Saturday, November 28, 2015
Renfrew Baptist Church
Written by: Amy Melynchuk
Café Koi is a modern café in the heart of downtown, known to support a wide variety of artists and performers, and two Imagine Music students had the opportunity to perform there as a part of the Calgary Arts Orchestra first annual fundraiser concert on December
1. Chloe wrote, “Playing at Café Koi was an amazing experience as a performer and as an audience member. I’ve never played in a setting quite like that, which was really neat. It was a great confidence boost. Being able to see all the other musicians was fantastic and inspiring as well. It was so much fun and I can’t wait to do it again next year! Thank you!” Jenay also commented, “I was honored to be invited to perform with the Calgary Arts Orchestra at Cafe Koi. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to grow as a performer because I was able to play in front of very supportive people in a public venue for the first time. It made me step out of my comfort zone to discover that I had so much fun that I couldn’t wait to do it again. Amy and the other musicians made me feel comfortable at the venue while their professionalism made me want to do my very best. Thank you Amy for this wonderful opportunity.”
It was a unique and exciting experience for everyone involved, and both Chloe and Jenay played extremely well, demonstrating strong confidence and musicality. Following Chloe and Jenay’s performances, there was a varied program of chamber music, including; Bach violin/oboe double concerto, Clara Schumann piano trio, a bassoon/violin/piano trio by Dave Latos, and a variety of pieces for String Quintet, including Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Singer/songwriter Angie Coombes performed a set, and there were also appearances by Darren Young (guitarist) and Amanda Hillestad (opera singer), among others.
Imagine Music really encourages and attracts students who demonstrate courage and enthusiasm to try new things, and this is a great example of both. Thanks to the students’ parents for the support, to Café Koi for lending the space, and to the Calgary Arts Orchestra for inviting our students!
Imagine Music Inc. Students at Café Koi
Imagine Music Inc. Students at Café Koi
If you would like to have any of the pictures posted email to you, please contact Juliana at juliana@imaginemusicinc.com
September 26 & 27, 2014
Black Knight Inn, Red Deer
By Kay Alexander
The theme for this year was ‘Wild About Teaching’ and the clinicians lived up to the idea! Michiko Yurko is a very highly regarded and experienced Suzuki teacher who openly shared her ways of engaging her students. She strongly believes in supporting many learning styles and has a line of teaching strategies that can be found at www.musicmindgames.com.
Dr. John Burge, a fellow Calgarian, was energetic and entertaining as he shared his ideas on nurturing music in his students. Joseph Fridman spoke on teaching artistry and expression while beautifully demonstrating his topic. His gentle and humble approach makes his amazing talent all the more striking.
Friday evening began with a banquet, the presentation of scholarships and finished with a performance at the Red Deer College. Colleen Athparia played an extensive program from Mozart, Grieg to Granados in the first half. She began the second half, typically with some lesser known works by Clara Schumann, flowed into Chopin and finished with the very modern style of Allan Gordon Bell’s Danse Sauvage. The whole performance flowed with such apparent ease and beauty that it was difficult to come back to reality at the end.
Between sessions there were many things on sale at the trade show. Here I found a set of music books that are aimed at the child with ADHD and/or autism. The composers, Eleanor Gummer and Marie-Therese Gummer, are ADHD themselves. There are 4 lesson books that take students to playing music hands together and learning scales. Each book has a spiral binding so the book clearly show one page at a time. Each page is clear and appealing without a lot of distracting clutter. There is a set of books for the older beginner and activity books that correspond to the lesson books. I was very excited to find someone addressing the needs of these students and look forward to using them in my studio. For more information on this go to http://www.oneeyepublications.com.
Overall it was a great time filled with much inspiration, many friends to meet and ideas to share. All in all it was a good way to gear up for the teaching year.
On Friday, May 2, 2014 a group of young piano students between the ages of 7-11 played at the Chateau Renoir Retirement Living Center in SW Calgary. This idea came from a young boy by the name of Conrad, who had asked his teacher to play at this special venue. So, with this help of his sister, Clara, and his friend Emma and Elena, the four children prepared a set of music to play for these seniors.
Below as an exclusive interview Imagine Music Inc. did with Conrad.
I hear that performing at Chateau Renoir was your idea, why did you want to play there?
To make them (the seniors) happy.
Was this your first time playing in front of people?
No (he had also played in various Imagine Music Inc. Recitals as well)
What types of music did you play at Chateau Renoir?
Jazz and Rock
Did you put a lot of work into the pieces?
Yes, A LOT!
What was your favorite piece?
A Rock and Roll piece called You Really Got me
When you got to Chateau Renoir, was it like what you had expected?
Yes, it was very nice there
What was your favorite part of playing at Chateau Renoir?
The crowd
His teacher, Jennifer Aumentado expanded on the interview by telling us that all the songs which the students played were tunes which were to be familiar to the residence at Chateau Renoir, making their listening experience a more enjoyable one.
If your interested in volunteering at the Chateau Renoir, please feel free to contact the office at info@imaginemusicinc.com
On March 02, Imagine Music Inc. Teachers and Guests gathered together for an afternoon of learning how to fence through the Epic Fencing Club. Head Coach, Peter Drevenka, led the events.
We started the afternoon off with some “simple warmups” – jogging, lunges and stretches – which require more cardio than many of us had expected. We then moved onto some hand-eye coordination exercises which was once again a challenge for many of us as we needed to be aware of our body movements and reflex abilities. This was a great way to not only get our brains going, but it was also a good team building exercise as you needed to “read into the minds” of your partner. After the all the various warm-ups, we finally got into some basic steps and attacks of fencing. Once everyone was familiar with the basic movements, we learned how to hold an épée and finally got to practice our techniques on the Peter!
To end the day, we had a small “Imagine Music Inc. Fencing Tournament”! They grouped us into pairs as we began matches against our colleagues! There was a total of 20 bouts (or matches) played among the 5 participants. As a result, the first and second place winners were actually Imagine Music Inc. guests as all 3 teacher participants won 3rd place. We concluded as a group that although fencing was a lot of fun, the teachers should stick to what we know best, teaching and playing music.
Want to see what it looked like?
CLICK HERE to check out our Facebook Album!
Although most teachers were not able to attend, they were definitely there in spirit and we hope to work together with Epic Fencing again for a “Round Two” Competition!
The teachers and staff at Imagine Music Inc. would like to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Our studio has a few New Years Resolutions:
Do you have a New Years Resolution? Feel free to comment on what you hope to accomplish in the upcoming year!
Is your Resolution to learn an instrument? If so, contact our Calgary office at (403) 730-0684
imaginemusicinc.wordpress.com 