Happy New Year, Students & Parents! Winter Term begins (and the regular lesson schedule resumes) on Monday,
January 5. Please note the following holidays and events for Winter Term, 2009:

Monday, Jan. 19: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. No lessons.

Monday, Feb. 16: Presidents’ Day. No lessons.

March 6-9: Lower Division (Levels 1-6) Syllabus for participating students.

March 23-27: Spring Break. No lessons.

March 30: Spring Term begins. Regular lesson schedule resumes again.

Due to inclement weather, piano lessons for Thursday, December 18, are CANCELLED. You will receive a credit on your invoice toward January’s lessons. The weather man says that the temperature will continue to drop as the day goes on, and I fear that the roads will be icy by the time lessons roll around this afternoon and evening.

The regular lesson schedule will resume with the start of Winter Term on January 5, 2009. Enjoy your time off and
Happy Holidays!

The following students have the goal of taking their Syllabus exam March 6-9, 2009:

A. Birkeland
C. Castaneda
Y. Harrison
R. Howerton
A. Llamas
D. Llamas
J. Logan
K. Lyman
A. Parra
L. Schoening
S. Shuler

The following students have a goal of taking their Syllabus exam (Upper Division) on April 24-27:

C. Hamilton
M. Logan

If your child’s name is on either of these lists, I strongly encourage you to take piano lessons in December. There is plenty of material to cover for the Syllabus exam, which is comprehensive and quite challenging. Extra lesson time would be advantageous to your child. Note that taking lessons in December does not guarantee that you will be ready to take the test by March, but it is helpful. Please see the post below for info about taking lessons in December.

Fall Term ends November 28. Optional piano lessons will continue to be available through December 19. All students performing in the December 6 recital must attend their lesson during the first week of December. If you wish to continue taking piano lessons through December 19, please notify me as soon as possible. There will be NO piano lessons during the holiday break: December 20, 2008 - January 2, 2009. Winter Term begins (and the regular lesson schedule resumes) on January 5, 2009.

The Oregon Music Teachers Association will be using my studio to host local Syllabus evaluations on Friday, November 7, so there will be NO LESSONS that day.

As a result, I am holding make-up lessons for Friday students on Sunday, November 9 from 1 - 5 p.m. If you normally have lessons on Fridays, please contact me ASAP to schedule a make-up lesson time on Sunday, November 9. Thanks!

This year, my students will be divided into two holiday recitals, which will be held at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 6. The 1 p.m. recital will take place at Treehouse Hall (a map is on page 2) in Northern Hillsboro; the 3 p.m. recital will be held in the meeting room of the Hillsboro Public Library on Brookwood Avenue. Rehearsal for both recitals will be held November 22. See the September 8 post below for information about rehearsal.

I am holding two shows in order to stay within the 90-person capacity limit at each performance venue. Those who attended the Spring 2008 Recital at Treehouse Hall may recall that the space was packed to capacity, with a handful of people left standing. Because I would like all of you to feel free to bring as many friends/relatives as you wish, I am holding two small recitals instead of one large recital.

Your child(ren) will only be playing in one of the recitals, but if you would like to attend both, you are welcome to do so. I will be randomly assigning an equal number of students to perform at each recital venue so that each audience will have the opportunity to see a mix of skill levels perform, from beginning to advanced.

New students (those who have only been with me since August/September 2008) may opt to wait until the Spring 2009 recital to give their first performance. All other students may expect to perform.

Students must dress nicely for their performance. Flash photography is not allowed during the students’ performances, but video is OK. If you would like a photo of your child at the piano, you may pose him/her there after the recital is over.

Syllabus evaluations (for participating students) will be held Friday, November 7, at my piano studio. You will need to make arrangements to pull your child out of school in order to take the exam. Plan on arriving 10 minutes earlier than the time shown so that your evaluation may begin on time. Please dress nicely and bring all your Syllabus music with you.

See the list below for your child’s scheduled evaluation time:

9 a.m.          D. Wang

9:20 a.m.     E. Birkeland

9:50 a.m.     F. Rahman

10:35 a.m.   D. Wellappili

11:05 a.m.   K. Wellappili

11:35 a.m.   S. Rogers

Rehearsal for the 2008 Holiday Recitals will be held from 2 - 3:30 p.m. Saturday, November 22, in the meeting room at the Hillsboro Public Library, 2850 NE Brookwood Pkwy, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124. Because I do not want everyone to hear the entire program before our exciting Holiday Recital on December 6, the rehearsal is CLOSED to parents (i.e. students only may listen and participate). Parents may hang out in the library or run errands as you wait. I want the recital to be a pleasant surprise for all parents, relatives, and friends in attendance.

I highly encourage all my students to partcipate in the recital and rehearsal. It’s a wonderful opportunity to share what you’ve learned and become inspired to work even harder. The recital rehearsal is conducted in a peer review format, e.g. you will play your song for the other students in my studio, who will critique your performance. Refreshments will be provided. Please dress casually for rehearsal and bring a copy of your piece in case you forget how it goes.

New students (students who have only been enrolled with me since August or September 2008) may opt to wait until the Spring 2009 recital to perform.

Fall Syllabus will be held on the weekend of November 7-9, 2008. If your child is preparing to take this exam, please “save” this weekend in  your calendar. Information about my students’ exact evaluation date, time, and testing site will not be released to me until 2-4 weeks before the evaluation. That information will be passed on to you as soon as I receive it.

When I submit my students’ Syllabus applications, I do not get to “choose” their testing date, time, and site. These are assigned to me by the Syllabus organizers, so please do not ask for a “special” date/time. Thank you for your understanding!

Fall Term will begin Tuesday, September 2. Unless you have made other arrangements with me, all returning students are coming back to their regularly scheduled lesson time — the same time from last Spring. Please also note that my new rates will be in effect beginning September 2. I’m looking forward to welcoming all of you back!