New School Year

August 2011 Newsletter

Music Studio of

Joette Giorgis

It’s time to register for guitar lessons for the new school year. At the Music Studio of Joette Giorgis, children and adults get a strong foundation in music and guitar that prepares students for playing any style of guitar.

Group classes are set to begin Thursday, September 8^th.  The bi-weekly group class is in addition to a weekly lesson and gives students the experience of playing in an ensemble. For children, music games make it fun to learn with their friends.

FAQ

What is a good age for my child to take guitar lessons?

I start children as young as 4 with the Suzuki method, but 7 or 8 can be a good age to begin. The parent attends lessons with the child so that they can help the child practice. Suzuki guitar is a great way for parents and children to spend time together. It introduces the child to classical music on an instrument they may be naturally attracted to and gives children a great foundation for playing any style of guitar music.

Can my child learn to play my old guitar?

It is important for everyone to have the correct size classical guitar, that is a guitar with nylon strings. It is very hard for children to learn on a guitar that is too big or a guitar with steel strings. A classical guitar produces a wide variety of sound and can be used to play any style of music.

Why does my child need a small guitar? What about those North Korean kids that we see on Youtube, playing advance classical guitar pieces using full size guitars? 

I feel sorry for those children playing those large guitars. It has to be uncomfortable for them. Their performance and their smiles looks very staged and not natural. My guess is that they spend many hours a day practicing guitar and do not have time for a well rounded education. Most women I know who play classical guitar no longer play a full size guitar, but play a 7/8 or senorita size.

Do you have experience teaching children?

I have more than 12 years experience as Suzuki Guitar Teacher and more than 30 years total teaching experience. At my music studio in Pennsylvania I taught children with many needs: gifted, learning disabilities, ADHD, social anxiety, and health issues. I have a degree in elementary education and worked as a substitute school teacher. I completed 9 Suzuki Guitar teacher training classes.

Do you teach any other instruments?

Yes, I also teach beginning piano, although guitar is my primary instrument. I took piano lessons growing up and also in college as part of my music courses. I had a number of piano students at my studio in Pennsylvania.

Where is your studio?

I am off Becker Road on Crawfish Drive, not far from Port St. Lucie Blvd. 

How do I register for lessons?

Send an e-mail to joettestrings@gmail.com or call 772-905-8156.

A Great Guitar Weekend

     March 4-6 was a great guitar weekend. Seth Himmelhoch, from Teaneck,NJ, was guest concert artist and Suzuki guitar teacher.
     Seth arrived at the Palm Beach airport Friday afternoon and Paul Colletti, a member of the Treasure Coast Classical Guitar Society had volunteered to pick him up from the airport and bring him to my house. Seth had to tune his guitar first thing, because he had loosened the strings for the flight. After just a little bit of time to visit and have dinner, we had to get dressed for the concert and get over to the church.
     The concert was great. Although all of us in the Treasure Coast Classical Guitar Society were disappointed with the small turnout, Seth said you can't expect a lot of people for a classical guitar concert, and everyone we talked to seemed to really enjoy the concert.  There were at least 2 ladies who heard about the concert on NPR. Seth played a great program with something for everyone- Bach, American jazz music, music from Brazil, and classical guitar standards by Tarrega and Domeniconi.

Joette, Paul, Seth, and Rowdy

     After the concert we returned to my home and should have gone to bed early, since we had to get up early on Saturday, but Seth and I spent some time in my music studio where I showed him my renaissance guitar and my ronroco and we talked about music.
     Seth slept in one guest room and my granddaughter, Hallie, slept in the other guest room.  Hallie had been at the concert with her mother, but left at intermission, since she was tired. I was glad she was able to see the first half of the concert, but it was a little long for a 5 year old. My daughter brought her to my house and put her to bed because she would be going to the guitar workshop with us in the morning. 
      We got up at 6 am to drive to Fort Lauderdale where Seth had to teach his first class at 8:30 am. I waited till 6:30 to get Hallie up, slip off her night gown and put on her dress she wore to the concert, and put her in her car seat with a granola bar and a juice pouch.  I drove the first leg of the trip and then Seth drove. 
      Hallie's first class was at 9 am.  She played a little guitar to warm up outside by the picnic table while Seth was teaching his first class. It was good that we did that because I saw that the dress she had worn to the concert was much too short to wear to play guitar, so I went to the car and got her other outfit out of her suitcase.  Another student of mine, Tailyn, also came to the workshop. Hallie and Tailyn are friends and play together sometimes when Hallie is at my house, as Tailyn is a neighbor. They also play guitar together in my group classes. 
     Hallie and Tailyn were a little apprehensive at first. The other 10 guitar students had all been playing guitar longer than they had. Many of them already knew each other because they are students of the teacher who coordinated the workshop. Tailyn is very shy and even shed some tears in the first class, but by Sunday afternoon, she was so relaxed that she raised her hand and volunteered to lead the class in the radio game. They both played Twinkle in their master class and Seth worked with them where they were at.  Sunday afternoon they had a dance class where they learned baroque dances.  Everyone played well in the closing concert Sunday evening.  Hallie and Tailyn both had a great time at the workshop and they both have been practicing more since then.

      In the teacher master class, I played the third movement of the Vivaldi lute concerto in book 7 and got some helpful tips from Seth.  We worked on the accompaniments for the concert songs in the teacher group class. On Sunday we had a teacher discussion on ways to keep kids interested in guitar and ways for us as teachers to make sure we have time for ourselves.  The teachers got together after classes on Saturday at Commercial Beach where we enjoyed a walk on the beach and dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was a great weekend and very worthwhile.

Guitar Lessons for All Ages

Oliver Sacks has written a great article and suggests that people make a new year's resolution to learn something new, like learning to play a musical instrument.

"I have had many reports from ordinary people who take up a new sport or a musical instrument in their 50s or 60s, and not only become quite proficient, but derive great joy from doing so. ...Music is an especially powerful shaping force, for listening to and especially playing it engages many different areas of the brain, all of which must work in tandem: from reading musical notation and coordinating fine muscle movements in the hands, to evaluating and expressing rhythm and pitch, to associating music with memories and emotion."

Read the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/opinion/01sacks.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all#

If you would like to learn to play guitar this year, contact the Music Studio of Joette Giorgis at jmg_guitar@yahoo.com