Keep practicing!
Category Archives: Holidays
Reminder – School Year Piano Lessons
No Lessons this week! Set a reminder and mark your calendar: our fall term of lessons will begin on August 26 – no lessons the first week of school.
It’s International Sheet Music Day!
The 6th annual International Sheet Music Day is set for August 17, 2024.
School Year Piano Lessons
Hello everyone!
I hope you are all having an enjoyable summer and that it has been filled with adventures and memory-making.
Wow! What a summer I have had so far! Aside from a ‘little bit’ of relaxing, I’ve also been doing some travel, reading, learning and planning, as I prepare for another exciting year of piano lessons.
A lot of information was given to you in June. I know it was a busy time for everyone so this email is to touch base with you about August Fall Start-Up in the hopes that it arrives when you have a moment to write some things on your calendar.
- When do lessons start? Set a reminder and mark your calendar: our fall term of lessons will begin on August 26 – no lessons the first week of school. However, Fairfax County has a holiday on Labor Day, September 2. If you normally have Monday lessons and want a lesson that first week of September, there is some time available on other days. Please let me know.
For ease of scheduling, I’m keeping the same days/lesson times as last year. If you need to make a change, please let me know as soon as possible.
- What do your children need? Having your books and notebook ready for the first day of lessons will ensure an efficient start – so please remember to bring them! A bit of review might be in order. If you have an iPad, please bring that, too.
- Is your piano dusty? Summer is full of family fun and this might mean that your children may not have been practicing as much as they do during the school year. This is understandable. I can promise, however, that your children will be even more excited about returning to lessons if they feel prepared and ready to learn. Setting up a practice schedule for the weeks leading up to the return of lessons is a great idea. Plan for at least 15 minutes of practice a day during the rest of the summer and, if possible, schedule it in the morning before the day’s activities begin.
In addition to the regular fun we have at the studio, I have been planning some new and exciting ways for your children to enjoy the piano and become even better musicians. Here are just a few things your children can look forward to:
- New tween and teen piano games! Yes, even the older students in the studio will get off the bench for some hands-on, game-based learning
- New music! I’ve been busy collecting a lot of repertoire during the summer months and am so excited to share the new music with your children this year.
- Student Portal: This year I am requiring all students under 17 to log their practice time in our Student Portal. If you’ve forgotten, there’s more info here.
I can’t wait to reconnect with you soon and I look forward to hearing about your summer fun.
Mary
Daily Listening Assignments ~ July 27
Today we listen to Hot Cross Buns. “Hot Cross Buns” is an English language nursery rhyme, Easter song, and street cry referring to the spiced English bun known as a hot cross bun, which is associated with the end of Lent and is eaten on Good Friday in various countries.
This is from Keyboard Kickoff:
Theme and Variations
This version gets harder and harder as it goes
In case that made you hungry
National Ice Cream Day
National Ice Cream Day is observed each year on the 3rd Sunday in July and is a part of National Ice Cream Month. This day is a fun celebration enjoyed with a bowl, cup or cone filled with your favorite flavor of ice cream.
Thousands of years ago, people in the Persian Empire would put snow in a bowl, pour grape-juice concentrate over it and eat it as a treat. They did this when the weather was hot and used the snow saved in the cool-keeping underground chambers known as “yakhchal”, or taken from the snowfall that remained at the stop of mountains by the summer capital.
It is believed that ice cream was first introduced into the United States by Quaker colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Their ice cream was sold at shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era.
- Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson enjoyed ice cream.
- 1813 -First Lady Dolley Madison served ice cream at the Inaugural Ball.
- 1832 – African American confectioner, Augustus Jackson, created multiple ice cream recipes as well as a superior technique to manufacture ice cream.
- 1843 – Philadelphian, Nancy Johnson, received the first U.S. patent for a small-scale hand-cranked ice cream freezer.
- 1920 – Harry Burt puts the first ice cream trucks on the streets.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Enjoy National Ice Cream Day by sharing some with your family and friends! Post on social media using #NationalIceCreamDay.
HISTORY
National Ice Cream Day is a holiday declared by President Ronald Reagan back in 1984 to promote the economic well-being of the U.S. dairy industry. It was a nod to the fact that the frozen treat is produced using nearly ten percent of U.S. dairy farmers’ milk supply.
Reagan’s proclamation also called on the people of the United States to do their duty and pay tribute to ice-cream with “appropriate ceremonies and activities.” So who are we to argue?
What??? It’s World Emoji Day Again!
Another of those Who Knew holidays.
World Emoji Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on July 17. The day is deemed a “global celebration of emoji” and is primarily celebrated online. Celebrated annually since 2014,[NBC reported that the day was Twitter’s top trending item on July 17 in 2015.
Now before the emoji, there were emoticons. Emoticons (emotion + icon) were actually developed as an expression of emotions in the cold hard texts that were devoid of it.
Emoji, a Japanese expression, roughly means “picture word” and was developed in 1990 by Shigetaka Kurita. While working for NTT Docomo, a Japanese telecom company, Kurita design these picture words as a feature on their pagers to make them more appealing to teens.
When Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, an emoji keyboard was embedded to nab the Japanese market. While not intended for U.S. users to find, they did and quickly figured out how to use it.
Every year new emojis (both emoji and emojis are acceptable plural forms of the word) are developed. The emojipedia.org keeps track of all the emoji updates across all platforms and operating systems. There are over 1800 emojis covering much more than just emotions. From transportation, food, an assortment of wild and domesticated animals to social platforms, weather and bodily functions emojis virtually speak for themselves.
More about emojis
July 4: Today’s Music History
Happy Fourth!
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. This declaration announced to the world that the 13 colonies would no longer be held by British rule. Today Americans celebrate by the flying of a flag, cooking at home (usually a cookout, also known as a barbecue), and watching a brilliant fireworks display.
Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment
• 1826 ~ Stephen Foster, American composer of songs
More information about Foster
• 1832 ~ It was on this day that America was sung in public for the first time — at the Park Street Church in Boston, MA. Dr. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words, borrowing the tune from a German songbook. Ironically, and unknown to Dr. Smith at the time, the melody is the same as the British national anthem.
• 1895 ~ America the Beautiful, the famous song often touted as the true U.S. national anthem, was originally a poem written by Katherine Lee Bates. The Wellesley College professor’s poem was first published this day in the Congregationalist, a church newspaper.
• 1898 ~ Michael Aaron, Piano Educator
• 1900 ~ Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader Read quotes by and about Armstrong
More information about Armstrong
• 1902 ~ George Murphy, American politician (US Senator, California), actor and dancer (MGM Parade)
• 1909 ~ Alec Templeton, Pianist
• 1911 ~ Mitch Miller, American conductor, oboist, record company executive, producer, arranger for the Sing Along with Mitch LPs and TV show
• 1937 ~ Ray Pillow, Singer
• 1938 ~ Bill Withers, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer
• 1942 ~ The Irving Berlin musical, This is the Army, opened at New York’s Broadway Theatre. Net profits of the show were $780,000.
• 1943 ~ Al ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson, Musician, guitarist, harmonica, singer with Canned Heat
• 1943 ~ The Rhythm Boys, Bing Crosby, Al Rinker and Harry Barris, were reunited for the first time since the 1930s on Paul Whiteman Presents on NBC radio.
• 1948 ~ Jeremy Spencer, Musician, guitarist with Fleetwood Mac
• 1955 ~ John Waite, Singer
• 1958 ~ Kirk Pengily, Rock Musician
• 1985 ~ A crowd, estimated at one million, gathered in Philadelphia to celebrate the 209th anniversary of America’s independence. The Beach Boys were joined by Mr. T. on drums to really add some fireworks to the festivities. The Oak Ridge Boys, Joan Jett and Jimmy Page joined in the celebration.
• 1999 ~ Ronny Graham passed away
• 2001 ~ Maceo Anderson, a tap dancer and founding member of the Four Step Brothers, died in Los Angeles at the age of 90. The group tap-danced all over the world, performing for the queen of England and the emperor of Japan. The Four Step Brothers also performed at Radio City Music Hall. The group started as a trio. In the mid-1920s, the group performed at the Cotton Club with Duke Ellington, who wrote The Mystery Song for them. Anderson began dancing as a child in the South. When he was six, he and his mother moved to a basement apartment in Harlem. He taught tap dance at his own school in Las Vegas and across the country until 1999.
Happy July 4th!
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain.
Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs such as the national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “God Bless America”, “America the Beautiful”, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, “This Land Is Your Land”, “Stars and Stripes Forever”, and, regionally, “Yankee Doodle” in northeastern states and “Dixie” in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall images of the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.
A bit of audio for your listening pleasure, as played by Vladimir Horowitz…
Daily Listening Assignments ~ July 2
Johann Sebastian Bach’s towering monument of organ music, with its deep sense of foreboding, will forever be associated with Halloween.
Get a free copy of the sheet music at IMSLP or borrow a copy from the O’Connor Music Studio. I have this arranged for organ, piano, duet, 2-piano, simplified…
It’s also available in Piano Maestro, Piano Pronto Encore and Coda
If you want this in a book with other Bach transcriptions, amazon has this: Toccata and Fugue in D minor and the Other Bach Transcriptions for Solo Piano, arranged by Ferruccio Busoni.
Here, Virgil Fox performs it on his Allen Digital Touring Organ.
Diane Bish plays the Massey Memorial Organ at the Chautauqua Institution and talks about this instrument.
Animated organ:
Glass harmonica
Accordion
Cartoon:
MaryO'Studio 