Piano Notes – Studio Newsletter March 2016
Inland Empire Piano Festival 2016
Congratulations to the following students who placed at this year’s competition:
Emma Erickson – 1st place
Shania Jin – 3rd place
Claire Howard – 3rd place
Hudson Erickson – Honorable Mention
Rotary Club Music Competition
Riverside Young Musicians Club Spring Benefit Recital
We had a fun little recital on February 28, even my 4-month-old daughter performed! $165 was raised for Music Link Foundation.
Certificate of Merit
This year we had 26 students participate, from Prep level to Level 10:
Level 10: Meijke Balay-Mickelson*
Level 9: Kelly Rausch
Level 7: Hunter Erickson* Rachel Hong*
Level 6: Charmaine Tan* Cheryl Tan* Fiona Harley* Gabriella Pryce* Alexa Willis, Hudson Erickson
Level 5: Shania Jin* Emma Erickson* Chanelle Tan* Ally Negulescu* Kaitlyn Hetsko* Andreas Schaefer
Level 3: Elsa Long* Cameron Chang* Samantha Estrada* Ethan Phan* Claire Nguyen* Abigail Phan
Level 2: David Huang
Level 1: Chloe Tan, Lucas Schaefer
Prep Level: Nadia Cioffi
* students who received Branch Honors
Congratulations to all!
Steinway Society Festival and Competition
Congratulations to Emma Erickson! Emma was selected as one of the winners in this year’s Steinway Festival and Competition held at Palm Springs. This competition is extremely competitive; participants are typically winners from various age groups in the Inland Empire Competition. Emma was in the Junior category (up to 8th Grade). Emma is only in the 4th Grade and this was her first time participating. She will be awarded $500 scholarship!
Upcoming Concert Ticket Offers
Student of the Month – Samantha Estrada
Samantha is a very sensitive, loving and compassionate girl that loves nature and animals. She enjoys to read, watch movies, specially documentaries about science. In addition to her piano lessons, she takes horse riding lessons at the Horse Riding Academy—she’s currently a level 4 student–and is part of the Krav Maga program at the West Coast Krav Maga Training Center. She’s an avid soccer player in the Temecula Valley Soccer Association and very passionate in every adventure she embarks on. She gives 110% to everything that she does. Even with a full schedule, Samantha manages to be a straight A, 6th grade student at Hillcrest Academy as well as part of the school’s debate program, competing at the Inland Valley Debate League.
We are very grateful to Miss Yiyi Ku because under her tutelage Samantha has progressed greatly in her piano studies and her love for music grows every day.
Teacher Comment: Samantha has indeed progressed so much since she started. She has such a high standard for herself and this is reflected in her recent Certificate of Merit score. This was her first year participating, and she passed level 3 with Honors. Samantha has a unique gift of making beautiful sounds on the piano. She is a model student and I have no doubt she will make even more progress in the years to come!
