Counting down! + Christmas tunes

Hi everyone

So we’re already in the month of December. 2012 has flown by, and now we’re counting down till the end of the year. Anyone have any exciting plans?

I personally shall be off on a holiday to Thailand! I’ve never been before so I’m very excited.
Our woodwind teacher Wayne always goes on and on about Thailand, so it’ll be nice to see how much it lives up to its fame!

As we see Christmas looming near, thanks to all those Christmas decorations and trees up in shopping centres, I’ve decided to introduce you to some of my favourite Christmas tunes. Listening to Christmas music always puts me in a cheery mood

The Christmas Song

I’m not exactly sure who the original singer is, there have been many artists that have covered the song.
It paints a really nice picture of Christmas, not really an Australian one unfortunately, but it’s got a nice, soothing Christmas feel. It’s also not like your normal annoying carol so that’s a bonus.

My Grown Up Christmas List

This song has very inspirational and uplifting lyrics that really give hope. Not your usual lyrics about Santa, turkeys and gifts.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This is my all time favourite Christmas song/carol. It just catches the essence of Christmas for me about having loved ones close and being able to  share a merry little Christmas with them.

I hope you enjoyed the songs!
Happy counting down to Christmas

 

Shine Charity Concert 2012

Every December marks the special occasion of our annual Shine Charity Concert in which all students and teachers have prepared for months. This year, a bit of a change occurred and our Concert was held in November instead. This meant out went the hot, sticky weather and in came the cool Spring breeze. Apart from the wonderful weather that was on our side, the day went very smoothly as well. All students performed outstanding pieces, many their first-time experiences. And most importantly our raffle tickets sold well many thanks to our generous parents, teachers, staff and of course students. A very memorable moment would be when a young student came up to me (I was in charge of raffle tickets on the day) and asked to purchase a raffle. After enquiring for the cost, he handed a zip-lock bag with a lot of spare change in it to me. I assumed this was his pocket-money that he saved up to generously donate for such a good cause. The raffle prizes were superb consisting of Cronulla Sharks backpacks (I won one of those too!), signed football posters, art and craft kits and several gift and dinner vouchers. All in all, it was fantastic day enjoyed by families, friends, students and staff. 

I was preparing an (overdue) envelope to send during my shift and I wasn’t sure whether there was a rule to suggest you had to stick a stamp underneath one another. So I thought it was best to confirm with a parent that was waiting. She kindly replied that it shouldn’t be too much of a problem which ever way it went. That moment triggered me to realize that it had been such a long time since I’ve sent a letter! So this led into a conversation to how the days of sending cards and letters were long gone. Many people may disagree but I feel emails and text messages are actually not one of the best advances of technology. I’m not sure if everyone reading has actually received a letter or card in the past but let me tell you, the anticipation of finding an envelope addressed to you in the mail box and tearing it open is a feeling that merely clicking/tapping open an email or text message cannot replace. So I suggest everyone should whip out that pen and paper and start writing something to your dear ones, especially with Christmas just around the corner, I’m sure it’ll be a great surprise!

Mistakes to avoid when learning music!

A guide for parents to produce great music results

Music is lots of fun to pursue but the most important formula to good improvement and excellent results is lots of practice.  Here’s how to maximise the practice time from your child.

1. Do pick a time of the day after school that is practice time so that they develop a good routine just like brushing their team. Eg.5:30pm every day is practice time.
2. Do not allow your child to ‘choose’ when to practice or practice after they play ipad.
3. Do aim for at least 10 minutes of focused practice a day.
4. Do not allow your child any day’s off practicing! Not even one! If they are sick they can make up for it.  That goes for school holidays as well!
5. Do refer to the teacher’s notes on what to practice, do all the homework, both new pieces and old pieces.
6. Do not have any distractions like TV, ipad, iphone, computer, toys, other children nearby.
7. Do go to the toilet, have a small snack and a glass of water before practicing, not between practicing.
8. Do not be a ‘nice’ parent.  Be a good parent!
9. Do call 96879978 or email practice@shinemusic.com.au for help.
10. Do not ever give up, just keep at it and improvement will come!

Good practice is the key to musical success!  Have fun!

Success in the music industry = good looks?

My mum is an avid watcher of X-Factor Australia which is why I have also ended up following it.

One new thing they seemed to have introduced this year were ‘boy bands’, trying to make Australia’s own One Direction. However, in the process of doing so it seems that LOOKS play a big part for choosing and eliminating contestants. Sure there are some pretty amazing singers but some people I feel only progressed on the show thanks to their physical self; the ‘star package’ as they would say.

   

Strangely enough it seems that talent or passion alone is not enough to make it in the music industry – you need to be a ‘sellable’ product. Looks, charm, anything that will get screaming young girls to buy things with the singer’s faces printed on it. I’m not trying to bash on certain artists, but more of a sad reflection that music alone is not enough in the music industry.

Nevertheless, luckily the good talent always does seep in!

What are your thoughts on success in the industry?

Chat Chat Chat!

Wednesday today at Shine was full of chatter in the waiting room. So much so that it distracted me away from my work a lot….hahaha…

Anwen’s mum bought a new camera and was trying to read the manual and figure out how to work in the new world of photography. But she got distracted from that also as we chatted about young children taking music lessons and the advantages of music schools over private music teachers. Anwen’s mum stating that the golden advantage of sending her kids to music school was ‘you have one in the other room, the other in another and then peace and quiet!’

Our older violin student Helen was talking about back in the day when there were no credit cards and how different life used to be. Hire-purchase options and buying things on layby all seem to have disintegrated quite a bit due to being able to buy things on credit. Imagine what buying things will look like 10 years down the track! Maybe we’ll have those barcodes embedded within our arms or something… :S Scary stuff.

Our teachers have the added stress of writing up reports for this term. I watched two of them side-by-side today proof-read, re-read and try to make their reports wonderful. Then they wondered if the students even read them and got a little discouraged. But you all do… RIGHT???

 

Do you have Gangnam Style?

Today’s Wednesday music topic is all about the weird Korean man that’s gone viral with his new single – Gangnam Style.

Being a Korean myself I was highly amused to see this song being sung and danced to by people in random parts of the world.

The singer/rapper/dancer PSY has been around South Korea for a while now and has never failed to amuse with his own quirky style of music and blunt lyrics. He’s not the greatest looker, singer or rapper but it’s definitely his own style that’s got Koreans, and now the world hooked.

During these times where looks can be achieved (thanks plastic surgery) and voices made better (thanks audio technology), I think the the masses are hungry for something unique – yet natural. Probably why PSY’s Gangnam Style has become a worldwide viral hit.

As PSY proudly states ‘I’m Gangnam Style’ while pretending to ride a horse, what does YOUR own Gangnam style look like?

 

Are YOU the next big star?

 

There’s always an audition program on TV.

Recently the first series of The Voice Australia finished and now they’ve started the next series of X-Factor. Unsure as to what happened with Australian Idol and I think they’re still searching on Australia’s Got Talent.

I always wondered whether they’d run out of talented people in Australia to fill up the contestant spots on the shows. I mean there’s only so many talented people one country can pump out…. or maybe they can.

I gotta say though the shows are pretty inspirational – makes me wanna audition and become the next One Directio- heheheh no not really.

“Why not wanna be like us?”

Apparently One Direction were eliminated individual contestants from the British X-Factor and then brought together as one team by the genius hand of Simon Cowell. Then history was written.

If you’re not feeling the big spotlights and cameras in your face, I guess you could opt for the slightly more do-it-from home method and become discovered like Justin Bieber.

“It all started from YouTube”

Little Bieber started when he was little-ler by posting videos on YouTube then got hitched with a record deal with the help of Usher and released that annoy- I mean catchy song “Baby baby baby WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAHHHHHH baby baby baby NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH“. Now he’s huge and now there are Beliebers all around the world.

Maybe you’re talented enough to not need any extra publicity and its your music that gains the attention before your face. One of my current favourite artists fit this mould, in the form of UK singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.

Either way I wonder if any Shine students will be blaring out of the radios or flooding out of the TV sometime in the future

 

Funny Wednesday kids

There are a few interesting students that come into Shine on Wednesdays. Let me introduce two of the most interesting ones!

 

Abhay, our 4 year old piano student was telling me about the woes of his life as he waited for his older brother to finish his lesson. As he coloured in dinosaurs he told me about the difficulties of being the youngest in the family.
“You know, I think that my parents are going to move me to another family. Yep”
I tried to convince him that they were just joking but he seemed pretty set that there’s a secret conspiracy in his family to shoo him out.

Adrian, our recorder student is one of the funniest kids I’ve met here at Shine. He’s always full of energy and words!
Today he kindly gave his mum a sticker (that he got from me) before kindly demanding another one for himself.
That sticker later ended up in the bin for some reason.

Looking forward to more young Wednesday quirkiness!

Colouring!

The biggest thing after music lessons here at Shine is colouring!

Our younger students (but sometimes the odd older student or teacher) create wonderful artworks that nicely decorate the walls of Shine Music here. We have a variety from the humble colouring stencils to grand original masterpieces.

Today’s masterpiece of the day (well I only had the option of choosing out of one) belongs to Adrian’s flowers in a vase.

Simple, yet to the point. Artist Adrian has stated he will return next week with a Ben 10 masterpiece. I am eagerly looking forward to it!

Shine students! (and siblings) Rise to greater artistic levels. Us front desk girls are more than happy to print out any colouring needs