Spring Break
Just a reminder for all students, voice and violin:
No lessons will be held between March 22-27. This is our studio’s Spring Break week. Lessons will resume according to normal schedule on March 29!
Happy Spring to the entire Studio Family!
Urinetown the Musical
The Alpert Studio of Voice and Violin invites you to join us for a hysterically irreverent musical with one of the best musical theater scores ever written. With a wonderful professional cast and a live band, this will be a memorable theatrical experience. Seating is very limited, so order your tickets soon! Opens Friday, February 19th!
Featured studio students and alumni include: Brandon Alpert, Taylor Pearson, Kari Kennedy, Marissa Henkel, Tommy Tafoya, Hannah Meisser and Chris Small
Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes capitalism, socialism, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and petty small town politics. It also is a satire of the Broadway musical as a form. In reverse pantomime style, the unconventional plotline shatters audience expectations of a pleasant ending (from Wikipedia)
For tickets and/or information call 909-982-5736
Finding Balance
How do you balance family life and the Suzuki method, from the busy life and extra activities, to the time spent, to the growth of the child and parent?
from:Ask the Experts, part 11: Balance – by Carol Ourada
from the Suzuki Association of the Americas Expert’s Column
Embrace the philosophy: “When love is deep, much can be accomplished.” Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy of love, step-by-step accomplishment, character building, and striving for excellence leads parents, children, and families to bond together on a journey that positively impacts the family as a whole.
Prioritize: With so many choices available, families will need to prioritize what is important. Practicing, listening, lessons, group class, concerts, and workshops/institutes need to be high on the list. This means a lifestyle change, with the benefit of time together scheduled regularly!
Reality: A daily commitment to practicing and listening is what will keep things going. Certain weeks, however, another activity or obligation might take more time than usual. If practice is still daily, even though shortened, the student will be able to at least maintain their level and motivation. Goals can be adjusted, then readjusted.
Limit how many extra activities the student is involved in. Most families can tell when the calendar is too full. Plan; rotate when those extra classes and activities will occur. Realize that there will be conflicts and recognize the commitments that need priority. Many families find that along with Suzuki lessons, one other activity per child is realistic.
Teamwork: Parents can work as a team and even friends and extended family can help too. In my studio, there is a mother who is the sole caregiver for the child. Certain times of the year, her work schedule causes her to be unable to get the child to group class on time. Another family picks up the child and brings her to group, and then the mom arrives a little later. For the youngest students, however, the primary practicing parent is the one needed at both lesson and group.
Support: Invite grandparents, friends, and schoolteachers to concerts, recitals, and lessons. Their enthusiasm and amazement at the process will give a boost to parent, child, and the Suzuki teacher. There are also wonderful resources to help support parents and teachers: Winning Ways, available from the SAA, Helping Parents Practice by Ed Sprunger, American Suzuki Journal articles such as Jeanne Luetke’s viewpoint for parents in Volume 35 #4 and To Learn with Love by Constance and William Starr. Visit the SAA website for more suggestions.
Island experience: Give yourself and your family the gift of an “island experience” at a workshop and especially at a Suzuki Institute. In Journey Down the Kriesler Highway Craig Timmerman relates how special events and trips heighten our awareness and memories for learning. Institute is a special time for new perspective, renewed spirits, and time together for the parent and child. The motivational benefits last a long time, as parents exclaim year after year!
A journey together: Being on both sides of the process, as a Suzuki teacher and a Suzuki parent, I have seen firsthand how the Suzuki philosophy of learning an instrument blends into our lifestyle, our parenting style and our family as a whole. It is a journey that bonds together families, well worth the time, effort, and especially the love that envelops it all.
Studio Events
The Alpert Studio is proud to announce Brandon Alpert will be appearing in the rock musical Rent, at the Grove Theater in Upland. Brandon is appearing the role of Mark Cohen.
Please join us in supporting Brandon, and also supporting high quality theater in our own community. Performances run between January 15 – February 7. Ticket information here. Please note, the production contains very mature themes.
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of AIDS.
The musical was first seen in a limited three-week Workshop production at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994. This same New York City off-Broadway theatre was also the musical’s initial home following its official January 25, 1996, opening. The show’s creator, Jonathan Larson, died suddenly the night before the off-Broadway premiere. The show won a Pulitzer Prize, and the production was a hit. The musical moved to Broadway’s larger Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996.[2]
On Broadway, Rent gained critical acclaim and won a Tony Award for Best Musical among other awards. The musical is largely responsible for helping to increase the popularity of musical theater amongst the younger generation.[3] The Broadway production closed on September 7, 2008, after a 12-year run and 5,124 performances, making it the eighth-longest-running Broadway show, nine years behind The Phantom of the Opera as of December 2009. The production grossed over $280 million.[4]
The success of the show led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions, and in 2005, it was also adapted into a motion picture that features most of the original cast members. (Courtesy Wikipedia)
Studio Winter/Spring Schedule
Happy New Year and Welcome Back! We hope you had a wonderful holiday.
Studio Reminders (please mark your calendar)
VOICE STUDENTS
Voice lessons resume on Monday, January 4 at your regularly scheduled time.
Very important: As always, please contact me as soon as possible, if you are unable to attend your regularly scheduled lesson, so I may adjust my schedule accordingly.
There will be no voice lessons on Tuesday, January 26, my birthday 
Spring break will be from March 22-March 26; no lessons will be given during that week.
VIOLIN STUDENTS
Violin lessons resume on Monday, January 4 at your regularly scheduled time.
Spring break will be from March 22-March 26; no lessons will be given during that week.
Lesson for the week of Feb 15-Feb 19 will be rescheduled, as I am attending the American String Teachers Conference.
We look forward to seeing you soon,
–Melanie and Bill Alpert
Winter Recital
Alpert Studio recital participants (photo: Deb Tracey Photography)
Colds, flu and busy performance schedules notwithstanding, it was standing room only at the Alpert Studio Winter Recital, held on December 5.
Bill and Melanie wish to congratulate each and every performer on a job well done. Also, a heartfelt thanks our extended studio family for all the support and the incredible turnout. This recital witnessed tremendous musical and personal growth throughout the studio!
Best wishes to all for a wonderful and safe holiday season!
