December 2016

Monday, December 5, 2016 11:37 AM

GrandStaff Piano Studio DECEMBER 2016 Piano NewsGroup Theory: NO Saturday Group Theory in December-please attend one of the Wednesday groups! 100 Day Challenge Continues! Keep up the great work. January 2017 is our goal! Studio CLOSED: Christmas vacation will be from Saturday Dec. 24th thru Sunday, Jan 1st. Lessons resume Monday Jan.2nd, 2017.Please be reminded that no extra charge is made for the months when there are five lessons. Tuition remains the same each month. KinderKeys Registrations: We will be taking “in-house” registrations for the Spring 2017 Semester of KinderKeys during December, before we open it up to anyone outside our Studio. KinderKeys is our Pre-Piano Program for 3-5 year olds. See Judy for more information. Keyboard Adventures Registration is now open. Keyboard Adventures is an introductory method for groups of young beginners, ages 5-7, and is an exciting, new alternative to private piano Instruction. Lessons present a balance of singing, moving, drumming, writing, and reading activities- together with playing at the Clavinova keyboard. A 10-week semester of Keyboard Adventures starts in February and consists of ten 60-minute group lessons. Please call or see Judy now for more details. November Competitions! Congratulations to everyone who participated in our Fall Piano Competition at Jacobs Music! Many medals and ribbons were awarded. The music was outstanding and everyone enjoyed it greatly. The performers were poised and well practiced. It was a great learning experience for all the students and the audiences were appreciative for the talent and hard work. The judges were also very impressed! Congratulations also to those who participated in the terrific Piano Performance Party and Junior Division Competition. The music was very lovely! We are so proud of you! Thank you again to all the parents and volunteers who worked so hard to make these events so successful. Shoppers--A piano is a lifetime investment and a great Christmas gift! Ask Judy for discount coupons at Jacobs Music. Piano Tuning Time It’s important to have your Piano tuned now that it’s heating season. We can refer you to local tuners. Holiday Musicals, etc. As we approach the holiday season, opportunities to attend musical presentations abound. “The Nutcracker” is one in particular that everyone should see, plus many choral groups present “The Messiah” and several churches in the area sing Christmas Cantatas or Musicals. Ask Judy for suggestions. Please take advantage of as many of these opportunities as possible. Your family will be greatly enriched by these cultural experiences—and it will make Christmas more meaningful and special. Establish a family tradition of going to a specific event every year. The children look forward to it and it can be viewed as part of their Christmas gift. Enjoy the holidays but please try to maintain your practice schedule as much as possible. Students regress if daily practice is not encouraged. A great idea is to organize a family concert and carol sing starring your young person. An “open house” with background music by the pianist(s) in your home is nice. Showcase their talent and hard work. For the common things of every day, God gave man speech in a common way; For the deeper things man thinks and feels, God gave the poet words to reveal; But for the heights and depths that know no reach, God gave music, the soul’s own speech. “The King and I” Musical--For those of you who will be attending “The King and I” Broadway show in Philadelphia, please mark your 2017 calendars for Sunday March 26, 2017. The coaches will board promptly at 4:30 PM for the 6:30 performance. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2017 to all! We want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy holiday season as we thank God for His most precious gift to us, His Son, Jesus; and as we look forward to the New Year, we wish all of you God’s Blessings. We love teaching your children! Judy and the Staff GrandStaff Piano Studio FALL 2016 KinderKeys News www.grandstaffpiano.com We’re so glad you have chosen KinderKeys for the first step in your child’s music education. We had a great time with our very enthusiastic little students who love music and learning. Kinderkeys provides a firm basis for all music experiences. Beginning piano and violin are introduced as well as many music symbols, dynamic markings, metronome use, orchestra seating and conducting, a little opera, and the study of ballet at Christmas with “The Nutcracker”. This month we focused on learning piano key names and the musical alphabet in our workbooks and at the piano keyboard. We also learned about the seating of the orchestra and the families of instruments We are learning to recognize many composers by using our Composer Flash cards. Our hula hoops helped us to learn the “High and Low” sounds. We are also ear-training with our MerryMaker Music Harp and learning rhythm with the Omnichord and Rhythm Band. Piano Purchase: Many of you have asked us about buying a piano. Please be careful about buying pianos from the classifieds. We will always refer you to a good reputable dealer and encourage the purchase of a good instrument. If you need a piano, we can help. Wow-what a great Christmas present for the family! Reminder: Our Thursday Classes will end Thurs. Nov 17th. Our class will have then completed our 10-week semester. We hope you will consider re-enrolling your young person for the Spring Semester which starts the second Thursday in February. We use a different set of books each semester. We rotate 5 curriculums so that a 2½ yr. old student can attend for 5 semesters if desired. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday-it’s such a blessing having your young person in our class! We love teaching your children! Judith Kay Clark, Director, MTNA, PMTA