Christmas Recital

Great job all of you who played at the Christmas Recital on the 21st. A special thank you to those who volunteered to read the Christmas Story. And congratulations to the following students who reached their lesson goals and moved up levels by this recital:

Clare Sceski
Dominic Sceski
Maggie Sceski
Terran Smoker
Kayla Smoker
Abby King
Brendon O'Roarke
Jack O'Roarke
Liam O'Roarke
Andrew Bond
Erin Buell
Kaitlyn Boesenhofer
Hannah Bartlett

Student of the Week

Erin Buell is this week's Student of the Week. Erin has been practicing very consistently this Fall and got her recital piece down well in advance of the recital. I have been most impressed with Erin's wise use of her practice time. She tries hard at everything she does and it shows. Excellent work, Erin!

Student of the Week

I picked Maddi Reamer for Student of the Week because she has come back after a several month break from lessons and is practicing up a storm and doing great! Maddi has made a lot of progress on the piano this year and is doing a fantastic job at reading notes and moving her hands around on the piano. Great job, Maddi :)

Winter Recitals

The Christmas Recital is on
Tuesday, December 21st at 7:00pm
at Windsor Place

The Nutcracker Recital is on
Friday, January 14th at 7:00pm
at Windsor Place

Windsor Place is located at:
6677 Lancaster Pike
Hockessin, DE 19707

Student of the Week

Anabelle Raika made Student of the Week right away. She just started taking piano a month ago and is practicing over 3 hours a week (yes, I said 3 hours!) and has already skipped up a couple levels. Great job, Anabelle and keep it up :)

Fall is Here

Well school is back in full swing and so are piano lessons. Welcome to all of my new students who just started this Fall and welcome back to those who took a break for the Summer. As we busily prepare for the upcoming recitals, check back here from time to time for important updates. Keep up the great practicing :)

Student of the Week

Clare Sceski just started taking piano lessons this summer, but like her older siblings, she is already excelling at it. Clare impressed me this week because she not only met her minutes goal for practicing this summer, but she doubled it! Great job, Clare, keep at it :)

End of Summer Update

Great job all of you who continued practicing this summer. This week ends our Summer Practice Challenge and I will be giving out prizes to those students who made their summer goals. I was pleased by the number of students who did practice faithfully this summer. Here are some of the students who earned their summer prize:
Clare Sceski
Jillian Topolski
KellyAnn Tandarich
Kayla Smoker
Gianna LaFrance
Dominic LaFrance
Peter Herlihey
Beth Herlihey
Liam O'Roarke
Paul Herlihey
Andrew Bond
Dominic Sceski
Abby King
Terran Smoker
Kaitlyn Boesenhofe r
Congratulations

Student of the Summer

Summer is always a crazy time of year and piano practice tends to fall by the wayside. But I was impressed by Jillian who was my most faithful practicer this summer and logged in an astonishing amount of minutes considering her busy schedule. Awesome job, Jillian, and keep playing!

Student of the Week

Erin Buell made Student of the Week this time. Three days before the recital she still had over 150 minutes left to make her 1000 minute goal. I told her to make it she'd need to practice 52 minutes every day (as opposed to her normal 10), but didn't expect that to happen. She walked in to the recital and told me, "I did it. I practiced 52 minutes every day!" So, congratulations, Erin, on making your goal and way to go with the practicing (not to mention a beautiful performance at the recital!)

Student Level Tracker

I've added a new link on this page called "Student Level Tracker". It's a way for all of you to keep track of your individual progress. The chart shows what level you are at, how many minutes are needed to get to the next level and how many minutes you currently have practiced toward that goal. So keep up the good work :)

Summer Practice Challenge

Whether you are continuing lessons for the summer or taking a break, I have a practice challenge for all of you. Any student who can log 1000 minutes (500 minutes for Primary and Level One students) of practice time by the end of August will receive a prize. You all did a great job practicing to prepare for the recital; keep up the great work!

Congratulations

Congratulations to the following winners for most minutes practiced this semester:

Primary Level - Quinn Burton with 1597 minutes
Level One - Terran Smoker with 1877 minutes
Level Two - Kayla Smoker with 2920 minutes
Level Four - Peter Herlihey with 2685 minutes

Student of the Week

Jillian Topolski is this week's Student of the Week. I told Jillian she has been my most consistent practicer this semester. As a level 2 student she's required to practice 100 minutes a week. And every week she faithfully hits 100 minutes or more. The recital is fast approaching and she has no missed minutes to make up for to meet her goal of 2000, just continue practicing the same as she always does. Great job, Jillian!

Student of the Week

Dominic Zengel is my pick for Student of the Week this time. Due to crazy schedules, he missed lessons for two whole months. Came back and I found out he'd been practicing regularly the whole time, had all his songs and scales down and even kept track of his minutes! I have to say I admire his discipline!

Student of the Week

I had to pick Peter Herlihey for Student of the Week this week because he's now my best advertisement for new students. People hear him play and then want to know who his teacher is :) Peter has come a long ways on the piano this year. He's been practicing a lot (he won the Valentine Competition and is currently in the lead for minutes at his level) and his practice is paying off. He now not only can play by ear, but also read music. He has started delving into playing pop music while at the same time composing new songs on his keyboard. Keep playing away, Peter :)

Student of the Week

This week's Student of the Week goes to Gianna LaFrance. Gianna is about to pass yet another lesson book. In less than a year of taking lessons, Gianna is already almost to Level Two on the piano. She was not only was one of the winners of the Valentine's Competition, she continues to practice hard and amaze me each week with how many songs she passes and also memorizes! Keep up the great work, Gianna!

June Recitals

June Recitals are as follows:

Tuesday, June 8th at 7:00 pm at Windsor Place
(6677 Lancaster Pike, Hockessin, DE 19707)

Thursday, June 10th at 6:45 pm at Ware Presbyterian Village
(7 E Locust St, Oxford. PA 19363)

See you there!

Patriotic Paragraph Winners

Thanks to all of you who entered the Patriotic Paragraph Contest. I received some great entries and I learned a lot about the history behind some of your recital songs. In order to be completely fair, I passed your paragraphs over to an unbiased third-party for judging. The winners are as follows:
Primary Level - Katelyn Bosenhoffer
Level One - Andrew Bond
Level Two - Beth Herlihey
Level Three - Francesco Falini
Level Four - Peter Herlihey
Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Student of the Week

This week's student of the week is Hannah Bartlett. Hannah has been practicing hard on her recital piece. Already has part of it memorized with correct fingers and everything! Hannah's also working on the fast section of Fur Elise at the same time and doing a fantastic job with that. Keep up the great practicing, Hannah!

Patriotic Paragraph Contest

This new competition is open to everyone. Choose a Patriotic or classic American folksong to research and write a paragraph about. Included in your essay may be who wrote it, when it was written, why it was written, what it is about, interesting facts about the song and/or what you like about it. Entries are due the end of April. Every participant will get 200 bonus minutes added to their practice total. Winners at each level will receive additional bonus minutes as follows:

Primary Level -100 bonus minutes
Level One - 200 bonus minutes
Level Two - 400 bonus minutes
Level Three - 500 bonus minutes
Level Four - 600 bonus minutes

So, have fun and I look forward to seeing your entries :)

Valentine's Competition Winners

Congratulations to the following winners of
February's Valentine's Competition:
Primary Level:
First Place--Quinn Burton with 241 minutes
Second Place--Dominic LaFrance with 135 minutes
Level One:
First Place--Gianna LaFrance with 428 minutes
Second Place --Terran Smoker with 389 minutes
Level Two:
First Place--KellyAnn Tandarich with 1149 minutes

Second Place--Kayla Smoker with 665 minutes
Level Four:
First Place--Peter Herlihey with 325 minutes
Second Place--Mary Beth Tandarich with 319 minutes
Great job all of you!! Keep up the great practicing!

March Update

Well, this month didn't go quite as originally planned. I'm now just starting back to lessons and will try to post the winners of the Valentine competition as soon as I collect everyone's minutes. Thanks to all of you for your patience and prayers and a thumbs up to my students who are still practicing away :) Little Nathaniel Warren McCoy is growing (up to 4 lbs :) and doing well. He probably will be in the hospital a couple more weeks and lessons might be kind of off and on for a while. I've missed all my students and look forward to getting back in the swing of things again.

Student of the Week 4

This Student of the Week really managed to surprise me. Liam just moved up to Level 2 and the first song I assigned him was very difficult. But I came back the following week and found out not only had he practiced a lot, he listened to everything I told him, learned the notes without writing them in, learned all the correct finger numbers and could play The Star Wars Theme very well. Keep up the great work, Liam!

Last Week of Valentine Competition

Well, we are into the last week of the Valentine Competition, so keep up the good practicing. Winners will be announced the end of next week, once all the February minutes are collected. So don't give up yet. I have boxes of chocolates waiting for the winners :)

Student of the Week 3

Student of the Week this week definitely goes to Quinn Burton. Quinn is my newest student. She just started flute and was struggling learning to play the notes and trying to get into a practice routine. But she came back this week and blew me away. Not only did she get in 125 minutes of practice time (excellent for Primary Level!), her practice really paid off. She could play all her notes and all her songs and is really beginning to sound like a bona fide flute player. Keep up the great work, Quinn!!

February

Well, February got off to kind of a rough start. Thanks to the snow, I only had four lessons last week out of 30. Check out the new link to see how things are going in the Valentine competition, but not everyone's minutes are up, as many haven't had lessons again yet this month. Hope you all are still practicing and we will get back on track soon.

Student of the Week 2

Alright, so I couldn't narrow it down to just one Student of the Week this time. Kayla's brother, Terran also did an incredible job practicing the past two weeks and moved on up to first place for level one with a grand total of 324 minutes. Great work, Terran!

Student of the Week

Well, I have to say, Kayla really blew me away this week. She practiced diligently even while I was sick and got so many practice minutes in, she moved into a respectable second place (with only KellyAnn still ahead of her). Not too bad considering the fierce competition going on between my level 2 students! Keep up the great work, Kayla!

Valentine's Competition

As some of you already know, this month we are having a Valetine's competition. The student(s) who practices the most minutes during the month of February will win a box of Valentine's candy :) So, get busy!

Sick Week

Well, unfortunately I have no updates to post for minutes this week as I was sick all week and missed all my lessons. But I hope to find you all are still diligently practicing and am excited to see how many minutes we will have for this next week. Keep practicing :)

Student of the Week

Well, KellyAnn is off to quite the start in our competition for practice minutes. She practiced over four hours in one week coming in first with 248 minutes and leaving everyone else in the dust! But the recital is still a long ways off, so keep up the good work everybody :)

Welcome LeeAnne's Piano Students

Welcome to my new blog. To view your total practice minutes click on the link to the right. Keep checking back for further updates and pictures :)