Ending the Summer Term on a Good 'Note'

This past Saturday, as a final summer activity, I took 5 of my available students to a local nursing home for a mini-recital. They each played between 2-4 pieces. We picked a variety of solo pieces, duets with the teacher, and even had two siblings play a round together! What fun!

After the performance, I played some music while the students made cards to hand out to the residents, thanking them for listening to the performance. I even got a card as well! ;)

This was our first trip as a studio, and I'm looking forward to making it a regular activity in the upcoming terms.

(the clearer pictures are thanks to a parent- my own pictures turned out rather dim and blurry as you can see at the end of this set of pictures)

The Great Music Race is Over!

The past 10 weeks have completely flown by. Summer is fast coming to a close and schools are starting back up here in Maryland in just one week!

My summer teaching term ended this past week, and I'm looking forward to a 2-week break from teaching before starting the fall term. While summer is always hit-or-miss with regards to consistency with my students, I was really happy to see the majority of my students show discipline and effort with practice over the summer term, as is shown by the distance many of them were able to travel on our studio racetrack. There were a few students who cut out mid-term, but those students who decided to participate in the contest and stuck it out to the end did a pretty good job staying consistent for the 8 weeks they took lessons over the term.

There are also quite a few flags decorating our racetrack, showing the memorization efforts put forth by my students as well. It was a great term, and while I'm looking forward to a break and vacation, my mind is already full of ideas for the fall practice contest!