Dear Parents and Students,
Once again it is time to start wrapping up our summer fun,
and start getting ready for school to start as well as our fall piano
lessons. I am looking forward to a fun
and exciting school year ahead.
I have spent much time considering the possibilities for the
students this year, and have made some decisions that will present a rewarding year for each student.
Our Fall semester will begin on August 25th. However, the Monday students will attend a
week earlier starting on August 18th, so they can take off on Labor
Day.
Once again, we will be focusing on duets and ensembles
during the fall months. Our first
recitals will be at my home on October 13 and 14th, right before our
fall break. I hope these recitals won’t
conflict with your vacation plans.
When we get back from Fall Break, we will start working on
some Christmas performance pieces to perform at the Christmas Tree Jubilee
(Festival of the Trees – November 26 and 28).
In the past few years, we have had some wonderful
opportunities to fund raise, and contribute to some wonderful causes, around
Christmas time. This year, my husband,
son, and I would like to take a trip to Guatemala at Christmas time to visit my
son’s mission, and to take some Christmas gifts to some of the families there
who live so simply, and have so little.
Recently, we went on a campout for a reunion, (a few days
after my son returned home from Guatemala),
he was astonished at all the possessions that were brought on this
camping trip. He mentioned that the
people from his last area of his mission didn’t even own as much as what people
had brought to our camping trip. He also
mentioned that a lot of these people eat 2 meals a day of rice and beans;
everyday rice and beans. I thought it
might be super meaningful to take some Christmas cheer to some of these
families. If you have any suggestions,
or have knowledge of what would be best for this type of a situation, please
let me know, and we will try to collect items that would offer some Christmas joy
to these people this year.
Due to the possibility of a Guatemala trip in December, and
the fact that our favorite Eccles Art Center, where we traditionally hold our
Christmas Recital, have decided to increase their rates by almost triple, which
would require us to pay $300 +, depending how long we used their facility, (This is a big ouch!!!!!) I have had to
reconsider our performing plans for Christmas.
This information just made me sick, and so sad, because I love our
recitals at this beautiful place.
So, as I spent time calculating, and contemplating what we
should do, I came up with a solution. If
we alternate years from performing at Eccles Art Center with the Festival of
the Trees, then maybe we can save up from year to year to be able to afford
such a treat to perform at Eccles Art Center every other year, and won’t have to raise our recital/lab fee
in order to have such an experience.
So, this year, we
will have the students perform at Christmas Jubilee, and hopefully next year,
we will once again be able to perform at Eccles Art Center.
In February, I would like to try to host a “Piano Idol
Recital” with the students. Not sure at
this point how this would all work, but I think it could be such a fun
event. It would be something that the
students hopefully would be excited to work hard for. So, watch
for details on this.
In March, some of our brave students will face the judges at
the FEDERATION Solo Festival. Participating
students should have reserved a spot for this last spring. Please let me know as soon as possible if
your student would like to be added to this event list.
May 2nd, 2015 will be the next Achievement in
Music Event for those who have chosen to participate in this.
To end our school year this year, I would like to invite
each student to plan, invite and perform at their own solo recital. I think this will be a wonderful opportunity
for the students to bring back old favorites, and to be the star in their own
show. I think friends and family would
love to be entertained by their favorite students. Students with brothers and sisters would be
welcome to work together to put on a family recital. I think this will be such a treat for each of
the students to be a star in their own show.
Please watch for an email, and also a paper copy of your
students’ account update, if they have been taking lessons through the summer. I would like to get all the books caught up
before school starts; applying credits to September lessons, or getting
balances paid up before September 1st. Thanks for your attention to this.
Once again, I hope you have a wonderful summer, and look
forward to an exciting year ahead.
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.
Marilyn
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