GrandStaff Piano Studio www.grandstaffpiano.com April 2013 Newsletter Happy Springtime!Piano Performance Party and Competitions: Please take special note of our Competitions dates, times and place! We have a new venue in Souderton-there are maps with directions available-ask Judy. Piano Performance Party (Preschool through 2nd Grade) is Sat. May 4th at 11:00 AM at Souderton Mennonite Home Junior Division Competition (Grades 3-4-5) is Sat. May 4th at 12:00 Noon at Souderton Mennonite Home Senior Division Competition (Grades 6 thru 12) is Sat. May 11th at 1:00 PM at Souderton Mennonite Home. Be sure to join us for this exciting day of beautiful music. Competition is a “dress-up” occasion. Shirts with collars for the young gentlemen (ties preferred); conservative dresses for the young ladies. Thank you for your cooperation! Each performer will need three copies of their songs with the measures numbered. Bring the copies to Competition. You give one copy to each judge. There is a $7.00 fee per song that helps to pay our judges. Please include with April or May tuition. Come early to warm up on the big piano and avoid the last second rush. Our Competitions are well attended but there will be seating for many visitors. So invite all your friends, neighbors, relatives—there will be lots of room and refreshments! Summer Changes: Please keep in mind that we do not have Group Theory in May due to the Competitions being held. Please attend one or more of the Competitions! Also remember that there is no Group Theory in the Summer months of June-July-Aug.—so be very faithful to attend your group this month of April. Also, all Saturday students will be scheduled for weekday lessons in the summer--Violin/Viola String lessons continue on Tuesdays with Paul McIntyre and Voice lessons with Mrs. Geiger! KinderKeys—our Preschool Musical Kindergarten for ages 3-4-5 will begin Thursday Sept.12th. Classes are limited so be sure to register now! Keyboard Adventures begins Thursday Sept. 12th at 5:00. Be sure to ask about our exciting group program for ages 5-6-7. This is a fun, interactive program for those younger children completing the KinderKeys program but not quite ready for one-on-one individual lessons. Summer is a time when great progress can be made at Piano with no school responsibilities. More practice time is available and young people need good ways to fill in free time. Plan on having fun at the piano this summer! Choose a challenging Competition piece as a project to motivate and occupy idle time. Recital: Our student, Miss Melody Pancoast is having her Senior Recital at Jacobs Music Hall in Willow Grove, Pa. on Saturday April 27th at 1 PM. Everyone is welcome and invited to attend and enjoy the beautiful music! Bring your young person and let them be inspired by the way Melody has developed her talent. It’s a must-see event! Music is exciting and fulfilling. Be a part of it! Thank you for your confidence in us. Enjoy the warmer weather! Judy and the GrandStaff GrandStaff Piano Studio Quakertown, Pa. grandstaffpiano.com Spring 2013 KinderKeys NEWS KinderKeys is off to a great start this semester! We have many little students who are eager to learn about piano and violin! We have been busy learning piano key names; high and low; listening skills; and hand positions as well as right and left hand concepts. We enjoy keeping the beat on the Omnichord strum pad and playing the MerryMakerMusic harp which ear trains and teaches rhythm. We are having fun coloring pictures of famous composers. Our workbooks are teaching us finger numbers and hand positions while each student receives a piano and violin lesson. Our Tempo Cat Chart teaches us the Italian terms for the speed in music. BigFoot (floor keyboard) makes us laugh and the Omnichord (autoharp) makes such beautiful music. During snack time we learn our music symbols on flashcards and we love to march during rhythm band. We are looking forward to more exciting learning experiences as the semester progresses. Encourage your little person to tell you all about the many experiences at each class. Perhaps they can demonstrate at your piano at home what they are learning about the keyboard and sing some of the songs they are singing about music. We love teaching your children and having a part in this very beginning of their Music Education. Judith Kay Clark, Director Bryan Griffith Student Assistant Jordanna Keller, Student Assistant Mikayla Dunn, Student Assistant GrandStaff PIANO STUDIO Spring 2013 Keyboard Adventures NEWS www.grandstaffpiano.com 215-536-5147 Welcome! We are off to a great start on our KBA Spring semester! We have lots of enthusiastic little students who love to learn music. We are learning rhythm and notation-as well as many music symbols, time signatures, note values and lines and spaces. We are progressing well in our Lessons and Recital books. Our workbooks are done together here at the Studio. Piano Purchase: Many of you have asked us about buying a piano. Please be careful about buying pianos from the classifieds. We will always refer you to a good reputable dealer and encourage the purchase of a good instrument. Wow-what a great gift for the whole family! We look forward to many more weeks of fun and excitement as we learn to read music and play the piano. Happy Springtime! Sincerely, Judith Kay Clark, Director, MTNA, PMTA Bryan Griffith, Student Assistant Jordanna Keller, Student Assistant