December 20, 2024: Friday Medley!
Happy Friday!
Congratulations to our CPT performers!
We were a small but mighty group this past Sunday in San Juan Capistrano!
A special thank you to Maryam,who sang three beautiful arias! It is a joy to accompany her at the piano and while she sings.
The audience always expresses so much gratitude to the students / performers after these shows! It is a blessing for them, and also a blessing for us to be able to give this gift of music to people who may not always have enough visitors in their lives.
Off-Weeks
Our scheduled off-days over the holidays run from Monday, December 23, 2024 to Thursday, January 2, 2025.
No regular lessons during this period. Lessons resume on Friday, January 3, 2025. (Remember, scheduled off-days are built into the school calendar and are not missed lessons, therefore are not lessons to make up.)
Theme Recital (“Sets of Music”) - January 10, 2025
On Friday, January 10, 2025, we are hosting our first Theme Recital (“Sets of Music”). Please see below for more information. To request to sign up for this recital, which includes an audition (but not a scary one!), please complete this form online here:
https://www.dennisfraynemusicstudio.com/studio-recital-sign-up-request
The request list will close December 22, 2024.
Theme Recital (“Sets of Music”)
Friday, January 10, 2025, 4:30 pm & 5:45 pm
Chamber Music OC, Lake Forest
Remember, recitals are one of the best ways to enjoy the music students are learning. Making music with other musicians and for a friendly audience offers many personal rewards and satisfactions, and encourages students to prepare, plan, and practice!
Recognizing Student Accomplishment - Stickers and Prize Tickets!
Here is an outline of our Stickers and Prize Tickets program. We encourage teachers and students to participate! (Some students will not want to participate, but don't assume older teens and adults will not want to participate just because they are older… They often do!)
Goals of the Program:
1. To encourage MEMORY of music.
2. To encourage SINGING of music on lyrics and on solfege.
3. To encourage students to attend Forum.
4. To help teachers develop positive relationships with their students.
5. To have a little FUN!
The bottom line:
Students earn a sticker when they play a piece or song completely from memory for the first time.
For this accomplishment, they earn ONE prize ticket.
If a student also sings the song, they can earn ONE additional prize ticket for singing on the lyrics (if they exist) and ONE additional prize ticket for singing on the solfege.
Some music books offer the solfege written in. Other times, teachers can work out the solfege with their students.
So, a student could earn THREE prize tickets for each piece or song. But to be fair, students need to do these things from memory and with quality performance. Teachers are encouraged to treat the in-lesson performance for prize tickets in a special way, including teaching things about performance practice and etiquette, etc.
Teachers will use the sticker, along with written notes on the page, to document that the prize has been won so that they can keep track.
NOTE: This is not intended to "pass pieces." Notice we say, "when they play it from memory for the first time"...
This should mean that they add the song to their repertoire, not that they stop playing it!
(I talk more about developing a repertoire of memorized music, and not "passing pieces" in other contexts, too.)
Stickers
Students are given a sheet of stickers as part of their welcome package in their tote bags. There are also sheets of various stickers in every lesson room. So it should be easy for teachers and students to locate stickers to use!
Prize Tickets
Prize tickets are located in small plastic colored bins in each lesson room. There are multiple denominations. Usually teachers will give a ONE ticket. Sometimes teachers can give a TWO or THREE ticket. Or if a student suddenly plays five songs from memory, their teacher could give a FIVE ticket, for example.
The studio also gives out Prize Tickets for other reasons, for example, to the student who wins the "Did You Read Your Newsletter Contest." A student might win TEN tickets, or such, in these cases. Teachers can give these out when the winning student brings in the newsletter and shows it to their teacher with their winning student name on it.
Music students should save their prize tickets and stockpile them. Inside a sleeve in their binder might be a good place, and/or in their tote bag.
Prize Redemption
Prize Tickets can be redeemed for actual prizes at weekly Forums. At present, this is the only way for students to redeem prize tickets. They cannot redeem prize tickets at lessons. They can earn them at lessons, but not redeem them. We may, from time to time, host other events where prize tickets can be redeemed.
More about Forums coming soon!
CPT Represents!
Our next CPT performance will be next year on Sunday, 1/19/25, 2:30pm, at Trabuco Hills Post-Acute in Lake Forest.
Destination Recital - SAVE THE DATE! (Saturday, May 10, 2025)
Our first destination recital will be a day trip to Poway in San Diego County. We will be performing at the beautiful Temple Adat Shalom on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Save the date for now, and we will be sending more information and an opportunity to sign up very soon.
FSP
Our Families Support Performers program is shaping up, and we appreciate the families who have signed up to help out at our studio recitals so far! You can sign up for upcoming recitals here:
https://forms.gle/kiERAk8rmRuqREus8
Forum is coming in January, 2025!
What is forum?
Forum is a weekly practice-performance opportunity for students. At no additional charge, students can attend forum with a group of other students and families, and practice their performance pieces in front of a small audience.
Benefits of forum include:
1. Regular performance practice.
2. Encouraging students to practice during the week to prepare for forum, in addition to lessons and recitals.
3. Helping students to become more and more comfortable performing in front of others.
4. Providing an opportunity for students to collaborate (for example, playing duets, trios, quartets, accompaniments, combos, and even musical theater numbers, dances, or skits).
5. Keeping music more purposeful and meaningful in students’ lives. Students can make music, perform, and entertain, and experience more frequently the rewards of this real music-making.
6. Providing an additional social aspect to music learning.
7. Offering exceptional value to students and families.
Forums will take place Friday evenings, Saturday mornings, and Sunday afternoons. There will be two 30-minute sets, back-to-back. Participating students must agree to stay for the whole 30 minutes of a set, and they can optionally stay for both sets.
Forums will begin in 2025!
Have a magical Friday, a musical weekend, and a very Merry Christmas!
Thank you,
Dennis Frayne
"Dr. Dennis"
Laguna Niguel School of Music
Dennis Frayne Music Studios
30110 Crown Valley Pkwy, Suites 105/107/108
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 844-9051 (office cell)
(949) 468-8040 (personal cell)
www.lagunaniguelschoolofmusic.com
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