December 7, 2024: Saturday Remix
Teachers and Staff: Happy Saturday!
Okay! We have the weekly Friday Medley for families (and teachers, too), and now the Saturday Remix just for teachers (and staff, too)!
There is always much to communicate, and I am hoping this will give me a forum, a process, a template, and some extra motivation to do it more regularly!
So here we go!
Student Behavior
If students are misbehaving, please let us know right away. Please send an email to me and/or to office@dennisfrayne.com and tell us what is happening. It is important that we address behavior problems. This is especially true in small group lessons. Do not wait until something happens multiple times, let us know the first time so we can try to resolve it right away.
Please ask students to follow rules and take care of their learning environment. If students are damaging things, or touching things they should not touch, please stop them and say something, and let us know. I know sometimes we can feel like we should let things slide, and we do want to be kind, and we want to be students’ advocates, but we also need to teach students how to care for their school and equipment, not excuse them in mistreating things, and especially not excusing any unkindness to others.
Studio Calendar
I am slowly but surely improving the way we track and communicate the studio calendar(s) and scheduling. One source is here, where you can see the dates by quarter and month and also as an annual master calendar.
https://www.dennisfraynemusicstudio.com/calendar
December is the first month of the Winter quarter, which encompasses December, January, and February. Our quarters are a bit non-traditional because of the way the bigger holidays line up. Our goal is to have the same number of lessons for every day of the week for each quarter. So to help facilitate that, our quarters are Dec-Jan-Feb (Winter), Mar-Apr-May (Spring), Jun-Jul-Aug (Summer), and Sep-Oct-Nov (Fall).
Off-week Reminder
Our next off-week is over the Christmas / New Year holidays, from December 23 - January 2.
Harmonica Teacher?
Do we have a harmonica teacher? If you can teach the harmonica, please let me know!
Side note: During my student teaching, at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, I played and sang Piano Man with my supervising teacher (Rob Blaney) ala Elton John and Billy Joel, in one of their concerts. We dressed the parts and had two grand pianos on stage. I was Elton John, he was Billy Joel, so he played the harmonica.
Read the Newsletters, Friday Medleys, and Saturday Remixes
If you read everything we publish (even the websites, too), you will learn a lot about our studio philosophies and operations!
We are not simply a building where teachers teach as subcontractors. We are a team, and a teacher team, and that makes a difference in so many ways, the way we work, the things we do, the strategies we employ, and the outcomes we hope to achieve (for students, families, ourselves, and the community).
Example: Read yesterday’s (12/5/24) Friday Medley about some practice philosophy and strategy.
Special Theme Recital coming in January
Yes! Your student can participate in Theme recitals!
All levels, ages, instruments, and styles are welcome and encouraged!
And Yes! Teachers may participate, too! Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to perform.
We will have our first special Theme recital on Friday, January 10, 2025, in the evening, at the beautiful and acoustically brilliant venue, Chamber Music OC, in Lake Forest.
This will be an audition-only recital for students and teachers wishing to participate. But don’t let the audition scare you!
Performers can be at any level, including beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Teachers may also perform at this recital. The recital will be recorded. Here is a photo of the beautiful venue:
The theme for this recital is ”Sets of Music”
The requirements for participation are:
a) Play a full set of some music (could be several compositions from the same composer, or the same film, or the same franchise; perhaps the first five songs, or any complete Part, in the Presto! It’s Piano Magic book series; maybe all three movements of a sonatina, or both parts of a two-part published work; or many other options and combinations - please discuss with your teacher or email Dr. Dennis with questions and ideas - we have many!);
b) Play from memory;
c) Complete your audition (and be invited to participate).
Feel free to email Dr. Dennis with any questions.
Have a magical Saturday, a musical weekend, and a wonderful beginning of winter!
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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