that a sheet with the studio policies was placed in your child’s homework book. Please review these policies and know where they are should you need to refer to them over the year. They cover missed lessons, tuition fees, practice commitment, etc. If you have misplaced this sheet, you can also find these under the Policies heading on my blog.
CALENDAR
The studio calendar has now been partially updated on the blog and I will share it here with you as well. Here is a peek at the schedule of the next several weeks (the first semester):
2014/2015 Calendar. There will be 34 lessons and 2 recitals that will take place between September 8th, 2014 and June 12th, 2015. Occasionally regular scheduled lessons may be cancelled and special all studio masterclasses offered. Week 1 September 8-12 Regular lessons and classes begin
Week 2 September 15-19
Week 3 September 22-26
Week 4 September 29-Oct 3
Week 5 October 6-10
Week 6 October 14-16 ALL STUDIO MASTERCLASSES; no regular lessons and no lessons on Holiday Monday!
Week 7 October 20-24
Week 8 October 27-30
Week 9 November 3-7
Nov 10-14 NO LESSONS; STUDIO CLOSED for Fall Break
Week 10 Nov 17-21
Week 11 Nov 24-28
Week 12 Dec 1-5
Week 13 Dec 8-12 CHRISTMAS RECITAL, Friday December 12th, 6:30pm OR Saturday December 13th 11:00am TENTATIVE! (Also looking at Friday, December 5th 6:30pm as an alternative. It WILL be one of these three dates. Emoji
Week 14 Dec 15-19 ALL STUDIO MASTERCLASSES; no regular lessons!
December 22-January 4 CHRISTMAS BREAK; STUDIO CLOSED!
Week 15 Jan 5-9 Regular lessons/classes resume
Week 16 Jan 12-16
Week 17 Jan 10-23
Week 18 Jan 26-30 SECOND SEMESTER BEGINS
FIRST MASTERCLASSES OF THE YEAR: OCTOBER 14, 15, 16
If you glanced through the calendar above, you will have noticed that our first master class sessions of the year will be the week following Thanksgiving, October 14-16. Those of you who are returning families know well what this means, but for those who are new this year I will explain. Four to five times a year, our regular lesson schedule is replaced with master class sessions. That means that for that week, there are no regular lessons, instead there are special master classes focused on a certain skill (ie rhythm, composing, improvising) OR on music history (ie Christmas with Mr. Bach, Fun with Composers, etc). During the week of master classes, I usually offer 3-4 sessions (each master class is the same) and you choose the session that fits best in your schedule. Master classes are open to ALL AGES and are UN-PARENTED. This allows the students a chance to socialize with a wider group of students from the studio, form friendships and feel like more of a family and gain a little more performance confidence so that, when the time for recital arrives, it is a more relaxed, less intimidating event. It also gives the older students a chance to mentor the younger students and for the younger students to be inspired and hear from the older students what they themselves can achieve! It also gives the Sunbeams and Moonbeams parents a little break from their parented music classes. Emoji These masterclasses have become immensely popular among the students and many of the students have already asked when the first session will be!
Want a peek at some of the masterclasses we have had? Check out the Master Class category on the right hand side of the blog!
Our first master class of this year is going to be a lot of fun too, with the focus being on practicing “smarter not harder” along with a take-home practice aid.
The master class schedule for the week of October 14-15 will be as follows, please choose a time and RSVP for that time. It is first come, first-serve as I do like to keep these sessions to a maximum of 12 students per session:
TUESDAY, October 14: 6-7pm
WEDNESDAY, October 15: 5-6pm
THURSDAY, October 16: 1-2pm (for those of you who have early dismissal or are homeschooled! Emoji)
THURSDAY, October 16: 4-5pm
When you RSVP, try to put the student and time in the subject of your email as this makes it easier for me to see! 😉 My email tends to group replies of the same subject matter, making it a little difficult to catch them all.
FALL BREAK AND CHRISTMAS RECITAL
You will also notice a fall break scheduled for November 10-14. There will be no lessons that week, it is kind of nice little break to have just before we head into our final 4 weeks of Christmas recital prep. Students are encouraged to use that extra time they would spend traveling to, from and in lesson to work on their recital piece.
And speaking of Christmas recital: an official date has not quite yet been booked but is in the works. I have had a couple other events come up this year to work around and am not sure yet if our usual 2nd Friday of December will work. So, I am looking at these three dates and hope to finalize it to one very soon as I know this is a very busy time for all! The three dates that I will be choosing from are:
Friday, December 12 (evening)
Saturday, December 13, 11am with a little luncheon to follow
Friday, December 5 (this will be my last resort as I find it can be difficult for students to have their pieces learned and polished this early in December, that extra week often makes a big difference in confidence)
I hope to have the date chosen and booked by Thanksgiving and will send out an email as soon as I do!
And with that, I think I can bring this long newsletter to a close for now. There will be a small reminder note emailed again at the end of next week regarding our October master class session!
