Borderland Music Studio

Registration is LIVE for this year's summer piano camp!! Scan the QR code to save your spot! 🌞

Our online summer piano camp is the perfect way to beat the heat & spend some quality time with your little one!

This camp is for:
🎹 kids ages 4-6 who are totally new to the piano
🎹 & their parents!

Camp schedule:
🎹 6 weeks (11 June - 16 July)
🎹 Thursdays, 5:00-5:45 MDT

At camp, we'll:
🎹 cover the music alphabet
🎹 learn how to read music
🎹 make arts & crafts

Camp pricing:
🎹 Early Bird $220 (23 March - 22 May)
🎹 Late Registration $280 (23 May - 06 June)
🎹 Last Minute Registration $300 (07 June - 12 June)

See you at Summer Camp! 🎹🌞

When we're learning a piece, it's so easy to slip into the idea of wanting it to be "perfect".

But, what is perfection, actually?

If we focus too intensely on the idea of a piece being "perfect", we miss out on the most important thing: being aware.

Awareness is the secret ingredient - it helps us listen for dynamics, it helps us feel the shape of our hands as they move across the keys, and it helps us stay in the moment of the music itself.

At Borderland Music Studio, we zoom in on musical awareness and spend time dissecting the details so that students can come out of their piano practise or step onto the stage feeling empowered and confident in their creativity.

Are you ready to dive into your piano learning journey? Send us a DM! Let's book your FREE 30-minute Discovery Call 📞

Closing out our celebration days with a mini bio on a mega legend, John Paul Jones.

To me, Jonesy's life, legacy, and musical journey represent so much more than just super-sweet Led Zeppelin bass lines (although, honestly, those are revolutionary too!)

John Paul Jones' roots begin as a classical pianist, and those roots run deep, branching out into everything he's done.

Take a listen to the magical live version of "No Quarter" from The Song Remains The Same - Jones is actively building a bridge from the classical to the rock & roll on the mellotron.

As a student studying classical piano, I often looked to Jones for inspiration. There were bridges I wanted to build, too. If he could do it, so could I.

To me, Jones' musical legacy is living proof that classical music doesn't exist in a vacuum. It can grow, change, take different shapes - and it's all beautiful.

I always tell my students, "it's not the mistake that counts, it's what you do with it".

So often as musicians, we hyper fixate on the ever-present question "What if I make a mistake?"

That's totally normal! Naturally, we WANT our music to sound good and we want whoever's listening to like what we're playing.

But what if we flipped the script for a second?

What if, instead of aiming to present our performance as something "perfect", we presented it as something "complete"?

Presenting our performance as complete means that we embrace the experience as a whole.

Yes, all the notes and rhythms and character expression we worked so hard on - AND all the splashes of artistic spontaneity in between.

That's the stuff we can't plan for, and the stuff that makes every performance beautifully unique.

If you're looking to tackle your performance anxiety and flip the script from perfect performance to complete performance, send us a DM! Let's book your FREE 30-minute Discovery Call! 📞

We're loving this quote from Robert Plant as this week's post!

Plant is such a deeply creative, inspiring artist who has a passion not only for music but for genuine human connection. What better way to do that than through song?

This quote speaks to what we do here at Borderland Music Studio, too.

It doesn't matter your age, your past musical experience, what your day job is - if the music is calling to you, pick up the phone!

(Literally! Send us a DM! Let's book your free 30-minute Discovery Call and take the first step on your musical journey together).

Happy everyone! To kickoff our celebrations here at the studio, we're diving into the mystery and lore of Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album.

From drum kits in stairwells to mandolins, blues arrangements, and folk collaborations, this album is steeped in history.

What's your favourite track off Led Zeppelin IV?

Student Spotlight: Summer Art Project Edition 🌞👩‍🎨

This summer, our studio project was centered around creating composer portraits.

Students listened to the energetic jazz epic "Spain" by Chick Corea and the heartbreaking Adagio from Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.

After listening and doing some reflective journalling, students put together their portraits - using colour and texture to convey emotions and musical character.

It was so phenomenal to see how students interpreted their listening experience into art! Students chose to sketch, paint, and make sculptures.

Slide 1 and 2: Miguel's sketches of Rodrígo and Corea

Slide 3: Jude's LEGO portrait of Rodrígo

Slide 4: Jeremy's LEGO sculpture of Corea

Woodstock's 56th anniversary starts tomorrow, so we're celebrating with highlighting this music festival's history! (And maybe making a little homemade granola along the way).

Woodstock changed the course of the music industry, paving the way for festivals like Coachella and Burning Man down the line.

It happened at a time where tensions were high and the anecdote was peace and love. The 60s is arguably at one of its most impactful moments here.

For performing musicians, this was huge - literally! At its peak, Woodstock's audience was estimated to be nearly half a million.

Celebrate Woodstock weekend with us! Listen to an artist (or two) from the original lineup, watch the documentary, or both! ✌❤️🎶

Summer is around the corner, and if you’re looking for a summer camp that’s engaging and creativity-boosting, we got you!

Our summer camp is designed for students ages 4-6 and their parents, so that families can enjoy quality time together.

Our camp is also totally online, so that you can skip the commute at the end of a hot summer day.

Whether you’re in El Paso, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, or San Francisco, our camp comes to you!

Register today! Scan the QR code 🙌

This month's Beatles album is 1965's Rubber Soul. This album marks the start of a huge metamorphosis in the band's sound, giving us glimpses of John Lennon's admiration for Dylan influencing his songwriting and George Harrison's growing interest in Indian classical music and the sitar.

I consider this their definitive folk album. It's so acoustic, sonically earthy - the perfect record to throw on for a late April afternoon.

What's your favourite track off Rubber Soul?

Practising music can be like a meditation - a way for us to connect more deeply and authentically with our inner selves.

Music can teach us so much about who we are and who we're wanting to be - not only through the way we literally practise, but through the way we interpret and connect with the notes on a deeper level.

I love this quote by Indian classical composer and sitar virtuoso, Ravi Shankar. It reminds me of the beautiful avenue that music can provide us for exploring who we are.

And when we do that? We become authentically connected to ourselves and boldly confident in our musicianship.