By Meridith Johnson As teachers, studio owners and managers and people on planet earth, it seems like there is a constant to-do list. Seasons change, jobs change, people move and our live seem to be in a constant flux. Our studio has gown greatly in the number of students we’ve had, and we’ve expanded our capacity at our studio to reach to providing in-home lessons. We have...
Read MoreBy Kate Powell There are some things that can be taken for granted. The color of the sky for instance or the fact that Chik-Fil-A will always be closed on Sundays… But there are other things that we are better off not taking for granted. One of them is how much our parents understand their responsibility in the music lesson environment, and another is that they have...
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This is a review for Hal Leonard’s “Vocal Pro” Series “Jazz Standards for Female Singers, Volume 2.” First of all, I just love this book! I am even considering making it a required purchase for all incoming voice students this year. The songs are classic and fun. They are challenging, as the notes move up and down a lot, and quite unexpectedly, but at the same time, the keys are all friendly enough for the beginning singer. With that in mind, I will say the only downside is that these keys are not good for soprano singers. If your students are most comfortable in a high register, you may want to consider the male keys.
Since I first opened my studio back in 2007, I had a “no weekends” policy. I’ve had families ask about Saturday and Sunday lessons and music therapy sessions, but I always stood firm that I would limit my work week to 5 days. Until now.
The thing is, Sunday has never really served as a day of rest for me. After choir practice and church in the morning, I usually come home and work on a songwriting/recording project or prepare lesson and session materials, which works out nicely since my husband is usually busy watching football anyway. And on most Sundays, I head back to church in the late afternoon to teach my early childhood music class. So even though my studio was never open for business on this day in the past, I still was always in work mode.
This summer as I was planning my studio schedule, I realized that something would have to give. With a full load of students and no plans to downsize, my choices were to either work well into the night — 8:30 pm on most evenings — or open up a couple hours on Sundays (Saturdays will always be off the table).
By Meridith Johnson The days becoming noticeably shorter seems to ring in a new season with yellow school busses packed with children in every seat, excited to head back to school. Every fall seems to welcome new beginnings as students return to sports, school and activities with a blank page of possibilities ahead this year. Music lessons beginning again for our students this fall also carries with...
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