It is almost April and the weather is changing to something promising (except for the pollen!). I have lots of news so will use bullet points:
- The DMTA Classical Voice Master Class last Saturday 3/25/17 was a wonderful opportunity for 4 voice students to receive feedback and some great ideas for performance. This was what master classes should be like, supportive, informative, full of new ideas, and with a clinician who sings professionally, teaches at UNC and is a great teacher, and also very entertaining! Many thanks to the DMTA (Durham Music Teachers Association) for giving students this opportunity.
- While I am on the subject of the DMTA, I really need a couple of piano students to come at participate in the DMTA Playathon at Northgate Mall April 8 from 2:30 – 3:45 pm. This event raises money for scholarships for students whose parents cannot afford piano lessons. I know it a busy time of year, but even two or three students would be wonderful. My colleagues are filling other times with their students.
- I was very excited to hear from Chelsea Daniel. You might remember she was once my student but won a scholarship to the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem for her final years of high school. She studied with Dmitri Shteinberg there, and is now finishing her second year of a piano major at the Butler School of Music, University of Texas in Austin. Chelsea sent me a recording pf her latest study, the very difficult Ravel Sonatine. She is going to be back in Durham in summer and I think she will play at the June 4 Soiree!
- While I am on the subject of master classes, I was disappointed that the DMTA piano master class earlier this year had to be cancelled. I would love to have my own master class for my piano students and have asked Chelsea if she would be interested in being my clinician. I have watched her teach my previous student Myles Spencer, and she was able to give him great direction with his Beethoven. I will be talking to Chelsea about this plan and making a date late in May. Please let me know if you are interested. My master classes are nothing like those terrifying events where the Master makes the Student feel bad. Mine are all about new ideas and having fun with the music.
- My 14 adult students will be performing for each other April 7 from 7-9 pm. In fact I don’t like the name “Adult Work-in-Progress Evening” so I am thinking of stealing from my writer’s group and calling it the Flourishing Muse Salon. A Salon was an evening gathering for exchanging ideas although in this case it would be music. I am continuing a french theme which started with my Soiree!
- I have been invited to be one of the piano adjudicators for the Durham School of the Arts Piano Festival in May. I have done this before and it is wonderful to hear all the different repertoire and see so many students studying piano. I teach a number of DSA students.
- It is that Spring Break Season and if you have earlier Spring breaks than I am taking please let me know in advance so I can schedule other lessons. The Flourishing Muse Spring Break will be from Thursday 4/13/17 to friday 4/21/17 during which time I will not be teaching. I am going to have a staycation and make chocolate and practice piano and do all those things I rarely get to do.
- April fees will be due next week. Thursday and Friday students will have two weeks of lessons in April, and Monday Tuesday and Wednesday students will have three weeks. Please mark your diaries and also let me know if you re going away any of the other times in April.
- The Soiree – is coming soon! Everyone should be talking to me about what they are going to perform. The best performances are when you play or sing a piece you have spent several months practicing.
- Which brings me to practicing. You cannot make progress unless you practice. Of course practice requirements are very different depending on age and stage of learning. Beginner and early elementary students don’t need long practices but the key is the regularity and this comes if you pick a certain time each day and stick to getting your practice done then. I believe in rewards for little ones – in fact I believe in rewards for me! Can be a walk outside but it motivates me to get my work done. What ever your age, it is the regularity of practice. I prove it to myself over and over. If I do my singing practice every day I see such improvement.
- Last thing, please no gum in my studio! I hate having to ask students to spit out their gum but I really don’t like teaching someone who is chewing, and this morning I found a tiny piece of gum on the floor!
