Playing the Piano on my trip to Estonia

When my husband mentioned that I was a concert pianist while we were touring a beautiful church in Tallin, Estonia they invited me to go and play their piano!  It was such a treat for me!  The acoustics in here were amazing!

Spring Recital Moosic

I was so proud of you all for sharing your "moosic" with the residence of the retirement center.  They were so grateful for the inspiring concert you all played.  Sharing music makes it even more joyful!

There are two weeks until the ASP where you will play for a judge and receive some feedback and take your music theory/history test.  This is a great opportunity for growth and I have seen you all progress so much in your preparations!  You're prepared and ready to go and that feels great too!  

Composer Birthday Party Masterclass

With everyone preparing for the ASP performances and testing, there is so much fantastic music being played in my Studio right now!  What a delight!  We had a great time at Masterclass hearing so many well-prepared students share their music.  Each piece and it's composer got a candle on our Musical Time Period birthday cake.  And of course we celebrated with cupcakes after all the great playing!  

Wearing the birthday glasses just made it that much more fun!  Here are a few of the students that participated:

And just look at this fantastic-looking practice record!  It belongs to Colton and it's no wonder he is playing so well with the great SMART practice he is doing!!

Christmas Recital 2014

This year my students prepared Christmas Duets to share.  They learned how to turn pages for each other and a lot about playing in an ensemble.  They also each prepared a piece by J.S. Bach for the Christmas Recital.  

Bach wrote much of his music for church and his music is very difficult to learn and it was rewarding to watch the students as they worked hard to turn the notes into beautiful music. The music of Bach, a Christian who believed that God gave him his talents and music to write, was perfectly paired with the Christmas music.

Solo Recitals!

It has been a joy to see some Solo Recitals from 2 students this semester.  One student, Katelynn is 6 and the other student, Jacob is 8 years old.  Giving a Solo Recital is something any age can prepare and share.  Katelynn prepared about 8-10 pieces to perform from memory and Jacob played for about 30 minutes from memory.

They both gave successful performances and I was very proud of them for their hard work and dedication as well as their desire to share their music with others.
Way to go Katelynn and Jacob!

Superior!!!

All my students received SUPERIOR ratings on their Arizona Study Program Evaluations and Performances!  That's the highest possible!

Below are just some of these talented students.  

Congratulations to you all!!

May Recital 2014

What beautiful music was shared at our May Recital!  The students had prepared so well for their Arizona Study Program evaluation and when the music sounds that good, you just have to share it!

The Residents at the care center loved it!  And I loved hearing all the hard work the students have put in come to fruition in a live performance.  What fun!

Upcoming Events

We have some exciting Piano Events coming up!  Studio Masterclass will be in April-date TBA.

Piano Ensemble Concert: February 1st 7:00pm at Mountain View High School

EVMTNA Piano Competition: March

Prize Performers Recital: April

Studio Masterclass: April

Studio Recital: May

Arizona Study Program: May 16-17

Three Spots Open in Arizona Studio

I am opening three more spots in my Arizona Piano Studio.  If you know someone that would like one, please refer them!  I will arrange to meet them in person and go from there.  Your referral is your kindest compliment!

While music should be enjoyed at every age, I will be accepting students age 5-adult. Here is a little more info about me:

I received my degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from BYU and have taught lessons for 14 years. I am located off Broadway and Val Vista.   I love teaching music and am a Nationally Certified teacher for beginning through advanced players of all ages.

 More information about me my Piano Studio is included in my Studio Policies, including my rates, which I will email to prospective students.

Recommendations from Michigan Students

I am blessed to have many wonderful families in my Michigan Studio and will miss you.  To help other students and families know what kind of Piano Studio I have, two families have shared a recommendation for me to put here:

From Jenny L (mother of 2 children in my studio):

"Jedda has been a fantastic teacher to my eleven-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son.  Both have taken from her for the past two-and-a-half years and have made great progress.  Jedda is kind, gentle, and patient and at the same time has high expectations for her students' practice and performance.  She exposes them to a variety of music genres and concepts through instructive emails containing youtube clips and games and masterclasses as well as Piano magazine and written theory assignments.   During the summers she has explored themes such as improvisation, duets, and Disney music.   She holds regular recitals and encourages the kids to perform often in preparation for the recitals.   Jedda is truly a rare and gifted teacher and we are so sad to lose her as she moves away!!"

From Abby C. (a student who is 11 years old):

"Mrs. Newton is fantastic.  I guarantee that you'll love her.  She does so many activities and she's easy to get along with.

First she helps teach piano in all areas.  Most teachers would just help you learn songs.  Mrs. Newton does do that, but she also does scales and arpeggios, theory practice, sight reading, and other things like listening links.  Listening links are emails that she sends every week on cool piano things.  One time she sent a video on a new kind of piano.  Another time she sent a bunch of clips on these comedian men that made weird sounds with the wrong part of their instruments.

Mrs. Newton also does lots of performing things.  First, she tries to set up four concerts a year with her students.  In the past we have also done KeyboardFest (ask her about it), a piano test called the SAT, and she has even let her students plan solo recitals!  It's awesome!

Finally, Mrs. Newton is totally flexible.  You can ask her to play songs, do events or other things.  We have fun working on chords and playing with songs we've gotten so good that we've composed our own before.  

In conclusion, Mrs. Newton gives you great skills, great opportunities, and a great time.  I would strongly recommend her for a teacher."

Closing Michigan Piano Studio, Opening New Studio in Arizona

Our family is moving to Arizona and I will be leaving my students in Michigan when we move.  We are all very sad about this.  I have loved every minute of teaching and coaching you in your musical journey!

 I will miss having you in my studio and I hope you will keep in touch and let me know about all the music you are making!

I am looking forward to meeting many new students in Arizona and continuing the fun of teaching and coaching students in my new Piano Studio there!

Solo Recitals!

We just celebrated 4 Solo Student Recitals!

This is a wonderful accomplishment for you!  Each student gave a solo recital that was 20-30 minutes long.  You all performed so well and grew so much in your preparation!  

I am so proud of you all!

Abby:

Jacob:

Beth:

And Anna too (no photo).

I am a very lucky teacher to have such wonderful people for students and who have been working so hard!

Congratulations on a job well done!!

Composition Recital!

We have had so much fun learning about composition and jazz.  As well as chord reading and how to improvise at the piano.  You all have improved so much!  

And I love seeing you create your own arrangements of your favorite pieces as well as write your own music.  You love it too!

We celebrated all of this fantastic music at our recent Composition Recital and you were all amazing!  A highlight of the night was our Heart and Soul Grand Duet!  Everyone took a turn playing both the lower and higher parts of that piece but improvised their own part.  It was a great success!

Congratulations!

Some of the artwork the students created to go along with their compositions.  You are great artists in many ways!

Recital before SAT Testing

We had a great Recital celebrating all the great memorizing you have done to prepare for the SAT testing.  You all have prepared so well and your musicality and technique has grown tremendously. 

 I am so proud of all the hard work we have done together and the wonderful musicians you are  becoming!

KeyboardFest 2013

We had a blast at the KeyboardFest-literally!  With so many pianos on stage and students playing it was a lot of GREAT music!  You all played so well and had such a great time!  You also learned a lot about how to play at the same time as other musicians, which is a very important listening skill.

All your hard work paid off with a wonderful concert and fantastic ensemble music!

From the Newspaper:

 


Practicing the day before in the concert hall:

 All the pianos on stage!

The night of the concert: some students waiting their turn to play:

As a teacher and performer on stage, this is was my view looking into the audience!

The teachers that made the KeyboardFest happen!  

(I'm on the right, 3 rows back with a beige sweater and black shirt.)

What a fantastic night of fun music making!