NEWSLETTERS
WINTER 2021
Helping Students Achieve Their Musical Goals
Outstanding Student of the Month: Daniel
Daniel
Violin student, Daniel, is 7 years old and has been taking violin lessons at WMA for just 6 months. His teacher, Maria Beltavski, describes Daniel as “very consistent. He always comes in with a good attitude. He’s always focused and prepared for his lessons.”
Daniel is home schooled, and his father, Larry, brings him to his lessons and takes notes on how & what Daniel is to practice for the week. He then hands his notes off to his wife, Sue, who helps Daniel with his practicing. “We fit it into homeschooling. I’m with him. I love to hear it.”
Larry happened to see a video of the Cleveland Orchestra playing a piece. He thought Daniel might be interested in hearing it, and he and Daniel watched it together. “Daniel was fascinated by it.” His teacher, Maria, noted that during his next lesson he asked a lot of questions, such as ‘How do they play so fast?’ He noticed a lot of details like posture and hand position.” Maria says that Daniel improved just from watching that video.
In general, Maria says, “He responds quickly in lessons and makes changes quickly. And he practices at home and makes a lot of improvements.” Daniel says of his teacher, “She’s nice, and I learn a lot from her. She’s very helpful when I need it.” ♪
Does Studying Music Hinder Academics? A Recent Study Says the Opposite is True
Numerous studies over the decades point to the advantages studying music has on academics. In 2020, another such study* with data on 112,000 students in British Columbia was published in the Journal of Educational Psychology. As usual, the study found that kids who studied music had on average higher test scores and grades than those who did not.
Of course, correlation doesn’t necessarily add up to causation. It could be that smarter, more motivated children are just more likely to want to study music, right? This study sought to ferret out signs of causation by comparing the grades of kids who had high academic scores with their grades in music. They found that high grades in music are good predictors of high grades in math, science and English, but high grades in math, science and English are not good predictors of higher grades in music, implying that diligent music study raises levels of performance in academics, rather than just showing that smart kids and diligent music students are one and the same.
Director’s Corner
James Flood
But couldn’t it be that a certain socioeconomic status and cultural background are what is driving the study’s results? The authors sought to answer this question, analyzing the data across various measures of socioeconomic strata. They still found advantages of music study to academic success across all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Asian countries dominate the top rankings in the world in academic success among children, and yet these same countries have a higher emphasis on music than do the U.S. and other countries.
Finally, without the benefits of modern studies, ancient Greece during the time of Plato considered music an essential part of education. Following this tradition, Europe from roughly the 1200s to the 1500s emphasized music as part of a child’s classical education, under what was called the Quadrivium, which consisted of arithmetic, astrology, geometry and music. And it appears that from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance, while other art forms like drawing, painting, acting, and dance were encouraged, they were not among the core academic subjects. Music, on the other hand, was not merely one of the fine arts, but inextricably linked to academics.
Hmm...maybe those ancients knew what they were doing! ♪
“A Population-Level Analysis of Associations between School Music Participation and Academic Achievement.”
A Message from Clara Engen, Violin & Viola Teacher
Congrats to the following 10 violin and viola students for completing their Suzuki "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" graduation performance in 2020:
Emma Evelyn
Lucia Katie
Aiden Madison
Clara Inez
Emily Jake
For each Twinkle graduation, the student plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" as well as FIVE different variations on the theme. The COVID-19 pandemic changed how some of these graduation ceremonies took place; some of these students did their graduation in-person, while others did it online. For many graduations, family members got to tune in on Zoom from all around Ohio and across the country!
It is the first big milestone for any beginning player, requiring a lot of practice, concentration, and determination to complete a Twinkle graduation. I’m so proud of all my students for working hard and persevering through the chaos of this year. Every single one of you deserves a BIG congratulations! ♪
TEACHERS WITH LIMITED AVAILABILITY
· James Flood, Guitar: no lesson slots available
· Tom Ray, Guitar: only one slot available (half-hour)
· Dr. Gary Graning, Piano: only one slot available (half-hour)
· John Karkosiak, Guitar: only two slots available (half-hour)
Winter Recitals on Zoom
Necessity certainly is the mother of invention. The COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings have obliged us to find new ways for our students to perform in recitals and enable their friends and family to hear and see their performances.
Six months ago, we held our summer recital outside in our back parking lot, and they were a big hit. That doesn’t work in winter however, and our venue is still closed.
So we had our winter recitals via Zoom, on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. The recitals—at 4:00 and 6:30 pm—were livestreamed, with most students performing from their homes. Some students came to the Academy building to play duets with their teachers. It was adorable to see children rapt with attention, watching each other play. ♪
WMA student Jonathan’s pet, Sassy Pants
WMA Pet of the Month
Name: Sassy Pants* Age: 2½ years
Owner: Piano student Jonathon
Favorite Activities: escaping to the yard to eat bugs & grass
Biggest Weakness: dried meal worms
*(so named for being the only chicken to try to escape every time the door is opened)
WELCOME NEW WMA STUDENTS!
Lea & Maya
Lauren
Amy
Josh
Camilla
Poula
John
Khaled
Isaac
Ellen
Lila
Scarlett
Hazel
Lola
Joud
Della
Clara
Gigi
Isam
Ginny
Emily
Rachael
Gabriel
Cora
Kayden
Ashlyn
Joe
Grace
Charlie
Olivia
Ellie
Dylan
Ishmell
Marin
Joanna
Matthew
Ryan
Pina
Greg
Caroline
Isabelle
Kenzie
Lauren
Penny
OCTOBER 2020
Helping Students Achieve Their Musical Goals
Outstanding Student of the Month: Leo
Leo
Now in 10th grade, guitar student Leo started lessons with Westlake Music Academy guitar teacher John Karkosiak in November 2019. Previously, he had taken piano lessons for 4 years; then he took up the bass guitar and the mandolin. In 8th grade, he started teaching himself guitar.
But at this point, he had a problem.
Between commuting over an hour and a half back and forth to school at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, being a dedicated soccer player, and tackling homework, he was having trouble finding time to practice. “I realized in 8th grade that I didn’t have time to practice after school, so I figured the only time to practice was in the morning.”
So that’s what Leo does. He sets his alarm for 4:00 am, starts practicing guitar at 4:30 am, gets ready for school, and then leaves at 6:30 am. Now that’s dedication!
When possible, he’ll practice in the evening, but he usually doesn’t have time. In the summer, he takes advantage of the extra time. Last summer, not only did he make sure to practice every day, but he’d practice 1 to 4 hours each day. “I don’t want playing the guitar to be something that ‘has to be done’,” Leo explains. “But I also don’t want it to fizzle out of my life.”
And if you’ve heard him play, you’ll know he plays beyond his 15 years. His first love is playing bluegrass, but he also likes playing jazz and is a fan of John Mayer.
His teacher at WMA is John Karkosiak. Leo states, “Taking lessons with John helped me a lot because when you’re self-taught you don’t understand what the fundamentals are.”
In turn, John says of Leo, “He’s had massive consistency in terms of self-motivation. Whatever information I give him, he comes back to the next lesson having put his best effort into the concepts theoretically and on the instrument.” ♪
WMA is Cleveland Magazine’s Best of the West!
Back in February 2019, I received a letter from Cleveland Magazine, beginning with “Congratulations!” I don’t know about you, but I wish I had a dollar for every letter, phone call, text, email, etc., beginning that way. I regard these with a mixture of suspicion and amusement. It said Westlake Music Academy (WMA) had won, but not really, blah, blah, blah.
I set it aside as likely a silly sales pitch. It got lost in a pile on my desk (and if anybody’s noticed, the piles on my desk are prodigious) until a month later, when, while going through papers, I saw it again and decided to give it a second reading.
Wait. This just might be legit.
I called the number given and learned that Cleveland Magazine had asked readers in January to vote for the “Best ofs” on the westside of metro Cleveland.
Director’s Corner
James Flood
They also told me that Westlake Music Academy had placed in the top 3 for the westside’s best places for music instruction! “How could this be?” I thought. “We haven’t even been open for a year.” I wasn’t aware of any voting.
The next phase to determining the winners was for the finalists to attend Cleveland Magazine’s big event and convince the many guests why their place should be voted as the best. The problem? I was too late in getting back to them, and all of the booths had been filled. WMA was put on the waiting list, but I considered it a “fat chance” that we could attend. Darn! Because of my incredulity we may have missed out on a great opportunity.
Well, as you might have guessed, the April event was postponed due to COVID-19. Then it got pushed back again. Until finally in July they decided to scrap the event and just do the voting online. I let all of you know, and the result was the new kid on the block won Best of the West! Thank you for your votes! ♪
TEACHERS WITH LIMITED AVAILABILITY
· James Flood, Guitar: no lesson slots available
· Nicole DiPaolo, Piano: only two slots available (half-hour)
2020 Summer Recitals
The venue we'd reserved was closed through the summer. WMA violin teacher Clara Engen suggested we use the back parking lot. So, we called up our piano mover. Thanks, Clara!
We set up small groups of chairs, six+ feet between them.
Then the concern was rain. Predictions fluctuated between 10% to 40% chances for several days. Sure enough, shortly before our first recital at 4:30, a shower set in. We quickly unfurled our tarps to protect the baby grand and drum set. Fortunately, the cloudburst was brief, and we had sunny skies the rest of the day. Perfect for enjoying the lovely music that ensued! The compliments flowed in. ♪
Westlake Music Academy reached 200 students in September 2020!
WELCOME NEW WMA STUDENTS!
Ella
Matt
Tony
Lucy
Michael
Alex
Terry
Cece
Lia
Olive
Sona
Temperance
Albert
Aislin
Olivia
John
Cecilia
Gideon
James
Josh
Norah
Grayson
Colin
Penelope
Magdalena
Matthew
Leilah
Xiomara
Cadin
Edith
George
Sydney
Addison
Terri
Kira
Blake
Clare
WMA Pet of the Month
Name: Minnow Age: 6 months
Owner: WMA guitar teacher John Karkosiak
Favorite Activities: Going on car rides and hanging out with her T-Rex
Biggest Weakness: Peanut butter
WMA Teacher John’s pet, Minnow
SEPTEMBER 2020
Helping Students Achieve Their Musical Goals
Outstanding Student of the Month: Brady
Brady
Based on the way she prepares for her voice lessons, you would think Brady was a high-school senior rather than having just turned 9 years old.
Her voice teacher at WMA, Samantha Loomis, reports, “When Brady gets home from a lesson, she goes through every little beat, every phrase, every change of emotion. She puts thought into every word she sings. When I give her an assignment, she always goes into even more detail than I’ve asked her to. She’s very detail-oriented.” Samantha says she also has a good ear.
Brady is in fourth grade at the Hope House Homeschool, a homeschool cooperative founded by her mother, Wendy.
“My dream is to become an actress and a songwriter,” Brady says. She took piano initially, but then switched to voice lessons. She still practices piano on her own. But she’s very diligent in practicing her singing. Her mother explains, “She’s very independent about it. She doesn’t view it as work or homework, but as enjoyment.... She sees it as an opportunity to use her voice.”
Obviously, Brady really likes her voice lessons. “I like them because I get to sing a lot.” And she really likes her teacher, Samantha. “She gets your feeling and wants to make sure you’re comfortable with the song… Ms. Sam is just generally really nice and a great teacher.”
Though only 9, Brady is already very self-motivated. Samantha says that Brady “always wants to take everything to the next level.” Brady explains that taking voice lessons and practicing “help me to become better than I was yesterday. I always tell myself that I want to be better than I was the day before because I always want to be the best person that I can be.” ♪
Having Trouble Practicing? Try These 3 Tips!
1. Choose a time that consistently works well for practicing.
Determine what time of day works best in terms of likelihood and quality of practicing. As soon as you get home? Right before dinner? Right after dinner? Late at night? Early in the morning? No answer works for everyone.
Not having a particular time to practice does not work for most people. We either think to ourselves “not now, later”—but “later” never happens—or we just forget to practice altogether.
2. Don’t wait until you’re “done with everything else.”
The vague notion of getting around to practicing when we’re done with work or homework usually leads to inconsistent practice—and hence little or no progress. No progress in turn leads to boredom and discouragement, which lead to giving up.
Director’s Corner
James Flood
Over the years dozens, of children and teens having trouble with practice have told me they practice after finishing their homework. When asked, “Which is more important, finishing your homework, or practicing?” They answer, “Homework.” Then I respond, “So then practice before you do your homework.” They are typically confused by this. So I ask, “If it’s late at night, you’re tired and haven’t finished your homework, will you finish it anyway?” They always respond in the affirmative. Then I ask, “If it’s late at night, you’re tired and you haven’t practiced, will you practice anyway?” Smiling sheepishly, they reply, “No.” To which I say, “Homework first and get your homework done. Practice first and get both practicing and homework done.” It’s counter-intuitive, but it works.
Moreover, practicing is a change from school, whereas homework is more of the same. Thus practicing serves as a needed break from the day’s work, which also results in more productive homework afterward.
3. Have a consistent practice space where your instrument and music are easily accessible and visible, with no need to move to another part of the house.
Two big obstacles to practicing are the “out of sight, out of mind” phenomenon and inaccessibility. If possible, the instrument should be in a very visible place and picking it up to practice should be as easy as a possible. Unless there are pets or young children who could damage it, keep the instrument out of its case. This overcomes both obstacles. Easily seen, the instrument acts as a reminder; plus it is extremely easy to pick it up.
Moving to another room to practice is not a good idea. The instrument should ideally be resting right beside the place where one practices. (This assumes that the place is conducive to practicing: i.e., minimal distractions, a good chair with a music stand, and music readily available.) This set-up can actually “tempt” one to pick up one’s instrument even outside of the usual practice schedule. This kind of “temptation” is the good kind!
Getting instruments out of closets, from under the bed, moving it from one part of the house to another, having no particular place for it, all of these make it less likely that one will practice. Having it easily seen and easily accessible, with a short and easy path to the practicing location make practicing much more likely.
If you need more consistent practice, these tips have proven effective for countless students. ♪
Welcome to WMA's newest great teachers!
Andrea Soncina, Italian soprano
Bachelor's in Vocal Performance, Italy
Master's in Vocal Performance, Cleveland
Liliya Hutchinson, Russian pianist
Bachelor's in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, Russia
Master's in Music Education, Siberia
Margot Verstraeten, Belgian Pianist
Bachelor's in Piano Performance, Belgium
Master's in Piano Performance, Belgium
Master's in Chamber Music, Belgium
TEACHERS WITH LIMITED AVAILABILITY
•James Flood, Guitar: no lesson slots available
•Mary Wiker, Voice: one lesson slot available (half-hour)
•Dr. Gary Graning, Piano: three lesson slots available (half-hour)
WELCOME NEW WMA STUDENTS!
Thomas
Bianca
Walid
Daniel
Korra
Vera
Connor
Grady
Lucas
Peter
Qusai
Gianna
Leema
Evelyn
Sheila
Jeremy
Jean
Emma
Ellie
Richie
Zoie
Julianna
Lucy
Macsen
Owen
WMA Pet of the Month
Name: Titus Age: 7 years
Owner: Students Dante and Juliette
Favorite Activities: Friskies; elevated pieces of furniture he knows he's not supposed to be on; fast-moving children
Biggest Weakness: Sleeping; eating; chasing previously mentioned fast-moving children
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Pet of WMA students Dante and Juliette, Titus
AUGUST 2020
Helping Students Achieve Their Musical Goals
Outstanding Student of the Month: Haddy
Haddy
Haddy is being honored as the WMA Outstanding Student of the Month. Haddy is a highly focused and disciplined individual. Other than piano, he also participates in the cross country and track teams at his school and is active in many clubs. He has been taking piano lessons for 8 years and will be a junior this fall at Westlake High School. He has had 5 different piano teachers, WMA’s Dr. Gary Graning being his current teacher. Haddy says, “He’s a great teacher... He’s the best teacher I’ve had so far.”
In turn, Dr. Gary reports that Haddy meets every challenge, and indeed that “Haddy challenges me!… He asks to learn things that I would have waited another year before introducing.” Dr. Gary relents and Haddy goes home and learns these more
advanced pieces in little time. For instance, Haddy learned his first Chopin Nocturne in one week. By the second week, he had it memorized. Normally Dr. Gary leads up to a Bach Prelude and Fugue with easier Bach pieces, but Haddy went straight to Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor and learned the entire Prelude and the first page of the Fugue in just a week.
Haddy used to divide his time between piano, violin, ukulele, tennis, and cross country. But this past year he has dropped violin, ukulele, and tennis to give greater focus to piano. “I practice classical a half hour to 3 hours a day. But before that I practice jazz for 15-60 minutes.” Sometimes, if he gets home late and still needs to practice, he practices on a digital keyboard with headphones in order not to disturb others in the house.
Haddy’s goal right now is to get into the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, a prestigious ensemble for high-school-age players. The audition is in May 2021. “I heard that it’s really fun…. I would be able to get that feeling of playing in an orchestra.” ♪
The Importance of a Good Teacher
When I first started my master’s studies in classical guitar at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, I wanted to minor in voice. The voice minors were shuffled off to the voice teachers of the Preparatory, that is, Peabody’s outreach program to the local community, instead of to the internationally known teachers of the Conservatory. But I wanted the best. So instead of going through the normal administrative channels, I walked up to the Conservatory’s head of the voice department and asked if she could help. She seemed pleased with my determination and arranged for me to study with the faculty’s most famous member, a baritone known around the world! He was a warm and friendly teacher, and I very much enjoyed my lessons with him.
Director’s Corner
James Flood
Some years later I got the itch to start up voice lessons again. There was an internationally known independent voice teacher in Baltimore. His price was out of my range, so I asked him if he could recommend another excellent teacher. He gave me the name of a local soprano. After a few lessons with her, I became acutely aware that while my previous big-name teacher might have been great at coaching advanced singers, he really didn’t know what he was doing with someone like me, an intermediate-level voice student. She, on the other hand, was a thorough expert. Not a well-known performer, but a consummate voice teacher. Oh, and by the way, she taught voice minors at the Peabody outreach program! In my misguided zeal, I had previously missed out on studying with the superior teacher.
The faculty at Westlake Music Academy are made up of musicians who are teachers. Not merely musicians who can’t get enough gigs and fill in the gaps with teaching. Being a teacher is a part of the WMA faculty member’s identity, and we strive for excellence. We teachers meet twice a month to discuss how to improve, sharing our successes and challenges, discussing a topic of teaching as well as preparing presentations for meetings. Our informed (and friendly) teachers want you/your child to have the best in musical instruction, and to be the best you can be on your instrument. ♪
WMA Summer Recital 2020 — OUTSIDE!
Afternoon & Evening, Sept. 12
Outdoors is the safe place to hear our students play. So we will hold our summer recital in the parking lot behind our building. Joyce Pianos will move the beautiful baby grand piano to the space right behind the building, and we will use amplification to compensate for being in the open air. There is plenty of space for social distancing in the parking lot. Chairs can be placed apart so there is plenty of space for safety, as well as grouped such that families can sit together. Once we have the final tally of participants, we will be able to schedule the exact start times of the recitals. ♪
TEACHERS WITH LIMITED AVAILABILITY
• James Flood, Guitar: no lesson slots available
• Mary Wiker, Voice: two lesson slots available (half-hour)
WELCOME NEW WMA STUDENTS!
Steven
Martin
Megan
Lyla
Khia
Ryan
Mallory
Miles
WMA Pet of the Month
Name: Buffo Age: 5 months
Owner: Students Inez & Vinny
Favorite Activities: Chasing birds, chewing toys, & dashing after balls
Biggest Weakness: Socks & stuffed animals left on the floor
Pet of WMA students Inez and Vinny, Buffo