Spring Semester Calendar

Here is the Spring Semester Voice Lesson Calendar:
-Lessons begin the week of January 3rd.
-Spring Break March 14th-20th.
-Queen Creek Stake Easter Fireside Performance Sunday March 28th 7pm.
-Studio Rehearsal Wednesday May 5th 6-8pm. No lessons this week!
-Senior Recital Saturday May 8th.
-Spring Recital Saturday May 15th 4pm call for students, 5pm Recital.

I am pleased to announce that I will be offering Summer Voice Lessons. Please email me if you are interested.

Queen Creek Christmas Performance

Schedule for Spring Semester Voice Lessons

Spring Semester Lesson Schedule:
Private Students:
Jessica Lamb- Tuesday 2:30pm
Kelsey Roseborough- Tuesday 3:15pm
Ashley Morris- Tuesday 4pm
Williams Family- Wednesday 6:30pm
Chelsea Duke- Thursday 1:45pm
Emily Ellsworth- Thursday 2:30pm
Amber Jones- Friday 1:30pm
Vanessa Lunt- Friday 2:15pm

Group Students:
Thursday 4:00pm
7-10 year olds
Friday 4:00pm
11-13 year olds

Important Dates Coming Up...

Saturday December 5th: Queen Creek Christmas Festival at Desert Mountain Park- 2pm call for all students, 2:30pm recital.

Lessons are off for Christmas December 6th- January 4th.

Lessons begin at regular times starting Tuesday January 5th. You will get a reminder email of your times in December.

The tentative date for the May recital is Saturday May 1st. (If you have any conflicts with that date please let me know as soon as possible! This date is not set in stone yet!)

Have a great Thanksgiving!!!! See you next week for your last lesson before Christmas break!

Our Fall Recital

We had a fantastic Fall Recital this past weekend! Here are some pictures to enjoy! Thank you everyone for your participation, hard work and talent!!!



The studio of very talented singers!

ACCEPTING NEW GROUP STUDENTS

I am pleased to announce that I am accepting new Group Students starting in January. If you are interested please see the Group Student button to the right of this page for information. Starting on January 6th 7-10 year old students will be 4-4:45pm on Thursday's and 10-13 year old students will be 4-4:45pm on Friday's. Please call me or email me. My contact information is located on the right side of my blog. Thank you! I look forward to hearing from you.

Fall Recital Information

Our Fall Studio Recital is Saturday November 21st at 5:00pm. This year's recital will be held at the Calhoun's home. Student call time is 4pm. Church dress is appropriate for students. The recital will be about an hour long with refreshments served afterwards.

The students have all worked so hard this semester and I am so excited for them to showcase their talents!

OCTOBER NOTES

We are coming up on all our recitals and I am so excited to show case my students! You are doing so well. Please push yourself these last weeks before our recitals. You need to be memorized THIS WEEK!!! All music is off-book. As this week are the last lessons of October please remember that payment is due next week. There is a $10 late fee.

Each student was handed a paper this last week of all our important dates coming up. It was also emailed to you. Please read it and email me any questions you have. I need a head count of how many people you are expecting to come to the Fall Recital so we can plan out our number of chairs and food. There is a part on the important dates paper you can fill this number in and return to me this week. The important dates are listed below for your convinience.

IMPORTANT DATES:
-By Tuesday October 27th all music is memorized.
-Thursday October 29th- Group Students Fieldtrip to Noah Webster Basic School. Please arrive at my home by 4pm and please pick-up at my home at 5:30pm.
-No lessons November 9th-13th.
-Studio Rehearsal Thurday November 12th 6-8pm at Calhoun Residence (21259 E. Via del Palo in The Villages at Queen Creek). Your accompanist fee is due at this lesson ($25 for Group Students, $40 for Private Students). THIS REHEARSAL IS MANDATORY TO BE IN THE RECITAL.
-Saturday November 21st FALL RECITAL at 5pm at the Calhoun Residence. Call time for students is 4pm. There will be a reception to follow the recital. Students need to wear church dress for this recital.
-November 23rd-27th- No lessons for Thanksgiving Break.
-Monday November 23d- Special rehearsal with Private Students for Christmas. Please sign up with me for your 20 minute time slot for rehearsal with Jen.
-Saturday December 5th- Queen Creek Christmas Celebration. Our studio has been invited to sing at 2pm. Call time is 1:30pm for ALL students. Please wear your Christmas dresses for this performance.
-Christmas Break is Sunday 6th of December to Monday January 4th. Lessons resume Tuesday January 5th as scheduled.
IMPORTANT: There will be a split in my group lessons. Because of the overwhelming response to these lessons I will be doing the younger group students lesson (7-10 year olds) on Thursday from 4-4:45pm and the older group students (10-13 years old) on Friday at 4-4:45pm. I am accepting new students for these lessons now so please spread the word!

That's it. Please email me with any questions. Thank you for all your hard work!
Sincerely, Jamie

Accompanist CD's

You all have received your Accompanist CD. This CD was put together by your accompanist, Jen Thacker and I to help you practice your Recital Songs easily at home. Please do not lose it! It's like gold! You need to be practicing with your CD every day so you are more prepared for our Studio Rehearsal in just 5 short weeks! This is the month to memorize your songs. Work hard and it will pay off! Have fun with those CD's!

IMPORTANT DATES

Please make sure these important dates are on your calendars:

October 11th-18th- FALL BREAK- no lessons

Thursday October 29th- GROUP STUDENT LESSON AT NOAH WEBSTER- 4-5pm (no private students)

November 8th-14th- NO LESSONS- Studio Rehearsal Week

Thursday November 12th 6-8pm- STUDIO REHEARSAL- MANDATORY dress rehearsal for Fall Recital

Saturday November 21st 5pm- FALL RECITAL- Students arrive at 4pm

Monday November 23rd- 20 MINUTE PRACTICE LESSONS- my home with Jen Thacker for Private Students

November 24th-29th- THANKSGIVING BREAK- no lessons

Saturday December 12th 11am- CHRISTMAS RECITAL

December 13th- January 3rd- CHRISTMAS BREAK

Monday January 4th- SPRING SEMESTER BEGINS

September Voice Notes

What a wonderful month of learning! I am so impressed with what everyone accomplished these last 4 weeks- Private and Group lessons! I am looking forward to another great month. Please remember to bring your books, warm-up sheets and a pencil to every lesson. I need you all to come prepared as we are going to go into reciatl mode this next month.

A couple more things to remember:
October Break is coming! My Studio's October Break is the 11th to the 18th. There are no lessons that week. There are lessons the week before when I know some schools have off. Please call and let me know if you are not coming to your lesson. Group Students will have their regular lesson that week but Private students are welcome to reschedule to an earlier time in the day or a different date during that week. I will only reschedlue if you call in advance!
Payment is due at the first lesson of the month. October fee is $75 for Private students and $40 for group students. Please remember fees not made on time will incur a $10 late fee.

For Private Students:
Your Women's Composer Project is due Thursday October 1st. Please see the blog enrty with the instructions for your project below.
You all have done very well with your Technique this month. We worked on your breathing and I hope you will continue your exercises as they strengthen your core sound, vowels and resonation. In October we will be working on posture and resonating. I know you will master this just as well as you did breathing!
Keep in mind that you must sing in public before the studio rehearsal on November 12th. You have your group songs for the Christmas Recital. Please start working on those songs in your regular practice time. You also received your Accompaniment CD this week. Work with it every day!!! You're the best!!!

For my Group Students:
You have done so well this month! I am so proud of you! You have learned all your songs for both our recitals and you just got the best CD ever... your accompaniment CD! Please use this to practice all the time! You will get so much better at your songs as you do! Parents: I assigned solos, duets, trios and group parts this past month. Please work with your daughter on her part. I am so excited that I have so much talent that I could actually assign pasts this semester! Next month we will be working on breathing, posture and vowels.

Fantastic job this month! I can't wait to see what we can accomplish in October! Thank you for all your hard work!!!
Jamie

Women Composer Paper- Private Student Semester Project

My Private Students need to complete their semester project by October 1st. Please write a paper about your female composer. If you have several female composer songs you are working on, choose one or you can be ambitious and do all of them!! Here are some examples of information I would like you to consider writing about:
1. Her full name, birth date, death date, place she was born, if she was married and to who and anything about her family.
2. Where she studied music and with whom.
3. Her other works of music.
4. Her leading roles in any performances and dates.
5. Her native language and when she was first published.
6. All information about your song: if it is part of a cycle, an opera, a musical...; if it is in another language please translate it providing a poem for both languages; the general feeling of your song; the scene in which it takes place; who are you while you are singing the song?. (There is so much to this category. Please provide as much information as you can!)

You can use your music, Google- the internet is great!!!, books, ask me anything! Remember to have fun with this! We will be sharing your paper with all the students so make it a good one! Remember this project is due October 1st!

Senior Students

Chelsea LaRee Duke is a senior at Queen Creek High School. She has been involved with music her whole life and has taken private voice coaching for five years. Chelsea has grown and flourished through coaching and plans to minor in music this coming fall. She debuted her talent in Romeo and Juliet: The Seussical as Juliet and has continued buliding her repertoire on stage as a Sister in Pirate of Penzance at Queen Creek High School. Her other musical and acting credits include: Aladdin, To Tell the Truth, Check Please, and A Thousand Cranes. Chelsea has been involved in Queen Creek High School choirs and had the honor if being placed in the high school's top choir, Bull Dog Singers. She plans on joining the EVMCO High School Choir this fall. She has also participated in her Ward and Stake Choirs. Chelsea enjoys performing and hopes to continue building her already impressive repertoire. Along with her minor in music she hopes to major in law and teach voice lessons.

Vanessa Vernice Lunt started taking voice lessons last fall and she has enjoyed every minute of it! She loves to sing and has been in various choirs at school and church since she was very young. She espcially enjoys music theatre, participating in such productions as Pirate of Penzance, as a daughter of the General and Aladdin as Jasmine at Queen Creek High School. Vanessa has played the violin for 9 years and during that time had the privilege of being part of the Southwest Symphony, joining them on their European Tour. She is joining the EVMCO Orchestra this fall and is teaching her own violin studio. Throughout high school she has been vigorously involved in extra-cirricular activities including cross country, track, student council, choir and orchestra. Music is the most important part of Vanessa's life next to her testimony of the Savior and her family. Vanessa is hoping to continue with music in college and hopes to continue to grow musically for the rest of her life.

August Notes

At the end of each month I will post notes of accomplishments and what we need to work on as a studio so parents and students are aware of their accomplishments. You should all be so proud of yourselves! I am so proud of what you have achieved this first month of voice instruction! I will start with my private students: great first month!!!! What talent you all have! You have all been given solos, you know your female composer you will be studying this coming month, and you have your specific warm-ups and sight-singing exercises! Bravo! Please practice every day and remember to begin working on your female composer paper. I would also like to see each of you pick a sacred song this coming month and schedule a date to perform in public. My group students: WOW!!! You did so well this month! Bravo to you! I am so overwhelmed with the talent we have in our group this semester. You have learned 4 new warm-ups, studied rhythm, learned solfege hand signs, and you have learned 6 new songs! Please remember to fill out those very important frog practice charts! Remember we are aiming for "high 5" each week! 5 days of practicing, 10 minutes each. I will be assigning solos this month. I hope you will be excited about that! Please remember to use your practice CD at each practice session you have. That CD is so important! Great job this month to all of you. I am so excited for September!!!

SENIOR RECITAL IN MAY

I have 2 wonderfully talented Seniors from Queen Creek High School this year. They will be performing a very special senior recital in May that you won't want to miss. A senior recital is a very significant moment for a vocalist to honor achievement and growth and I can't wait for theirs!

Recital and Rehearsal Information

We have 2 recitals this semester. The first is at the Calhoun Residence on Saturday the 21st of November at 4pm. The second is our service recital at Creek View Manor in Queen Creek on Saturday December 12th at 11am. There will be a Studio Rehearsal at the Calhoun Residence on Thursday November 12th from 6-8pm. This rehearsal is mandatory to be in the recitals.

Fall 2009 Semester Goals

It's so important to have goals for yourself! That is how we succeed... having reasonable, attainable goals. A sign in my music room reads:
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act
but a habit."
-Aristotle
"We are what we repeatedly do" means practice. My goal for the Fall 2009 Semester is to get each of my students practicing every day! That is how you will reach your personal goals!
Some other projects we are working on this semester are:
1. Studying and singing a specific female composer.
2. Singing a solo in a public setting before the recital in November.
3. Sharing our talents at a rest home for a Christmas gift to the residents there.

PRIVATE LESSONS

Many students find that a result of private training helps them to have more musical confidence. That is my goal in private coaching. I want each of my students to develop a confidence in them musically. As we work together in private instruction to strengthen your talent and increase your confidence, you can become an influential member in youth choirs, church choirs, community productions and choirs, and from there- college vocal groups and music theater. As your personal coach, I pick music suited specifically for you- to help develop your unique talent. I hope to introduce you to all types of vocal music to develop a deeper appreciation of music in general. I encourage my students to come to me with song choices of their own as well.

In addition to providing you with an opportunity to perform in our studio recital, I will always encourage auditions and public performances and I will help you prepare not just your voice, but your musical selection as well. This time is yours. I will begin your lesson on time every week and expect you to arrive on time each week so that your time and efforts are spent well in the valuable time we have each semester before your recital. I have a “no knock, walk right in policy” as I hope that each student feels comfortable in my home. Please arrive in time for your lesson each week so we can make the most of our time together.

GROUP LESSONS

I am so excited to offer Group Singing Lessons for 8-12 year old girls. I believe that this age is a great time to teach music technique, theory and performing. There is no better way to develop confidence, in my opinion, than through music!!! In group class, we focus on warm-ups, basic theory, sight-singing, solfege, and singing beautiful repretoire. There will be 2 recitals this semester.

Each student in group lessons is treated as a group member but also is given individual attention. There are solos to try out for each semester. Also, if you are interested in private lessons, the group class is a great place to start as I will usually draw my private students from my group lessons when I feel they are ready to work on solo repertoire.

Group lesson time is Mondays from 4:15-5:15pm at my home. You will be provided with music. Please bring your own folder/binder and pencil to each lesson.

PREP LESSONS

If there is an opportunity for a school musical audition, choir audition, if you are singing in church or if you are a high school choir member wanting to try out for Regionals, I would strongly suggest prep lessons. These are mini lessons to help you succeed in your musical endeavor. To prepare you as a performer, a vocalist, and to give your musical selection the best edge we can. We will decide what course of action to take with the lessons and how many we might need together. Please contact me if you are interested as I fill my extra prep time slots quickly. These are short-term lessons so make sure you are planning ahead to give yourself adequate time to be ready for your audition, performance, regionals, etc.

STUDENT COMMITMENT

Practice: My biggest expectation of my students is daily practicing. You MUST practice at least 20 minutes daily or your time and money will not be well spent. Remember, 20 minutes of practicing 5 days a week is better than 100 minutes once a week. Also, I expect each student to come prepared with their music, staff paper, sight-singing book, pencil and small recording device (if you desire) to each lesson. That is how we will develop your talent best!

Performance: Each student will learn to perform individual solos as well as how to sing in a group. Before each recital we will have a group lesson called a Studio Rehearsal. The Studio Rehearsal and Recitals are MANDATORY. You will be given the dates ahead of time. Also, each private student must arrange a date to sing in a public performance setting once a semester BEFORE their recital. I will help them pick a venue for this assignment.

POLICIES

Make-up Lessons: For private students there are 2 make-up lessons a semester. I will only make up a lesson if the student is ill and is not able to attend their lesson. The make-up lesson must be made in the month the lesson is missed. Group lessons cannot be made up. Please try to come to each rehearsal so we are better prepared for the recital.