WINTER CONCERT INFO
- ALL TUITION MUST BE PAID IN FULL FOR THE CURRENT MONTH in order to keep your lesson spot reserved, continue our lessons, and participate in the concert. NO EXCEPTIONS!!! This is how I make my living and I have bills just like everyone else. For your review, our program's Policies and Tuition details are available here.
- TUITION MUST BE PAID IN FULL AT THE FIRST LESSON EVERY MONTH, for ALL the days when school is in session, either by personal check to Mr. Pricope, by transfer from your bank's phone app to Andrei Pricope (847) 877-0846. Thank you!
- MAKE UP lessons: 5 days out of the 11 days missed because of the strike have been added to the CPS Calendar, leaving 6 days to make up as we go along (for most kids that's one week's worth of lessons). Some of the lessons have already been made up, especially for younger students. Please continue to notify me of school absences. Thank you!
- Winter Concert date/time: TUESDAY, December 17th at 6:00 PM, in the Ebinger School Auditorium
- All students will play solos - our concerts are like games in sports, an essential part of the program and a great growing experience. No need to sign up additionally for the concert; also, there's no recital fee, unlike other programs.
- Family, friends, and neighbors are warmly invited. Video/photos are encouraged.
- String/guitar students can unpack along the hallway around room 105 starting at 5:40
- Piano students must warm up at home prior to arrival, and will be seated in the front two rows of the Auditorium, so we can keep things moving along. The Concert starts at 6:00 PM sharp!
- Dress is smart (no jeans, shorts or sneakers!). Please keep hair/clothes out of the way. Holiday clothing is ok.
- All students must bring their music binders. For consistency, piano students will play on the piano they use in school.
- WHAT TO PLAY? Sudents are encouraged to perform the most advanced piece they can play WELL and WITHOUT STOPPING. As a guideline, if the player can play a song WELL FIVE TIMES in a row, then the song is ready for public performance, allowing for nerves, etc. It's always better and more impressive to play an "easy" song well than to completely mess up a more advanced song, on stage, and have a bad, de-motivational experience. We will decide on the concert piece at the last lesson before the concert. Please keep practicing -- skills and songs don't learn themselves!
ON HOME PRACTICING and MAKING PROGRESS
- I remind the students that home practice between lessons is for the brain -- our hands play only as well as we have trained our brain to think. Therefore we practice to increase our awareness, realize and understand WHAT to play and HOW to play, and to TRAIN THE BRAIN to give the RIGHT commands to the hands, the RIGHT way, at the RIGHT time, consistently and reliably well.
- Our in-school lessons are for introducing new concepts and musical elements, yet they are useless absent student's home practice to turn this new knowledge into lasting habits, into skills. Skills are built through mindful repetition, attentive correction, and continued refinement. As in any other activity, there are NO shortcuts to excellence!
- Recommended practice time is 10-15min FOUR-FIVE TIMES WEEKLY for beginners and 15-20min FIVE-SIX TIMES WEEKLY for elementary and intermediate players. As with all skills, focus and consistency are key - PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS!!!
- By practicing regularly, we challenge ourselves to develop our mental focus, attention to detail, perseverance, patience, our self-control, and physical stamina. No amount of hoping and wishing is a substitute for consistency of effort, as hard work ALWAYS beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Mistakes and hesitations are normal and will happen, but we practice at home to reduce and eliminate them, to develop our higher awareness and ability, to advance to the next level, to build our self-confidence.
- Every home practice session must include warming up with recent songs and technical foundation work (patterns, scales, etudes, etc.). The stronger the foundation, the better the building; a shaky, unreliable foundation is worthless.
- Beginning piano students MUST say the notes as they play them, in order to develop their fluidity, sequential eye tracking and note-reading in both treble and bass clefs, and perform without hesitation or stopping.
- Students benefit from keeping the nails short and playing with curved, flexible fingers, ready for their specific tasks. Also, from having their music binder at EVERY LESSON :)