Music Fee Reminder

Hello Everyone,

Hopefully, most parents received their invoices for music via email last week.

Thank you so much to those parents who have either paid their fees, or organised payment with me.

This is a quick reminder that fees are due THIS Friday.

If you need extra time, please let me know via text (04 000 51 007) or email (cristycoates@gmail.com).

Thank you,

Cristy

Monday lessons

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a gorgeous Mother’s Day.

I’m writing this quick note to let you know I have been up late, not in the best of health and am not feeling much better today. So, I won’t be in for lessons today.

I will catch up the lessons Monday week 10, or if time arises before hand.

Thank you

Weekly Challenge Book Explained

If you’ve been wondering what the Weekly Challenge book is all about, here’s a quick little overview…

It was created to:

• record what we’ve done (highly useful for all of us- child, parents & teacher)
• remind your child of  home play guidance (ie practice)
• provide a way for your child to begin listening and observing their own playing
• communicate with parents- we don’t usually get to see each other, so this is a great way to let you know what’s happening during lessons
• inspire playing instruments at home

Here’s how it works:

You can click on this image to download the PDF version- it might be easier to read in parts

Mission Review Notes:

Self reviewing is a wonderful tool for students to really begin listening and observing their own playing. A great deal of honesty is required and I’ve found most students really have this in spades.

We usually go through this process together, so I can also add my feedback in a (hopefully!) friendly, useful way which assists the student in learning to self-critique.

Here’s some basic guide points for assisting your child self assess:

• Fingers- Did you play with the fingers the piece asks you to play with?  Were these fingers easy/challenging for you? Were the fingers you used easy- did they help the piece flow more smoothly? Did they look awkward? (Big note for piano/keyboard players: please don’t cross your fingers over other fingers to play a note. Fingers can pass over thumbs, and thumbs under fingers, but never fingers over fingers). Did you play with more than one finger?
• Rhythm- Did you hold the notes for as long as the music says? Did you count any silent beats for the correct amount of time? Did you play your ti-tis and tas correctly? Did it sound like the song?
• Notes- Did you read and play the notes that are written? (Note: as musicians progress, they often like to add their own improvisations and frilly bits to add interest. The important thing here is knowing if you did or didn’t play what was written- if you played the music as written or your own variation. Both are perfectly valid musical expressions- choice, or knowing what you’ve played, is the important thing here).
• Dynamics- Did you play the louds and softs, fasts and slows? Did you play with feeling? (this is more advanced)
• Tone- Did all of the notes sound smooth and clear? Did they sound muffled, muted, twangy? Did you accidentally play notes together? Did your notes sound pleasant?
• Breath- (mainly for voice and recorder students- although all instrumentalists have been known to hold their breath as they concentrate! Breathing is a good thing…) Did you breath in places which let the music flow? Did you breath deeply? Did you breath shallowly? Did you find natural places to breath in the music?
• Tempo- Did you play the piece at a good speed for yourself? (This means mistakes are minimised and the piece sounds coherent). Does this piece need to be played slow or fast? What do you need to do in order to play it at the speed it is asking of you?

Do I ask all of these questions all the time?

No. I just pick pertinent ones which help the child recognise areas of strength and areas of improvement.

Hope this helps!

Cristy

Please note: these little tips and bits aren’t designed to put more pressure on your day. Rather, they are provided because so many parents I’ve spoken to over the years often express how unsure they feel about how to best help their child with their music at home- either because they lack musical knowledge, or didn’t have the most joyous experience of musical education themselves. So, please use these tips if they appeal to you. Or don’t. It’s completely up to you!

Schedule for this term

Hello everyone,

Here is a copy of your child’s music schedule for this term.  Term 2 2012 Timetable

It has changed quite considerably, so please do take a look.

In a nutshell, all group lessons have been shifted to Friday and individual lessons have been allocated around this move.

Please note we have a Public Holiday on Monday, June 11, so there will be no lessons then. You will be invoiced accordingly.

We also have NAPLAN week this term for grades 3 & 5, which may affect some lessons.

Other than that, it looks like pretty smooth sailing this term. I believe the final school term planer will be available very shortly, so I will wait until the weekend before doing up invoices.

As previously communicated, catch up lessons will be held during week 10, with regular lessons scheduled weeks 2-9.

DIARY DATE: Wednesday June 20 will be when our second annual Music Evening is held.

Also, here are some the music files for our Guitar students- most students already have a printed copy. Guitar End of Term Tunes

And here are the new recorder tunes- Recorder End of Term Tunes

Weekly Challenges

Hello musical families!

Please do read to the end- there’s some print-ables for your child (either Junior/Middle Primary OR Upper Primary).

Over here at Inspiration Studio, I’m continually doing my best to come up with innovative ideas to help engage students with their music, playing at home (that’s where the majority of actual skill development occurs) and helping to keep parents in the loop.

Last year, I introduced our Weekly Challenge booklet. A more personalized, fun booklet to encourage learning engagement and success than the  little blank journal I had as a student. And a less expensive option for families than the generic music journals found at music stores.

For some, this has worked wonderfully. These students are completely inspired by the booklet, love filling in the details and having a record of what they have been asked to practice in order to help them play with greater skill, enjoyment and ease. Parents have a visual on what’s been done and what there is to do.

For others, the only time I see the book is when I hand it to them during their first lesson. Remembering back to when I was young, that was probably me (my poor music teachers!). I loved practicing. I just didn’t remember my books regularly.

Perhaps this sounds familiar??

For others (such as in our group lessons), it is actually quite time consuming to fill in each booklet (whether it’s me or the student), which takes away from valuable instruction time.

All in all, it can end up feeling a bit jumbled, disorganised and simply not as smooth as it could be. A move in the right direction. Innovation still required.

A shot of inspiration later, and you received music sheets and Parent Pages, straight to your inbox.

And this has seemed to work really well.

• Students are inspired to play at home through the Weekly Challenge boxes
• The pages work well in conjunction with the Weekly Challenge Booklet, for those students using this medium
• Parents are kept informed about what we’ve been up to, and
• How practice might be encouraged at home through the games, activities and extensions given through the Parent Pages (no pressure, but it’s there if you do feel inspired)
• They add to, rather than take away from lesson time (in group situations)
• There is an even high engagement level during class time- the students really love achieving their special Completion Sticker
• There’s a higher rate of remembering to bring music to lessons
• And, it’s not a big deal if the music isn’t brought along- when whole books are left home, it’s much harder for us

So, I’m thinking let’s stick with what’s working!

A HAIL TO ALL JUNIOR & MIDDLE PRIMARY STUDENTS

This term, you’ll continue to receive Music Sheets and Parent Pages.

If your child does want to have a Weekly Challenge Book as well- wonderful!!!

You can click here to print one out (they are so much more interesting in colour, if you feel so inclined). I’ve even thrown in some special music journey and theory sheets to encourage another level of practice.

CALLING ALL UPPER PRIMARY STUDENTS:

The Music Sheets  are really useful for learning to read music, so our new music students have been using them. You probably don’t need to print out the Parent Pages when they are delivered to your inbox.

Because of the different learning needs of these students, I have created a Weekly Challenge Booklet specifically for them.

Please click here for your copy.

Please bring your printed copy to each music lesson.

———-

Thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy the music to come!

No Lessons Today

Hello Everyone,

I’m really sorry to do this after confirming our lessons today only yesterday, but something unavoidable has come up and I am unable to attend lessons, just for today.

This means all lessons will begin afresh next week.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Cristy

It’s the beginning of a new term!

Hello everyone,

Welcome back! I hope you are well rested after a lovely long holiday break.

Personally, I hit the ground running (it was a very work-filled holiday!), but my family and I did get to head over to enjoy the beaches and sights of the Yorke Peninsula for a few days. It was just lovely!

Over the holidays, I’ve had a chance to think about how to best structure this next term.

While I haven’t yet got the details of the school events and so on we’ll need to work around this term, I think it will work best if we schedule lessons from week 2-9. This leaves week 10 free for catch-ups. The last week of school tends to throw a variety of fun and unexpected activities into the mix, so relaxing the schedule to a few catch up lessons will most likely work out best for everyone. I do hope this suits everyone. You will be invoiced accordingly.

As mentioned in the previous email, there are lessons tomorrow to catch up our missed day due to Sports Fest last term.

Hopefully, I will receive details of school events tomorrow, so I can begin invoicing over the weekend.

Please let me know via email (cristycoates@gmail.com) or text (04 000 51 007) if you are NOT planning to continue your child’s lessons this term. Otherwise, it is assumed lessons are continuing as per last term.

Thank you all so much for your continued support!

I look forward to another lovely term of music with your child.

Keyboard music to keep you going…

Here is the keyboard music I’ve created for over the holidays and beyond (especially for the Friday musicians). Just click on the words ‘Keyboard End of Term Tunes’ below.

Guitar and Recorder music will arrive in your inbox soon.

Keyboard End of Term Tunes

Happy playing!

An End of Term Update

Hello everybody!

Just a quick note to let you know a few things:

1. last Friday was Sports Day, which wasn’t taken into account for your fees this term. This means a catch up lesson is in store. Friday students will make this lesson up on the first Friday of term 2.
2. this Friday is a public holiday, which has been accounted for in your fees, so it doesn’t need a catch up lesson.
3. with Thursday being the last day of term, it is finishing early, which means the late afternoon students will have their lessons straight after first lunch just for this week.
4. I will be sending out some new tunes especially for the Friday students this week to practice. (Of course, all students can give them a go!)
5. Next term lessons will officially commence in week 2 and run to week 10 so you will be charged accordingly. The Friday catch up lessons in week 1 are covered by this term’s fees.

Please let me know if your child is not going to continue next term by emailing cristycoates@gmail.com.

Thanks for a wonderful term and have a restful holiday!!

Keyboard & Recorder Families….here’s your music

Click on this image for your Keyboard Music

And this image for your Recorder Music

Have fun!