November 2022 Studio Newsletter

November winds are blowin….

…and the Christmas season is in the air! It will soon be time to start those Christmas songs…..yes, already! I’m in the planning stages for a CHRISTMAS RECITAL of sorts for early December. More information to come asap in the next few weeks.

There are NO lessons Nov. 5/8/9 due to November Break. Sat lessons on Nov. 12 are a go. Please consider this when sending payment if you pay monthly. Thank you!

FINGERNAILS - just a reminder to keep 'em short! It’s impossible to play with proper form and dexterity with long nails.

ELZINGA FAM JAM UPDATE:

#1 - Jon’s right Achilles decided to give up on him last Wednesday night while he was playing volleyball. No surgery but it’s a long and painful healing process with 4 months in a air cast boot.

#2 - Meet Pumpkin and Luna! We have two new additions to our family-two female guinea pigs. Ashlyn has been working towards this goal for a long time and yesterday (Halloween) these lovely ladies popped up on kijiji. My girls (and Jon) are over the moon. Me, well, I think they are cute of course, but I’m crossing my fingers that the girls will persevere in their promise to care for them because I have my plants to take care of 😂

This coming month in the studio:

• Composing (all levels)

• HOLIDAY songs and theory

• Aural Skill development

• Scale Karate

• more Games

OCTOBER Review

• Practice Tracking Bookmarks

• Fun Fall Music Theory

• GAMES!

• Aural Skill Practices

• Fall/Halloween pieces!

• (PENTA)SCALE KARATE with the Circle of Fifths

Studio Spotlight

- Everett, Kassie, Avery and Aveline - All Achieved Scale Karate Belts!

- Liz and Lewis are moving on to new levels in new books!

PRACTICE:

Setting aside a regular daily practice time is essential to progress. This doesn’t mean it has to be the same time every day! Make a plan around the weekly activities you have.

Our weekly practice bookmarks have proven to be a BIG motivation with many of my students! Starting in November I will no longer be giving them out in class but will instead be drawing boxes along the top of page in the students’ notebook. You can track days of practice there and if the notebook is returned with 4-7 days of practice AND a signature, I will honour that and still give out candies. (1 for 4 days, 2 for 5, 3 for 6 and treasure chest for 7 days of practice.) I will include the PDF for the bookmarks with this newsletter. Please feel free to print out and use at home if you’d prefer that over the notebook page and I will also accept those if they are initialed by a parent.

ADVENT CALENDARS & PIANO PRACTICE! Parents, have I a tip for you! I usually do an Advent calendar with my kids in December, counting down to Christmas…..BUT, for the past two years I have purchased an extra set (one for each of my two kids) and in JANUARY I use them as a practice reward! I usually just get the dollar store version. Every day they practice my kids are allowed to open a little door and eat the yummy chocolate. I tell them that I’m going to take the calendar away at the end of the month, even if there are chocolates left so they are motivated to get the 25 days done before the end of the month!

Thank you for supporting my studio and I and for supporting your students at home! Take care of yourself!

Yours, Andrea Elzinga