Happy December! 
I cannot believe we have finally got to December in this strange year. Please stay safe and healthy everyone.
Important News: On Sunday December 13 at 11 am I will be holding a matinee recital, hosted by my daughter Rose from her house in Bedford UK. It has to be morning because of the time difference. I hope everyone who has agreed to perform will be able to. I will put the current list of performers and their selections below. Please check carefully as Rose needs accurate information as Sarah is going to do a wonderful program again. If you cannot perform that is OK
( but please let me know. You can change your preferred piece but must change this week.
but please let me know. You can change your preferred piece but must change this week.Rose will ask all students to do a technical check with her. Possibly students who performed in July might not need a tech check but everyone else does and it makes a huge difference if you know what to do and are ready on that Sunday. It does not take long but my Senior Event Manager (Rose) really believes in being thoroughly prepared. You will get emails from Rose about possible times. She is very busy teaching her courses right now and I am not sure how she is fitting me in but I am really grateful. I find Zoom a bit hard to manage.
You will be able to invite friends and relatives to watch the concert. I will need those names for Debbie to check as people come into the waiting room.
I think the concert will take about an hour and a quarter as long as everyone is prepared and ready to start.
Program:
| Oscar McCormick (ukulele) | Jingle Bells |
| Hal Sharp (ukulele) | Santa Claus is coming to town |
| Jane Sharp (ukulele) | Country Roads – John Denver |
| Leo Pieraccini (ukulele) | Knocking on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan |
| Ava Pieraccini (ukulele) | Ripple Effect – Scott Helman |
| Kaitlyn Busch (guitar) | Betty – Taylor Swift |
| Ben Painter (piano) | Ode to Joy – Beethoven |
| Anna Long (piano) | Angels we have heard on high |
| Ida Levy (piano) | Boogie on Broadway – Faber |
| Veni Lekavich (piano) | Jingle Bells |
| Camille Fontaine (piano) | Firefly |
| Cecilia Triche-Rowe (piano) | Almost like a dream |
| Louise Downs (piano) | Spanish Caballeros |
| Logan Fontaine (piano) | Scarborough Faire |
| Andrew Hartman (piano) | The Star Spangled Banner |
| Annabel Hayes (piano) | Not Opus 2 – Own Composition |
| Lucas Bartosik (piano) | Gavotte – Telemann |
| Oscar Mc Cormick (piano) | Night of the Tarantella |
| Mai Dunn (piano) | Reflection from Mulan |
| Lydia Pollak Coy (piano) | God rest ye merry gentlemen |
| Iris Emmerson (piano) | Sonata in C Major – Mozart – first movement |
| Sebastian Guillen (piano) | Un Amor sin Final |
| Khaleel Jackson (piano) | Sonatina in A Minor – Benda |
| Kavisha Saram (piano) | Prelude no. 1 – Bach |
| Jikai Sipkins-Chenn (piano) | Avalanche op. 45 no. 2 – Heller |
| Quinn Barbaza (piano) | Summertime from Porgy and Bess – Gershwin |
Other News: December will be a short month as I am on vacation from 12/21/2020 to 1/1/21/2021. Monday students fees will be $65 and all other days fees will be $97.50. Thank you everyone for continuing to learn online with me. And I would be very grateful if everyone could pay early in december so i can finalize the year’s accounts.
Technology: I cannot believe how much I have spent this year to improve my online teaching! Soon I will also have a ring light for better lighting in the studio and I have managed to wire in my laptop with an ethernet cable to improve the stability of picture and sound and transmission. Rose teaches people how to do online work and actually teaches online so I have had a list of things to work on, including the ethernet cable and the ring light and more to improve my teaching. In spite of this, I have to say teaching in person is a lot easier and a lot more satisfactory. Unfortunately, I cannot see that happening at least until summer! One factor which is really helpful is for people’s devices, phone, ipad, laptop to be relatively up to date. I know my ipad is too old now and I just learned my 2016 laptop needs a new battery! So I do understand the struggles with technology and being online all the time. I am so lucky here to have fibre optic cable; even so much depends on the pressure on the local bandwidth at certain times of the day.
Be well and safe and I hope December is as fun a month as we can manage in the middle of this awful pandemic.
