Hellos and Goodbyes

This has already been quite the busy summer in the studio! In spite of summer camps, vacations, and other summer fun four new students joined our studio. I'd like to welcome Madi, Autumn, Charlie, and Cooper to piano lessons. They're all ready to work hard and have already established some very good practice habits. I'm having so much fun getting to know them! We've been using play-doh, Easter eggs, and jelly beans to work on proper posture at the piano, rhythm, and note names. Charlie and Autumn have already started note-reading as well.

While this month has been full of "hellos" there have also been a few "goodbyes" as well. Even though my piano studio takes up a small corner of my home my piano students take up a very large portion of my heart...and sometimes I forget how big until it is time to say goodbye. This month I had to say good-bye to three students.
After three years of lessons Philip graduated from piano. He's starting college courses and looking to add more hobbies to his bag of tricks. If you got to hear Philip play at our recitals you were always in for a treat and I know that he is going to do well at whatever he pursues for years to come.
Arisu has taken lessons from me for three years and this summer her family is moving back to Japan. She practiced diligently, enjoyed performing for her classmates at school, and loved composing. I'm going to miss her, but I'm excited that she gets to go back to reconnect with all the friends and family in Japan that she'd been missing.
Hardest of all was saying good-bye to my other Phil. It was even harder because I didn't know his last lesson was "good-bye". Phil started lessons in January at the age of 63. He was determined to learn the piano and even though his job had him flying out of the country on a regular basis he didn't let that stop him. He always did his best to have Monday off work and would spend hours practicing before he came to his lesson. I loved his drive and energy! Sadly, Phil passed away suddenly in a tragic accident over Memorial Day weekend. It was a shock to lose him and I'll miss teaching him, but I'll also miss hearing about his adventures from all over the world and his kind heart. He was an inspiration to me...and hopefully to everyone reading this...that you're never too old to try something new.
If you would like to add to my list of "hellos" and join our studio let me know! Summer spaces and fall spaces are filling up fast!

It's summer at the piano studio!

As we move away from a very structured school year and into the freedom of summer I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your efforts this past spring. Some highlights this past spring were:

• Learning to become efficient at practicing with our Wanted in the Wild West practice incentive
• Our spring recital...featured beginning and advanced students playing everything from classical music to pop music with almost 100 family and friends in attendance
• Re-inforcing our understanding of major and minor pentascales with the very fun "Misadventures of Agent Major and Professor Pentascalius"

Here is a sneak peek of some things we will be focusing on during the summer:

• Reinforcing our understanding of Middle C and Treble C position with "It Smells Like Treble" starring Maxwell A. Skunk
• Completing five different piano "adventures" with Cami the Camel
• Celebrating what we learned over the summer with a pizza and piano party at the end of July for all students in the studio.

 I very much understand that summer is a busy, happy time for both children and adults. I've planned summer in the studio to allow them to shore up students' basic piano knowledge in fun ways that will give them confidence and pride in the progress they have made in piano heading into the fall.


I know family vacations and summer camps will be happening over the next two months so please don't forget to let me know when you'll be out of town!

July Notes

While I've had students traveling from Alaska, Rhode Island, Michigan, Disney World, and everywhere in between, I've stayed close to home this summer and done my best to keep track of everyone's crazy schedules. I want to give a shout out to Lily, 7, and Ariana, 9, who both started lessons in June. Ariana has been whizzing through her first book and just started reading notes on the staff. Lily started lessons two weeks later and always comes with songs ready and sometimes memorized!
Will, Emma, Natalie, and Samantha all worked hard on duets in June and the improvement in their timing has been incredible.
There are only a few weeks left in July to take advantage of the summer special: one free lesson your first month of lessons. If you've been thinking about starting piano, why not give it a try?

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer and getting plenty of time to play outside in the sun. When it gets too hot out, think of that as a good time to practice the piano. I want to take this opportunity to welcome Nicholas, 7, and John, 4 to piano lessons. They both started lessons in July and are off to a great beginning.

First Summer Challenge Winners

Two students have already completed their Summer Challenge! Laurel, age 8, finished her challenge on August 4th. She chose a gift card to Wal-Mart for her prize. The next day, Paisley, age 10 finished her challenge. She chose a gift card to Scoops for her prize. Both of them have improved greatly this summer and now have five songs that they can play from memory! Good job, girls!