Friday, June 13, 2025 by Cortney Baker | Uncategorized

  June tuition                              

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

Ways to pay:

1. IN PERSON at your lesson
2. MAIL CHECK:  814 Pineland Dr, Cary, 27511
3. ONLINE PAYMENT:  Venmo & Zelle

  June Schedule                           

There are no regular lessons scheduled June 1 to 15.

Summer 2025 lessons begin on June 16.

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 Class                                

Group Classes will be on break for June, July and August.

  Local Summer Music Camps    

Lamar Stringfield Music Camp: https://stringfieldmusiccamp.com/home

Day camp Session 1: June 15-20

Day camp Session 2: June 22-27

A great opportunity for introducing your student to music camps and/or playing in a string ensemble.  Past students have enjoyed the energy and excellence the camp faculty and directors pour into this week of music making.  Plus, it's in our backyard!  Take a moment to read more on their website.

Triangle Youth Music Camps: https://www.triangleyouthmusic.org/summer-programs

Triangle Youth Music runs the largest, multi-level music education organization in Raleigh.  During the school year, they host 5 orchestras, 4 jazz bands and multiple smaller ensembles.  Their summer camp is a great way to experience their program on a smaller scale. Take a moment to read more on their website.

  Suzuki Summer Institutes          

Registration for SUZUKI Summer Institutes is underway! Use this link to view all of the options around the country for summer study: https://suzukiassociation.org/teachers/teacher-training/institutes/

What is an Institute?  It is a 5-day family camp.  Each day, students have a Masterclass lesson and 2-3 classes (group repertoire, group technique, chamber music, orchestra, fiddle, etc) depending on the level of the player and their ability to read music.  Want to know more, please ask me!   

I want to encourage everyone to look at the dates and see how you can fit one of these amazing camps into your schedule this summer. 

I will be on faculty at the Greater Washington Suzuki Institute again this year, June 23-29.  I would love for you to consider joining me near our nation's capital.  Lots of fun sightseeing and history to observe when you are not in class!  Here is the link for more info: https://gwsuzukiinstitute.org/

Our state has a local institute! Consider heading a little east to join them for a week of music making! North Carolina Suzuki Institute, July 13-18. https://www.ncsuzuki.org/ncsi-home

Several students in our studio have taken advantage of these opportunities in the past.  Each one has come away with a major boost in motivation and confidence! As my colleague David Strom has frequently expressed, "institute participants come away from an institute having gained one whole year of musical growth in just one week!"

    Studio Videos                                

Reminder: link to our YouTube folders: https://pinelandsuzukistrings.mymusicstaff.com/Video-Links

For now, I have posted links to the Pre-Twinkle videos, Book 1 accompaniment, Daily Do (for Music Mind Games class), and Christmas Carols.

   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 link might help to take you there: https://app.mymusicstaff.com/Student/v3/en/online-resources 

   The Year of Listening                  

It has been exciting to see the progress of everyone's listening journey on our studio chart. Keep recording those listening days!  A new round of summer listening awards will be handed out at the September group classes,

****Everyday is a new opportunity to listen.****  

****When you complete your second, third OR fourth 50-day chart, 

please hand it to Dr. Baker in your lesson.****   

A reminder of why listening needs to be a focus each week:

Constant and varied listening experiences, both active and passive, are crucial for developing a child's musical ear, fostering familiarity with the repertoire, and nurturing a love for music.  

Take a look at this article for an even deeper look at the importance of listening:https://pluckyviolinteacher.com/listening-to-the-suzuki-recordings/

   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.  Starting this month and throughout the summer, we will focus on famous composers of violin literature.

This month's famous composer is Arcangelo Corelli.  (see notes below).   

There are other recordings - enjoy looking around and learning more about this great composer.

Please share these with the kids.

Enjoy!

Corelli was born in 1653. Given he lived so long ago, we may question, “How do we know how well he played?” Well, even today, almost every violinist can trace his or her performance training back to Corelli. The techniques you hear performers using, fingering, bowing, form and posture are all thanks to Corelli. He was famous throughout western Europe in his own day as a performer of the highest order.

He did not like the idea of playing very high notes. Not to say he couldn’t, but he thought it always sounded screechy, no matter how well anyone played them. His own music almost never goes above D on the highest string. 

There is a story claims that Handel wrote an A above this in one of his oratorios, which the visiting Corelli refused to play. He thought it sounded terrible. Handel, an organist, proceeded to play it on his own violin, and Corelli was offended. “I didn’t say, Herr Handel, that I couldn’t play it. I said it shouldn’t be played.” Handel himself remarked at the “voracity” with which Corelli could run through scales, faster than anyone else he had heard, and strike the perfect leaps, from octaves to 12ths, 15ths and more.

Corelli, Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 - Remy Baudet, violin: https://youtu.be/TAl1Inc5Y7E?si=R123rC0wShCu-uXu  (12 sonatas in this opus. The final one, No. 12, "la folia" is also a piece in Suzuki Volume 6 - use the links in the description to move around from sonata to sonata.)

Corelli, Violin Sonatas, Op.5 - Andrew Manze, violin: https://youtu.be/M5ce15s4NYc?si=BDmNP0qUZ3FQinZJ (Same sonatas as above, but with a vastly different performer. How about listening to the same Sonata with each performer and compare the difference you hear?)

Corelli, Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 - Musica Amphion : https://youtu.be/pLSCaSUhaEU?si=Ro6HhJQLTyZ8Jkr3  Another collection of 12 works that Corelli wrote for string instruments.  Choose a few minutes to listen to and notice the different between the sound of many instruments, vs. the fewer instruments in the Violin sonata recordings. 

    Local Performances                        

More to come in September!

NC Symphony upcoming concerts webpage: click here

*denotes Dr. Baker is performing