MARCH Studio News

  Monday, March 1, 2021 by Cortney Baker | Uncategorized

  March tuition                                 

is due at your first lesson of the month.  Consult your monthly invoice for the exact amount. 

Ways to pay:

1. MAIL CHECK:  814 Pineland Dr, Cary, 27511
2. ONLINE PAYMENT:  PayPal (include fee) or Google Pay (no fee) 

What to do:

Reply to your invoice email on the 1st and let me know how you will send tuition this month. 

1. Check is in the mail, 

2. PayPal link on invoice (you will pay the 2.9% fee), or 

3. Google Pay (I will need to send you money request to go this route.  I will send out requests to everyone who chose this option prior)

  March Schedule                                

No Lessons are scheduled from Tues, Mar 30 to Mon, April 5 due to Spring Break and the Easter holiday.

Log in to your MyMusicStaff portal to see your specific lesson dates, times and location.  Also included in your account: the link to access the Zoom webpage, previous lesson notes, the monthly studio news, and much more! 

   Group Classes                                       

Group Classes will meet on Friday, March 26th.  Location: Zoom.   

Here is our schedule:

   Parent Education                                     

 I have loaded several articles to the Library & Downloads page in your MMS portal with articles and handouts for parents.  Find a title that interests you and read it!  I highly encourage you to take a moment this month to choose one and read it.  There is so much value in motivation for the Suzuki parent.  Let these articles give you that blessing!!    

This month I want to highlight three articles ALL about the value of attending a Summer Institute:  25 reasons to attend a summer institute, Summer Suzuki Institutes: Planning for a positive experience, and Summer Suzuki Institutes.  

This summer - 2021 -  is unique in that many institutes are already planning to be virtual!  You can reduce the cost and time commitment and check out what it is like to work with other teachers and students from around the country!  Several students in our studio and taken advantage of these opportunities in the past.  Each one has come away with a major boost in motivation and confidence!   Sign up now (see below), take advantage of Early Bird prices (usually in March)!!

Toggle over to the Online Resources Tab>Parent Education folder to find this article.  View it online, Download it or Print it!

If you have time, send me your reaction, thoughts. etc.  I would love to know what stands out to you.    

 

    Summer Suzuki Institutes                        

Its that time of year again!  Summer Suzuki institutes have started accepting enrollment.  Due to uncertain summer COVID19 restrictions in many areas, several of the institutes have already decided to run online formats.  This might be the perfect summer to try out an institute without the added element of travel.  Here is the SAA webpage listing of all the Institute: https://suzukiassociation.org/events/institutes/

I will be on faculty at the Greater Washington Suzuki Institute again this summer.  The faculty at this camp are highly esteemed in the Suzuki community, and each summer proves to be an uplifting and motivating experience for participants.  I would love to have ALL of you join me at camp this summer.    Here is the SAA listing for the GWSI: https://suzukiassociation.org/events/loc/greater-washington-suzuki-institute/

A few others where colleagues of mine are on faculty or direct the institute, and I thought would be educational for you to read about:

https://www.ogontzsuzukiinstitute.com/

https://www.ithaca.edu/suzuki-institutes

https://www.atlantasuzuki.org/

AND, it looks like the North Caroline Institute (Greenville) is in person this year - if you want to check out a camp close to home!

    MUSICAL MARCH MADNESS                   

It's MARCH again!  Can you believe it?  When we started this month last year, everything was starting to "shut down," and I remember feeling that one unexpected blessing came in the form of our MARCH MADNESS challenge.  How awesome was it that just as we all need to isolate ourselves, we were motivated to reach out to friends and family and play music for them?   

This year we have the opportunity to be intentional about SERVING OTHERS with our musical talents.  Each student has 15 "games" to play and therefore the possibility of 15 different lives to touch.  Make a list!  Who do you know would appreciate a little sunshine in their day?  Anyone from church?  Relatives that live far away?  I am excited to hear who you choose to bless in the next few weeks.

On the personal side, this REVIEW project is also a benefit to your child. ;-)  As the home coach, I want to encourage you to find ways to "up the challenge" for your child.  Instead of just playing these pieces "one more time," can you add something to make them more musical? more advanced? more entertaining?  How about playing with piano accompaniment video or tracks from the recording files?  Are they playing with dynamics?  the correct style of bow?

Need ideas?  ASK ME!  I love sharing ways to enhance the musical ideas in a piece.  Let's make this project FUN and beneficial!

    Suzuki Book Recordings                         

New recordings of the Suzuki Books 1-3 performed by violinist Hilary Hahn have just been released!   Use this link to read more and/or purchase from iTunes, Amazon Music or Alfred websites: https://www.alfred.com/suzuki-violin-overview/ 

   
   Special Listening                                       

Just a reminder that wonderful videos and audio recordings of professional performers can be seen/heard on YouTube.  Use this as the Special Listening assignment for each week.  This month's highlighted violinist is Fritz Kreisler (see notes below).  Kreisler is the violinist that Dr. Suzuki named his "Kreisler Highway" for -- that perfect spot to draw the bow across the string.  Dr. Suzuki studied Kreisler's sound production intently and deemed this highway and important teaching point.  You too can listen to Kreisler and hear his beautiful tone!

There are other recordings - enjoy looking around and learning more about this great artist of our time.

Enjoy!

Fritz Kreisler (1875)

Kreisler was a prodigy who was accepted by the Paris conservatory at the age of seven and won its most prestigious prize at the age of twelve. He was one of the first violinists to achieve international fame through the gramophone, and also his many tours. He was considered one of the last violinists of the romantic era. Here he performs Beethoven’s violin sonata no 1.

One of the first true masters of the pre-recording age to make his mark in the sound studio. Kreisler lived from 1875 to 1962, and was known for a very polite, charming tone quality, not bombastic or forceful, but technically perfect, as if he were asking the audience’s permission to show off now and then. He is typically contrasted with #5, whose technical abilities were just as perfect, but whose tone was much more aggressive, even in slow passages.

Kreisler was one of the few classical musicians to die wealthy back then, having been struck by cars twice, once in 1941, which fractured his skull and put him in a week-long coma, and again a few months before his death, a traffic accident which left him blind and deaf. He was known to be supremely polite and gentlemanly to everyone he met, and this has been noted as an abiding quality of his playing. He wrote what is, today, the most popular cadenza for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D.

Here are a few recordings of him performing a few different pieces:

Caprice Viennois: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd53kbz7QOM&list=PLzSb4cgS0A3NE6qLT5ixtfuPCpN9odvni&index=3 
 Tango: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4oGB6ZSsdo&index=3&list=PLzSb4cgS0A3MSqEiT4l21i-8F2n850A-L
La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUhHgwpXILU&index=2&list=PLzSb4cgS0A3MSqEiT4l21i-8F2n850A-L
Beethoven, Sonata No.8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1HKZJe5jwE

Tambourin Chinois.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHwqIL44MRA

   ZOOM Virtual Lessons                         

Here is the link to use for online lessons: https://zoom.us/j/9799595937

Password: cbviolin

Thank you all for continuing to work on establishing lesson etiquette online.  A few reminders:

• Set up your lesson space with ample time to log in 5 minutes before your lesson time.  (music stand, music, tuned instrument, etc)
• Please have the video in landscape (horizontal) setting so I can see both arms.  Test out your bow arm at the tip...can you see your bow hold in the picture with your arm extended?  I do not need to see your music stand, that can be off to the side of the camera (your left side when you are facing the screen).
• Turn off as many Wi-Fi devices in your house as you are able.  The more devices you have accessing your router, the more delays and cut outs happen when you are playing.  I will have most everything here at my house removed from our router during lesson times to help us out.  
• Mute yourself and even turn off your video to be less of a distraction to the lesson in progress.
• Feel free to experiment with speakers or mics on your end to be able to hear me / make your audio sharper. 
• Turn ON original sound, so that Zoom will relay your instrument's sound without delay. If you need help with this setting, please ask.

You can also access the Zoom link through the MMS website.  Log into your user account and click on the link associated with the event.