-THE CONCERT-

The concert was a great success!

The students performed very well and not to mention, behaved very well, in this one and a half hour concert. Seated accordingly to the order of performance, each of them came out, bowed, played their pieces, bowed and walked elegantly back to their seats. No big dramas, no big memory lapse on stage, all just perfect!

I will be posting up videos of the concert soon. :)

Well-done, everyone.

Thank you to all you parents who have been so supportive.

Thanks to Judith Napier and Amir Farid who were our guest artists at the concert.

A special note to Amir Farid, all my students were so inspired by you!

Please come join us again next time.

Term 4

The end of year is coming. Thank you to all the parents who have been so supportive of their children's piano education. There are only four lessons this term before the big concert. How exciting.

Here is our guest artist:

Amir Farid
Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, pianist Amir Farid has been described as “a highly creative musician – a pianist of great intelligence and integrity. He brings strong musical substance to all that he does, imbuing it with his own particular experience and understanding”, and who “in a well-populated field...distinguishes himself for all the right reasons”.



We are delighted to have him perform for us three amazing pieces and talk to us about his journey as a musician.
The date of the concert is 31st Oct 2010, at 5 pm. It will be held at the St George's Uniting Church, on 4 Chapel St, St Kilda East. I hope many of you will come and bring lots of friends and relatives to join us at our special event of the year. :)

Please contact me to buy tickets.


Love,
Diana

End of Holiday

Definitely doesn't feel like it's been two weeks. Holiday seems to feel shorter!

I must say I miss my parents very much as they left last week on Friday.

I have sent email charts around. If you have missed out, please email me.

Today, I would like to share one of my favourite pianists of all times.

Her name is Martha Argerich, an Argentine concert pianist born in June 5, 1941. She started learning the piano at the age of three, and made her first debut when she was eight years old, playing Beethoven piano concerto no. 1 in C major, Op.15. Well, some children are just genius prodigies! :)

The link below is a video of her performing one of my favourite songs I played while I was in University: Ravel 'Ondine'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F-TaxA4YQg&feature=related

Ah, just beautiful!

Let the children watch and be inspired.

Love,

Diana

In the Ghibli mood...

Hey hey ho...

It's me again...

Just thought of sharing a few very good movies with the kids since they are on holiday.

I have always loved Japanese anime especially Studio Ghibli movies, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. They have fantabulous soundtrack, original characters, and beautiful story plots. Here are just some of my favourites:

MY Neighbour Totoro (suitable for 4+ yrs old)

Ponyo (suitable for 4+ yrs old)

Kiki's Delivery Service (suitable for 4+ yrs old)

Spirited Away (suitable for 6+ yrs old -- some scary looking creatures)

I am sure DVD rental shops such as Video Ezy or Blockbusters, or others, will have these videos.

FOR STUDIO GHIBLI Fans, they are now making a new featured film, called "Karigurashi no Arrietty". If you want to find out about it, here's the link http://www.onlineghibli.com/

Love always,

Diana

Summary of our first meeting

Konnichiwa. Kyo wa ii tengkii desu ne. Second day of trying to design this blog.

Maybe I will post up something that is useful . Here we go...

If you are interested in doing examinations, please bookmark this website:

http://www.ameb.unimelb.edu.au/

You will find information about the exam and the fees, location, and checklists, etc.

I will be working on some scale charts for the different grades. They will be posted up so you can print them out.

Here are also some main points of our discussion on Saturday:

• Concerts and group classes will be held regularly throughout the term. Dates and times and venues will be advised in advance so that you can plan your time carefully and accordingly.

• There will be termly concerts, usually on Sunday at the last week of term @10.30 am at my home.

• End of year concert will be a FORMAL concert, this year in the middle of October before I go into labor. I am still searching for suitable venues. If you have any suggestions, please email me. There will be a ticket fee depending on the venue we rent, or the guest artist(s) we invite to perform.

** I must stress how important it is to watch a professional pianist (classical, or jazz, or pop or band keyboardist) for inspirational and motivational purposes.

• GROUP CLASSES will be held on Saturday 2.30 - 3.30 pm

• I have put up a BLOG website: http://thepianory.blogspot.com

This is only my first time putting up a website. Please bear with me. In the future, I will be putting up materials so you can access to them easily and print them out. I will also put links that will be useful and fun for the children.

Love,

Diana