Hello All and Welcome to Piano Lessons in 2023!
This is the first of our monthly newsletters, so please make sure to read through and see the extras available to you this month 🙂
Lessons DO begin this week, and invoices are due by your lesson day. Your individual invoices and 2022 student reviews were sent on Friday morning, so make sure you check these out so you know the plan for the coming year!
I’m looking forward to seeing what the year holds for all of us as we grow on our musical journeys 🙂
~McKenzie
Important Dates to Know –
~ Maternity Leave: Some have already been asking about this. Baby is due April 22, and I plan to take the week off before that date as well. Assuming baby doesn’t come early, I will teach through the week of April 10th ,11th , and 12th. It’s an odd time to stop/start in the middle of months, so I plan to resume lesson in July.
~ Spring Recital: YES! Just a bit earlier 😊 For now I have it scheduled Sunday, March 19th.
It’s that time of year where we are all making New Year’s resolutions and striving to stick with them. NOW is the time to create a new practice routine … but don’t worry! We will be revisiting this as piano practice isn’t one of those resolutions we want to fall by the wayside in the next few weeks. Revisiting our goals and resolutions fairly often will help us stay on track and get back on when we have gotten off 🙂
Music History Time Period: Early Music/Renaissance c. 500-1600
“Early music refers to musical compositions from the medieval and Renaissance periods of music. Much of the music from earliest history was sacred music written for voice and was transmitted orally. It wasn’t until the dawn of the Renaissance that we see more frequent use of instruments and developments in printing.” (taken from classicsforkids.com)
Most music was polyphonic at this time (two or more parts happening simultaneously, each having a melody of its own), and harmony and chords hadn’t been fully developed yet. Most of the instruments we have today had not yet been invented, but their predecessors were! Take a listen below.
Book(s) of the Month –
How did written music come to be?
Where do instruments come from?
What music existed before the piano came to be?
All three of these books will answer these questions and more!
Recommended Listening –
Hildegard Von Bingen
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Interested in exploring Early Music/Renaissance time period further? Check out these resources below –
Books
(click on the images to view further or check the shelves in the Skyline Kids section at the store)
Websites
The Origin of Written Music
Piano Possibilities 