Jammy Smith Piano Studio Message

New Season, New Start

2011-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Finally, I got some times to write my studio blog. New season 2011-2012 started in early September. Good news are those students who took examination in June or May did very well. Viola got 99 in her Basic Rudiments and Rosemary got 94 in her very 1st piano examination. The other also got a high 80. Congratulation!

The bad news are some of my very good students left the studio because of moving home and schedule conflicts. They are very welcome to come back. Then, I got another 7 students to fill up the time slots.

We will have 2 recitals this year. Christmas recital will be held on Dec 17. Then, Year End Recital was originally planned to have it on May 13 but no family liked this date because May 13, 2012 will be Mother's Day and most of the families think the children are too busy in May. So I will postpone the recital to Jun 18. However, we can't have it at Shadbolt because of the busy schedule at Shadbolt in June.

I hope this year all the students will learn well, enjoy playing their repertoires and attend more live concerts and recitals. I feel very proud of those students who did their examinations and festivals well in last season. It was a fruitful year. I hope we can carry on the good work.

Oops, I nearly forgot to write my newsletter. I hope I will have time to do it soon. Co-president work of BCRMTA and committee member of SPG Festival keep me very busy in last few months and till Dec, when SPG honour recital is over.

Festival on the Lake Honour Recital

2011-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

On Saturday June 4, 2011, 4 of my students were invited to perform in the Festival on the Lake honour recital. All of them performed well. All of them got a trophy. Kavin Kadam also got the Grade 1 the Most Outstanding Student Trophy. I was very proud of them. Thanks for students' hard work and their families' support.

Aries Fung - Introductory - Bouncing On My Bed
Alina Dhanji - Grade 1 Study - Scaly Things
Kavin Kadam - Grade 1 List B - Silly Argument
Justin Yeh - Grade 2 Study - Kangaroo

It was a wonderful day! Beautiful weather, so much fun on Hat Off Day. Then, I enjoyed so much in the honour recital, seeing my students performing their pieces and receiving their trophies. All of them looked very happy and proud. Then, the happiest of all is Canucks won the game 2 in the Stanley Cup Final.

Festival on the Lake Result

2011-05-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was so thrilled to know that almost all my participating students got Gold certificates in the "Festival on the Lake" music festival. There are 18 gold certificates and only 1 silver certificate.

Ryan Chiu - Introductory Class
Aries Fung - Introductory Class
Katrina Wong - Introductory Class
Kent Tsuyuki - Introductory Class
Alina Dhanji - Grade 1: List B, List D, Studies
Kavin Kadam - Grade 1: List A, List B, List C, Studies
Rosemary Vayalikunnel - Grade 1: List A, List B, List C, Studies
Justin Yeh - Grade 2: List A, List B (silver), List C, Studies

I am very proud of them. Thank all the parents for supporting the festival.

Year End Recital

2011-05-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

It is a busy month for me. Last Sunday, I was helping the Celebration of Excellence Recital for BCRMTA Vancouver Branch. It was nice to see so many outstanding students performing in a recital. Those students got 90 or above in their practical examination.

Coming Sunday May 15, it will be my students' recital. There will be about 20 students performing. They are working very hard for it. Some of them are preparing for their exam. The pieces are set and I need to prepare the program and print it nicely. 9 of them will also participate Festival on the Lake in the weekend. It will be busy weekend for them and me. Good luck to them.

The recital will start at 3:00pm at Room 102, Shadbolt Centre for the Art.

Then, next Monday, there will be a piano masterclass with Keiko Alexander for intermediate students. I need to be there to do the introduction and prepare the snack. Then, on Wed, it will be Owen's turn for his festival. I hope he will be fine. He just learns the pieces. It is amazing he can play all those 4 pieces from memory. He learned it less than 2 months ago.

April 2011 Newsletter

2011-03-31T00:28:00.001-07:00

I finally got some time to do something for my studio website. I was so busy in last few months. It happened to me that I become the co-presidents of BCRMTA Vancouver Branch. It keeps me very busy organizing different activities for the teachers and their students. To me, it is a new challenge but can be fun. Luckily, we have a good team in the committee board.

I just posted the newsletter. My students are growing up and there will be a few students taking piano examination in June. As usual, I will provide performing / playing classes for those who will take piano exam. When I was piano student, those performing classes really helped me to get through my exam. I hope I can provide the same event for my students.

I finally cancel my membership for Music for Young Children, a program I like. As my studio is growing, I can't find some good time slots for running the MYC class. Besides, I got one more grand piano in the studio and there is no room for children and their parent to do the action and move around. About the grand piano, it is an old Steinway. It is my dream piano. It is still in good condition. I feel lucky to get it for a very reasonable price.

New Season Updates

2010-10-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy start so far. I am very happy to see most of my students back and a few new students. A few old students left because of moving home. I referred them to other teacher in their area. Everything is getting along smoothly.

After a busy start for a month, 3 students are preparing their repertoires for SPG music festival this year and will compete in November. Then, we will be preparing our Christmas Recital at Ellesmere United Church at Burnaby Mountain in December. It is a fun recital. To those beginners, it will be their 1st recital. I will let them choose their recital pieces after Halloween.

About myself, I am busy helping the SPG festival and as usual, as a co-chair position and Honour Recital coordinator. In early October, I did a piano performance at an elderly home, playing some Chinese folk songs and some classical music including Chopin's Nocturne and Bach's music. It was a 45 minutes performance and all of them enjoyed it. The coordinator there received some good feedback. It was my pleasure to be there and I really enjoyed doing it. I hope next time I can play some duet pieces with other teachers there.

Welcome to 2010-2011 season

2010-09-13T17:36:00.001-07:00

We have just started our new 2010-2011 season.

This year, I started to introduce a goal setup session in the 1st lesson of the season. I want to let my students know what they are going to learn and what my expectation is. On the other hand, I would like to know what they want to learn. I also tried to give some information about examinations and music festival so they can understand the requirement and what they need to prepare for the examination. I also asked my students if they want to do masterclasses. I am planning to have 2-3 masterclasses in coming year.

In this year, there will be 2 student recitals on Dec 18, 2010 and May 15, 2011. As usual, I highly recommend my students to participate music festivals - SPG Festival in November and Festival on the Lake in May.

The season started smoothly and most of my students have started their 1st lesson. I hope we will have a successful year and the students will enjoy their lesson and work towards to their goal.

Year End Recital 2010

2010-06-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

We finally finished our Year End Recital yesterday at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. We had 20 students performing their pieces. There were a few students not coming due to sickness and conflicts with their schedule. All of them played very well. I also enjoyed my duet performing with Carol Hung, my partner. It went very well. At the end, we had a medallions presentation for the recognition of their achievement and working hard.

Festival Winners
Owen Smith, Kenneth Yang, Alina Dhanji, Kavin Kadam, Baapooh Chung, Aidan Bodner, Justin Yeh and Viola Chao
Both Justin and Viola are the graduates of Music for Young Children as well

Outstanding Student for those who show consistent improvement and careful work
Jessie Laprise

Breakthrough Students for those who are determined to improve their work
Rosemary Vayalikunnel, Isabel Laprise and Julian Bodner

First Year Students for those who complete their first year studies in piano
Mika Kurahshi, Kent Tsuyuki, Coltan Chan, Ryan Chao, Alex Wu, Katrina Wong and Aries Fung

Festival On the Lake Result and Honour Concert

2010-06-08T07:58:00.001-07:00

Good News
All my students and my son (under the instruction of Keitha Campeau) got Gold Certificates in all their participating classes in the festival. All of us are very happy and thrilled. Thank you, students. You've done a good job. Of course, thank you to the parents for encouraging your child in music and piano studies.

Honour Concert
4 of my students - Kavin Kadam, Alina Dhanji, Kenneth Yang, Kimberly Cheng and my son, Owen Smith (under the instruction of Keitha Campeau) were invited to play in the honour concert on June 5 Saturday at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. All of them played well in the concert and received a nice trophy.

Year End Recital and other Performance Opportunity

2010-05-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

It is almost the end of the year. Our last studio event is our year end recital.

Year End Recital

Date: June 13, 2010 Sunday

Time: 6:15pm

Place: Room 102, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby

Year End Recital is more formal. Most of the pieces are expected to perform from memory.

Beginner students (1^st & 2^nd yr) – no more than 5 pieces, 1 of them must be played from memory.
Preliminary, Grade 1-8 srudents– no more than 4 pieces, 2 of them must be played from memory.
Exam in June and August students – follow exam requirement
Finished January Exam students – no more than 4 pieces, 1 of them must be played from memory.

Students who perform in the RECITAL are expected to dress appropriately. Your friends, classmates, grandparents, relatives are very welcome to the recital.

While my students are working hard for the year end recital on June 13 Sunday at Shadbolt Centre, there is another performance opportunity offered by other teacher.

Other Performance Opportunity

Date: June 5, Saturday

Time: 4:30pm

Place: Ellesmere United Church, at Burnaby Mountain, 160-8960 University High St, Burnaby, BC(the church we went for last Christmas recital)

They can play the pieces they are working on. If you are interested in it / want your child to have one more performance before the year end recital, please feel free to let me know. I need to know who will go by the end of May so the other teacher can prepare the recital program. Thank you.

Piano Adventures Group Program - Primer Level

2010-05-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

After being asked by so many people, I finally finalize and decide a group program using Faber's Piano Adventures method and some of my ideas.

Piano Adventures Group Program - Primer Level
Adopting the idea and material from Faber's Piano Adventures method, it is a program for 1st year beginners. The class size is 4 students.

It runs from September to June. From September to March, the students will attend a 45 min. weekly group lesson. Parent is recommended to stay in the group lesson, but not mandatory. After Spring break, the students will be introduced to 30 min. weekly private lesson. The lesson will cover singing, note reading, rhythm training / ensemble, keyboard instruction, ear training and music theory.

It is a weekly lesson program, 36 lessons in a year + 2 recitals. The monthly fee is $80 each student. The registration fee which covers the primer level books is $60. It is a class lead to private lesson.

For more information and to set up an interview for this program please contact me at jammy@telus.net.

Festival On the Lake

2010-05-04T22:50:00.000-07:00

The problem about the festival was finally sorted out. All my students are scheduled to play their pieces at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on the following dates.

Friday May 14th, Room 103

Alina Dhanji - 9:30 am

Kimberly Cheng - 10:10 am

Luca Piccolo - 11:00 am

Kavin Kadam - 11:40 am

Carrie Liu - 1:40 pm

Saturday May 15th, Room 103

Kenneth Yang - 11:10 am (Grade 1, List B)

Viola Chao - 2:30 pm (Grade 1, Study)

My son, Owen (under the instruction of Keitha Campeau) will play 3 Grade 4 pieces on Thu May 13 in the morning and early afternoon.

Good luck to all of them!

Practice for Money

2010-05-03T07:40:00.001-07:00

From May to the end of June, my studio will host a practice for money game. My students will earn practice money from every practice minute.

Beginner Student (1^st yr) 10 minute = 10 cents (1 minute 1 cent)

Preliminary, Grade 1, 2 20 minutes = 10 cents (2 minutes 1 cent)

Grade 3 - 5 30 minutes = 10 cents (3 minutes 1 cent)

Grade 6 - 8 50 minutes = 10 cents (5 minutes 1 cent)

Parent needs to record their practice time in the record sheet. I will give them practice money when they come for lesson. However, in order to maintain the quality of practice, money will be only given to those with good practice. Deduction may be applied for poor practice. Then at the end of June, they can spend their money on buying some gifts from my little treasure box. The game has been very popular for last few years.