Thank you all for finding your way to my first blog post!
Today I’d like to briefly go over a few things that I’ve got going on in my studio.
Just around the corner on April 26 and May 3, all of my strings students will be participating in the annual Solo & Ensemble Festival. This is a busy event held through Fairfax County Public Schools for kids that are enrolled in their school’s orchestra or band programs. Students who participate are asked to prepare a solo piece and perform it with an accompanist for an adjudicator. They receive feedback and a rating. For many kids, especially those without private teachers, it is their only chance to work on this kind of repertoire. As an accompanist, it is one of my favorite times of the year, because I get to share chamber music with young and talented musicians.
On May 4, my strings students will be taking their Certificate Advancement Program exams, held through the American String Teachers Association; that’s a mouthful, so we refer to it as ASTACAP! This is the first year I have been involved in this process, and let me tell you - the preparation has done wonders across my studio so far! Having clear goals of which scales and arpeggios to learn, with etudes and corresponding pieces of a similar level of difficulty has made my students more accountable for their practice sessions at home, and it has given me more focus on an overall picture. Students register for ASTACAP for levels Foundation through 10. My students are testing in levels 1 through 5 this year. We’ll see what the adjudicators say!
On May 18, we will be having our annual studio recital. All of my students - piano and strings alike - will be playing in this. Since rebuilding my studio after moving back to VA in 2018, this will be the first recital I have held. And for many of my students, this will be their first recital ever. So, I’ve gone into overdrive. We are learning how to bow, how to start and end pieces properly, how to play from memory, and what to do if we make mistakes during the process. I couldn’t be more proud of my students, and I can’t wait to hear how it all turns out!