Laura Dickey * Music Studio

Had a great time Wednesday night hearing Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott at the Disney Concert Hall with adult student Agnes! Thanks to Rebecca R. for giving me the tickets she couldn't use!

Speaking of students, congrats to Agnes for performing in the Bach Festival (and receiving an Honorable Mention) and to Emily (age 7) for passing her first Certificate of Merit exam with Theory honors!

eeling proud of my students who completed their National Guild of Piano Teachers auditions last weekend-Back in person with wonderful Guild judge Pamela Lam! Congratulations to Maya, Emilia, Johnny, Lillian, Addie, Ian, Emily, and Agnes! Miranda submitted videos for remote judging, and Henry will be doing an online makeup evaluation later. Good work, all!

Congrats to Agnes, who entered the Southern California Junior Bach Festival for comments only, but who still received an Honorable Mention!

Congrats to Henry, who completed his Royal Conservatory of Music Level 2 exam with Honors last month! And to adult student Agnes who entered the Bach Festival for comments only, but was still awarded an Honorable Mention!

Had a successful (albeit a bit of a slow start finding videos to share) student piano recital on Zoom Saturday! I thought it made a good finish to a very trying 2020, so I was able to recognize the students who have been persevering through the pandemic with online or socially distanced and masked lessons. We also celebrated the upcoming 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth (12/16) with several performances of Beethoven’s pieces.
Many students also participated this year in the National Guild of Piano Teachers Auditions, the Music Teachers’ Association of California Certificate of Merit evaluations, the Royal Conservatory of Music evaluations, and other festivals and recitals, almost all of which were conducted online this year. Let’s hear it for these intrepid students and parents! 🎉🎶🎵🎶🎵

Congratulations to Agnes, August, and Dylan, who successfully completed their Guild Auditions yesterday with judge Melanie Chairil from El Monte!

Piano Guild Auditions will begin today and continue next Saturday with judge Melanie Chairil from El Monte. Due to coronavirus, this year students had the option of choosing in-person (with social distancing and extra sanitizing) or online auditions. Three students chose in-person auditions, while seven preferred to stay online. Good luck to all performing!

Happy National Crayon Day!

Here are some ideas to make "Stay-at-Home" more fun!

created.crayola.com

I'm excited to announce that the students currently enrolled for online lessons during the "Stay at Home" time now have access to a " Cabin Fever Busters" Facebook group that offers online classes to help beat boredom. Offerings range from toddler music classes to guitar clinics to virtual choir. Check 'em out!

We had a great winter recital yesterday!

Am proud of my students James, Caleb, Maya, Thai, and Nam who all aced their Certificate of Merit evaluations this past weekend! All five received State Honors, and all five received more than 90% on the written theory test. James and Caleb were invited to play in the Branch Honors Recital, and James earned his Senior Award. Caleb and Maya were also invited to play in the State Convention Recitals - Caleb in the Theme Recital and Maya in the New Materials Recital. Woohoo!

Had a fun Halloween recital yesterday with lots of costumes and spooky music!