Parent Meeting

Don't forget- Parent Meeting this week!

Tues. 27th at 7:00 p.m. OR Thurs. 29th at 10:00 a.m.

At my house. Feel free to bring children with you if needed. Come excited to get to know each other and with any questions you may have for me about lessons or the Suzuki Method!
http://suzukiassociation.org/about/suzuki/

See you soon!

A Neat Concert to Attend

Rocky Mountain Strings 2008 Concerts

Rocky Mountain Strings is an advanced performing group of 45 young violinists directed by Deborah Moench and Ramona Stirling. At the invitation of the Wieniawski School of Music in Lodz, Poland, the students and their directors introduced the Suzuki Method of music education to the people of Poland and the Czech Republic during a tour in October 2000. In 2003 the group gave performances throughout Italy. In 2005 they performed at schools and the Tabernacle in St. George, Utah. The group has also performed at the International Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference in Chicago (1998) and the Conference in Minneapolis (2006). In August of 2008 they will tour Argentina as part of an international Suzuki Violin method exchange.

Locally, Rocky Mountain Strings loves performing at venues such as Libby Gardner Hall, The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, First Night, Gala Fundraisers, Utah Symphony Lobbyfest, weddings, conventions, churches, private parties, and schools.
Benefit Concert
May 21, 2008
7:00 p.m. Libby Gardner Hall
Tickets are $10 and available from Rocky Mountain String Members
or call 599-4021

Other Performances:
Sunday August 10th
Cordoba, Argentina
Saturday August 16th
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Summer Lessons

Welcome to Spring! I wanted to give you a heads up about things to come. First of all, I will be teaching regular lessons the last week of May, so please let me know if you won’t be able to come.

Summer lessons be will scheduled a few weeks at a time. We will not necessarily have a set time from week to week, since everyone’s schedule seems to change so much during the summer. Rather, everyone will have TEN lessons to spread out in June, July and August to schedule at times that are convenient for everyone. Please plan to either pay for 2 ½ months of tuition up front in June, or to leave postdated checks for July and half tuition for August when you pay your June tuition.

Students who plan to continue lessons with me in the fall are required to have summer lessons. I find that students who don’t have lessons over the summer take months in the fall to return to the same level they were at the end of spring. This is discouraging for everyone. There is a lot of flexibility during the summer- we can even do more than one lesson in a week if you want. Please take a look at your summer calendar and plan on scheduling lessons for June before group lessons in May. If you want to increase your lesson time from a half hour to forty-five minutes, summer is a good time to do it. I recommend 45 min. lessons starting early to mid Book 2.

Summer lessons will be especially important, as Rob and I are expecting a baby due September 18th. My Macy was born a week early, but as birth is unpredictable, I have a tentative plan set up. I would like to continue teaching in September until the baby is born. You can pay for one lesson at a time. That way we’ll be able to keep going as long as possible. If for some reason I am unable to teach and you’ve already paid for lessons, they will either be credited or made-up if possible.

I would like to resume lessons mid-October or at the beginning of November, depending on my recovery time. I will definitely keep you posted. I’d like to do a group recital in the beginning of December. It will be sort of like a group lesson, where all students will play the songs that they know all together, rather than a solo recital. I’d like to incorporate some holiday music into this recital as well. I will try to have music for this ready before I have the baby so that you can continue to practice with your child during the break.

I’d also like to start having quarterly parent meetings. We would get together for about an hour, here at my house. I would give a short presentation about a particular topic, then the remainder of the time will be used for mingling/questions/giving each other encouragement as we discuss each of our musical journeys with our children. Of course, refreshments will be provided, and you are welcome to attend as a couple or an individual- whichever is better for you. Our first meeting will be held the last week of May. Please let me know which date will work better for you- either the 27th at 7:00 pm or the 29th at 10:00 am. I am willing to do a meeting both days to accomodate everyone. Also, if you need to bring children with you, that is fine.

Thanks for all you do as parents, and for the chance to work with your students. As always, let me know if there are any questions or concerns.

Recital

We had our Spring Recital on April 26th at Herriman City Hall. I was a little stressed out, as I forgot to pick up the key, and request a piano for it! Thankfully, my mother bailed us out- she had a key and was able to find the piano for us.

Everyone did such a great job performing! I'm so proud of all my students and all that they are accomplishing. I love teaching and I love getting to know new people. I have a lot of new students right now, and it's so fun to see them grow and progress in whatever they're working on.

Here's to many more fun musical experiences together!

Time Flies

Wow- it's been forever since I've blogged here.

I'm doing my Book Two teacher training right now with Jeanne Grover. It is so much fun, and so exciting to be able to steal ideas from other people! I feel rejuvenated as a teacher, as well as better equipped to teach the things I'm learning.

Teacher Training requires a certain number of hours of observation. What a blessing it has been to be able to watch other teachers in action. I remember when I taught traditional method how much I wished that I could watch other teachers and steal their ideas, but I never felt comfortable in asking. And now I'm "required" to do it! :)

Thanks to great locals like Ramona Stirling, Jeanne Grover, Leslie Thackeray, Renee Dalgleish, and Stacy Smith, I am now armed with a plethora of practice charts, ideas, methods, etudes, and incentive programs to bombard my students with. Oh, I guess I still need to learn moderation. And how to determine which students need which tools.

Good thing there is plenty of time to keep learning!

Also, I can't wait to take Macy to Institute in June, where I will get to steal even MORE ideas from teachers all over the world- not just little old Utah. :)

Tone is the Voice of your Heart

Dr. Suzuki really was an amazing man. He did so much to further the progress of violin teaching and I am so glad that I and my students can benefit from his work! Cathy Lee's class was wonderful- I recommend it to any teachers learning more about the Suzuki method... whether you've taught for years or months.

I am learning and growing along with my students and it has been fun to see them progress and get excited about the things they are learning. I will be registering Books 2-5 over the next year and can't wait to start teaching more students! I love sharing Dr. Suzuki's philosophy and knowledge with them.

Macy's Recital

Macy had another recital last Wednesday, September 26, 2007. She got to play "Pop Goes the Weasel", "E String Concerto", "A String Concerto", and part of "Old MacDonald". She did a great job! Miss Stacy had 27 students performing. It was a lot of fun. Macy almost fell asleep on Grandma's lap in the audience during the concert. Afterwards Robert and I took her to Cold Stone where she chose blue cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles in it. Aunt Nellie made the adorable skirt for her.