dawn's piano

This will be the last post for 2018! I can't believe we're already here. Since the studio will be on break the next couple weeks, the blog will be going silent until January as well. I hope you all enjoy a wonderful, peaceful break with your families. And like last year , I'm using this final post of 2018 to highlight some of the truly awesome things you all have accomplished this year.  This year has definitely seen a lot of change for the studio. Here are some of the highlights! On April 22nd, we had our final Recital in California where with both Aki & Mallory . With over 100 students performing, and trying to say good-bye since I was heading off towards Kansas the following day, we barely finished the show before the library kicked us out, and stayed talking in the parking lot well after the library's closing time. That Recital was very dear to me, and despite it being a crazy, hectic & overwhelming day, I treasured getting to see each student pe...

If you clicked on the link to this blog post, you're probably wondering what flex weeks are, and how they work in this studio. Here are the answers! Flex weeks are un-billed lessons that are built into the term where either parents or the studio can cancel a lesson if necessary without the loss of a paid lesson, or the need for a make-up. Basically it offers us that flexibility to take a week off when we need it. We have 3 flex weeks built into the school year session, and 2 built into the summer session.  If you're interested in seeing how this all calculates into the studio tuition, here's an example of the math based on a random year's* group lesson rate. There are 37 weeks in the term (end of August through April) 4 weeks are holidays (1 week Thanksgiving, 2 weeks Christmas, 1 week Spring Break) 3 weeks are unbilled flex weeks That leaves us 30 lessons in the term at the all-inclusive (materials included) lesson rate of $22.50 each.  30 x 22.50 = 675. Thi...

I recently finished up reading "This is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin, and I found some of the information he shares about what goes on in our brains when we listen to or make music to be really fascinating. So in this week's blog post, I'm sharing some of my favorite parts with you, and how they can relate to our work in learning to play the piano.  In the introduction of the book Levitin writes "What artists & scientists have in common is the ability to live in an open-ended state of interpretation and reinterpretation of the products of our work." (p. 5) and I completely agree - at least with the musician part of it since I can't really speak for scientists, but as artists we never stop learning. Even when we've completely mastered a piece of music, each time we play it, it is a new & original interpretation. We may strike the notes just a little differently, or emphasize a phrase another way, we may try it slower or faster or...