From now until December 20, the Cape Ann Piano Studio is offering a 20% discount off of the remaining Winter Quarter at the studio for school-age children (10 45-minute lessons). This offer applies to both beginner and transfer students. Lessons begin January 7.*
A young student plays a duet with his mom at our first-ever annual Holiday Pizza and Piano Party. 🙂
*This discounted offer is for young students only.
Adults seeking lessons, you can learn more by visiting my Adult Lessons page, and please contact me if you would like more information.
The Annual Cape Ann Piano Studio Recital was a great success, all the students did a wonderful job.
Here they are holding the sign, where you can see that all together, they practiced over 10,000 minutes (earning 2 cents a minute from sponsors and matching donors) to continue to foster our 10 orphaned elephants through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust! They actually raised more than $620, a whopping $730! So proud of all of them.
Cape Ann Piano Studio Annual Recital, June 2016
And here’s a video of that little guy in the front playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star: Fancy Version! After The Lion Sleeps Tonight, of course. 😉
My young piano students will be performing in their annual spring recital on Saturday, June 11, from 4–5 pm at the First Universalist Church of Essex.
It’s free and open to the public, all are welcome to attend! The church is also handicapped accessible. We have a reception afterward downstairs, all are welcome there, too.
Students will be playing almost all contemporary composers’ pieces and songs, as well as arrangements of Mozart and C.P.E. Bach.
Come take and break, and put a smile on your face watching kids share their joy playing piano for all of us! 🙂
Performance from last year:
Cape Ann Piano Studio Annual Spring Recital
June 11, 2016, 4–5 pm
First Universalist Church of Essex
57 Main Street
Essex, MA 01929
The first of the Guild concerts for the 2015–16 school year is:
Day: Sun. Nov. 15, 2015 Place: Second Congregational Church, 35 Conant St., Beverly 01915 (off Exit 20, headed toward Wenham) Times: Two afternoon concerts start times TBD (to accommodate all of the teachers’ students, usually a 1:30 and a 2:30 program, each about 45 minutes long)
I encourage my students – of all ages and levels – to participate! Mostly families and friends attend and all the teachers and students are very supportive of one another. Recital is slightly more formal than the one I hold in June; it’s a good opportunity for those students who like the challenge of performing in front of a friendly and enthusiastic audience. 🙂
Students should be well prepared and are encouraged to play pieces from memory but use of music is allowed.
Any students interested in performing will be playing pieces they have already learned well; we will perfect them between now and the concert.
There is an $8 recital fee. Email or call or ask about the concert in the lesson!
…About Supporting Your Child Learning to Play the Piano”
Here’s a wonderful blog post by Elissa Milne, a fellow piano teacher whom I “met” in one of my online pro piano instructors’ groups—she’s quite a teacher, and lives in New Zealand! So cool to now have input from teachers from around the world. 🙂
She has a lot of other informative posts for parents, too, on her blog.
Valentine’s Week Special Come into my warm, cozy studio on Thursday Feb. 18 & Friday Feb. 20 and learn a song in one 30-minute lesson, guaranteed!
Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Come into my warm, cozy studio in downtown Gloucester (there’s even a parking space in front!) and learn a song on the piano. Sample a lesson, to see what it would be like to learn to play the piano … 🙂
For both kids and adults, a single, 30-minute lesson is only $15, more than half off the 30-minute lesson rate.
Thursday, February 18 & Friday, February 20 during Valentine’s Week! Contact Julie Cleveland
#ValentinesWeek #SupportLocal #LoveOnMain
More about the Cape Ann Piano Studio
I’m excited to be doing a collaborative performing arts piece with dancer Carl Thomsen at the Trident Gallery in Gloucester this Saturday night, Jan. 31, at 7:30 pm. We’re calling it a “structured improvisational” work.  🙂
Details below—if you plan on coming, email or call now, seating is very limited!
Photo of Julie Cleveland: Sheila Roberts Orlando.
From the Trident Gallery website:
“Stone Stairway Stories” is a performance piece by Carl Thomsen (dance) and Julie Cleveland (digital piano/synthesizer). Continuing Thomsen’s decades-long exploration of the interface between dance, music, and storytelling. In this performance the storytelling will come from the audience. The dance and music will reflect and respond to the experiences and memories of the audience itself, elicited through a series of questions, answers, gestures, and movements offered by those in attendance.
The performance is free, with donations to the artists appreciated. Seating is limited, so please reserve early to ensure a seat by emailing events@tridentgallery.com or by visiting the Facebook event page.
Arthur Rubinstein (1887–1982) was one of the greatest concert pianists who ever lived, and we are very lucky to have so many clips of his playing and concerts on YouTube. He was considered one of, if not, the best interpreter of the music of Frederic Chopin. Fortunately for us, there are many YouTube clips of his playing, including concerts he gave.
This YouTube clip is from a live concert he performed in Moscow (in Russia) in 1964. This clip is not the whole concert but near the end of his concert, plus many encores. An encore is when a performer plays more pieces at the end of his or her concert that are not written in the program. That’s why people in the audience cheer “Encore! Encore!” at the ends of concerts, they want the performer to come out and play more music for them!
At 22:30 is a very famous waltz by Frederic Chopin, you may recognize the tune!
At 28:30 is a piece by Robert Schumann called Des Abends (which means “In the Evening” in German)
At 37:10 Ondine (from his Preludes, Book II) by Claude Debussy, a French composer.
At 41:40 O Polichinelo (“The Punch”) by Hector Villa-Lobos (a composer from Brazil)
You will not believe how fast his fingers go!
Kids, you know how I am always bugging you about your posture, playing with arm weight and loose, flexible wrists? Watch Arthur Rubinstein play and you will see all of these in action; when I watch him play I just cannot take my eyes off of his incredible technique (or my ears away from the sound!)
Complete list of pieces and where they occur in the video:
Chopin:
00:19 Â Polonaise, Opus 44.
11:18 Â Impromptu, Opus 51.
16:30  Nocturne, Opus 27 N.º 2.
22:55  Waltz, Opus 34 N.º 2.
Schumann: 28:35  Des Abends, Opus 12 N.º 1.
Chopin: 33:02  Waltz, Opus 34 N.º 1.
Debussy: 37:36 Â Ondine ( Preludes, Book II ).
Villa-Lobos: 41:50 Â O Polichinello.
Captain Broccoli explains music theory on YouTube!
A bit advanced for beginner students—the first video starts with diatonic triads. But check it out, fun!
(The playlist is actually a good review for those of us rusty, say, on figured bass and secondary dominants.)
