Fall Newsletter 2024
Fall Newsletter 2024
Dear Parents & Students August 2024
Welcome Back to returning & new students!! I hope you have all had a restful and enjoyable summer. I have been very busy planning what I hope will be an inspiring, stimulating, and fun musical semester.
Our Fall Semester will have some wonderful listening and performing opportunities as well as chances for the studio to interact with professional musicians outside of the scope of the keyboard.
There will be a unique concert at the Gratz College Bala Location (formerly known as the Levering Mill Tribute House, 182 Bala Avenue) on Sunday, November 3rd at 2:00pm. The program will feature a subset of the outstanding musicians of the Tempesta di Mare ensemble in a Baroque period instrument concert. We are so fortunate to have these truly amazing musicians performing for the community at no charge!! Please make EVERY effort to attend. These concert opportunities are vital to expanding our musical knowledge, imagination, and creative palate. I am working on an opportunity for my students to meet with these musicians privately, before the concert, so they can learn first-hand about these unique period instruments.
Our “Repertoire List” program and culminating concert at Rosette Senior Living last semester was a HUGE success that we will continue with new lists for each student in preparation for a memorable concert on Sunday, Nov. 10th at 3:00pm. The goal is for each student to be As each student masters a piece, this will go into their “Rep List” and they will keep reviewing these pieces a few times each week so that when they need to call on some music to play, they will have a veritable feast of music from which to choose.
Our Winter Recital will take place on Sunday, December 22nd, at 10:00am. This will be preceded by a dress rehearsal on Sunday, December 15th at 10am. Please mark your calendars for these important dates and times. I look forward to seeing friends and family at our recital! I know you will be all eager to see how much these talented musicians have grown.
Please be sure to return your signed tuition contracts along with the Media Release Form. This form can also be found under the “Newsletter & Forms” tab on my website: www.gilyahodos.com. You can conveniently download, sign and reupload the form directly to the website or you may email it to me. Either way, I will need both the form and the tuition contract signed and returned by the 1st lesson.
I am committing to in-person lessons throughout the semester, barring unforeseen circumstances. I would ask that you please be very mindful of sending your children to my home if you or they have come in contact with someone who is Covid positive. I am caring for my elderly father and need to be mindful of his health needs. I can switch to a zoom lesson with only a few minutes notice, so please err on the side of caution.
With regard to Covid or any illness, we will continue with the same safety protocols as we did last spring:
1. Students must wash hands PRIOR to arriving for their lessons.
2. Students will be given hand sanitizer when they arrive. This is NOT a substitute for hand washing!
3. Piano keys will be sanitized in between each lesson.
I know we will have exciting, music-filled learning experience this semester! I have lots of different learning modalities that will help us explore our musical world and I am eager to dive into our musical explorations together!!
All the best,
Gilya