Spring Quarter Overview

Spring quarter went by so quickly!  

Some quick notes of congratulations:

Congratulations to Martina and Marleigh for completing the next level in the Music Development Program Assessments.  Congratulations to Declan on giving a beautiful Suzuki Book 2 graduation recital!  And congratulations to all PianoFest and Sherwood Scholarship Competition Participants on doing a beautiful job!

Here are a couple of videos and pictures to recap our spring term:

Mary and Declan, performing at the Cultural Center, June 2015

Ryan playing his own composition, June 2015.

Declan, giving his Suzuki Book 2 Graduation Recital, May, 2015

Mira and Anjali practicing reading and clapping rhythms, April 2015.

Studio Star Award Announcement

I hope everyone is having a wonderful October!

This year, the Studio Star award goes to Evan, who has shown a lot of enthusiasm and dedication at the piano.  He is mastering the art of note taking and taking responsibility for his progress.  He has learned how to break things down into small steps and apply that to new challenges.  He has worked hard over the past several months to master new techniques and to get himself ready for his Suzuki Book 2 graduation recital, which should be sometime this spring!

To recognize this achievement, Evan is being awarded 5% off tuition for the remainder of the academic year as well as his choice for where he plays in the order of this year's studio recitals.  Congratulations, Evan!!

All of my students are eligible for this award, which is given out yearly.  Evan takes lessons in my home studio, so if you see him in the hall, be sure to give him a high five!  Everyone can hear him play at the Winter Studio Recital this December.

Group Classes Begin NEXT WEEK!

Autumn Piano Events

Upcoming Events for Pianists

If you’re interested in participating in any of the below-mentioned events, see your teacher right away!

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Sonata-Sonatina Festival

Pianists prepare two contrasting movements from a Sonatina or one movement from a Sonata

December 7, 2014 at Sherwood!

Registration due by November 2.  $25 per student

Gold medalist recital Sunday, December 14 at PianoForte Foundation

Music Development Program Winter Assessments

Pianists prepare a selection of repertoire and etudes along with scales and ear training exercises.  Preparation to be closely supervised by student’s teacher.

Assessments occur November 29 - December 11

Registration due by October 14.  It’s coming up soon!

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Summer Creativity and Autumn Goals

It is finally October!  Everyone is solidly in the swing of things and it is time to start making some musical goals.  Some ideas:  Suzuki Book Graduations, Music Development Program Assessments, Chicago Festivals (Sonatina Festival perhaps?).  Let's discuss this in lessons!

Here are a couple of videos of creativity in recent lessons:

Katie and Mary, performing one of Bach's Minuet on two ukuleles, August, 2014.

Fish-Eye-Evan, playing a very solid Happy Farmer, August 2014.

Technology allows me to play both parts of a bit of Rachmaninoff for Two Pianos.

Summer Contest Winners - 2014

Congratulations to this year's contest winners!  Pauline teamed up with her brother to use technology in her performance, and Declan was inspired by the music of Adele to play something that I didn't help him with at all!  The winning videos are posted below.  Both students will receive an award of fun new sheet music to work on in lessons or on their own!  If you see any of these students in the halls, give them a nice high five!

Technology Winner:




Performance Winner:


Declan playing Adele from Christine on Vimeo.

How Playing Music Affects the Developing Brain

NPR Classical featured this story that I thought I'd share.
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Remember “Mozart Makes You Smarter”?

A 1993 study of college students showed them performing better on spatial reasoning tests after listening to a Mozart sonata. That led to claims that listening to Mozart temporarily increases IQs — and to a raft of products purporting to provide all sorts of benefits to the brain.

In 1998, Zell Miller, then the governor of Georgia, even proposed providing every newborn in his state with a CD of classical music.

But subsequent research has cast doubt on the claims. 

Ani Patel, an associate professor of psychology at Tufts University and the author of “Music, Language, and the Brain,” says that while listening to music can be relaxing and contemplative, the idea that simply plugging in your iPod is going to make you more intelligent doesn’t quite hold up to scientific scrutiny.

“On the other hand,” Patel says, “there’s now a growing body of work that suggests that actually learning to play a musical instrument does have impacts on other abilities.” These include speech perception, the ability to understand emotions in the voice and the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.

Patel says this is a relatively new field of scientific study.

Link to the full article: HERE.