Piano Notes – Studio Newsletter November 2013
Student Activities
Congratulations to all the students that participated in various events in the last couple weeks. 9 students performed at the TVMTA Fall Costume Recital, 1 student performed at MTAC Halloween Recital, 18 students performed at MTAC Sonata/Sonatina Festival, and 4 students performed for Temecula City Council – our students have been very busy indeed! I am so proud of each and every single one of you!
MTAC Sonata/Sonatina Festival
Congratulations to the following students who performed at this year’s MTAC Sonata/Sonatina Festival: Thomas and Anna Stone, Katherine Shepherd, Kaitlyn Hetsko, Manuela and Andreas Schaefer, Fiona Harley, Jonathan Lee, Ron Lycan, Noelle and Charys Hong, Rachel Hong, Emma Erickson, Hudson and Hunter Erickson, Shania Jin, and Sam and Thien Sa Luyen.
Congratulations to the following students who received high scores. These students will receive a trophy: Thomas Stone, Katherine Shepherd, Kaitlyn Hetsko, Jonathan Lee, Ron Lycan, Noelle Hong, Charys Hong, Rachel Hong, Emma Erickson, Hudson Erickson, Hunter Erickson, Shania Jin, and Thien Sa Luyen. Special congratulations to the following students who received the highest score of 5+: Hunter Erickson, Shania Jin, Katherine Shepherd, and Thomas Stone.
CAPMT Solo and Ensemble Auditions
Good luck to Charys and Rachel Hong, who will be taking part in the CAPMT Solo and Ensemble Auditions on November 16. They will each perform two solos and a duet.
MTAC Certificate of Merit
The registration for this statewide music test closed last month. We will have 21 students participate – our biggest yet! Those of you doing the test should have your technical requirements learned and memorized by the end of November so we can focus on Theory and Repertoire in the coming months.
Studio Holiday Recital
When: Saturday, 1:30pm, December 21, 2013
Where: Grace Presbyterian Church, 31143 Nicolas Road, Temecula CA 92591
40 students will perform in our annual holiday recital. This is our biggest recital of the year. You are welcome to invite your friends and family to come listen to fantastic holiday music as well as classical piano literature. The postcard invitations have been ordered and will arrive soon!
Inland Empire Piano Competition
This is the former Inland Empire Piano Festival. Last year Hudson Erickson received Honorable Mention in his division. I recommend this event for highly motivated students who have competition experience and a minimum of 45-min weekly lessons. Click here to go to the competition website to find out more. If you are interested to participate, please let me know by November 15.
November Schedule
On November 11, Veterans’ Day, I will be playing in a concert with the Inland Valley Symphony. This concert is sponsored by the city of Temecula, it is free and open to the public! If you have not been to the symphony concerts before, you do not want to miss this! In this concert, you will hear lots of patriotic music to celebrate Veterans’ Day, as well as lots of famous show music (Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago). The concert is at 5:30pm, held at the Temecula Amphitheater, in the Temecula Recreation Center at 30875 Rancho Vista Road (just West of Margarita Road). As a result, I will not be teaching in the afternoon on November 11. If you are a Monday student, please email me to reschedule your lesson (I will be teaching in the morning).
I will not be teaching on November 28-29 (Thanksgiving). There are five Fridays and Saturdays in November, so there will be no regular lessons on November 29-30. I will be giving make-up lessons on November 30. If you are a Thursday student, or if you have a make-up due, please email me your availability so I can schedule you.
Student of the Month – Shania Jin
The student of the month for December is Shania Jin. Shania just turned 8 years old. She is a Third grader at Tuscany Hills Elementary School. She likes reading, drawing, and Ballet. She has been working on a special project this past year: making video films with her pets!
Shania started piano lessons with me just before turning 4 years old in 2009. She was one of my first piano students in Murrieta! You can see a picture of little Shania on my first newsletter here.
Over the years, Shania has participated in many recitals and events. When she was four, after only having about 6 months of lessons, she played in the Temecula Spring Music Festival and was awarded a Gold Medal. Last weekend she played at the MTAC Sonata/Sonatina Festival and received the highest score of 5+ (she will be getting a trophy). Shania has been trained in the Solfege system (as I do with all beginners), and has perfect pitch. She is a remarkable reader. Her sight reading skill is the best I have seen in a young student. Another remarkable aspect about Shania is that her parents actually have no music background, and she does all her piano homework assignments by herself! She has had 45-min lessons since she was 5 years old, and is playing Intermediate repertoire. She is currently working on the following books: Classics for Developing Pianist Book 2, Classics to Moderns, Diabelli Sonatinas, Chopin album, Guild Audition Intermediate book, and she just finished John Thompson Piano Course Book 6. Shania will be doing Certificate of Merit test Level 3.
It is so rewarding for me as a teacher to see how much Shania has grown. She started from absolute scratch, and now plays with confidence and musicality. I am so proud to have her in my studio!
