Solo Concert and AGM!

Our first solo concert and our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be taking place on Sunday, November 20th at St. Mark's Anglican Church on Logy Bay Rd (just south of Newfoundland Drive).

The solo concert will start at 1:30 PM Please arrive at 1:00 PM for tuning! Our annual general meeting will be taking place at St. Mark's immediately after the concert on the 20th ends - please stay around after the concert to attend.

As a nonprofit and a charity, STEP is accountable to you, its members, and the 20th will be your day to hear from the Board and staff, take a look at our finances, and vote for next year's Board of Directors. We will try to have some entertainment arranged for your children during that time - unfortunately, our favourite magician is out of town, so if any of you have suggestions for entertainers, please do pass them along by replying to this email! The AGM should be over by 4 PM on the 20th.

If you have not yet done so, please let your private teacher know if your child wishes to perform. If you don't have a child playing in the concert, we would still love to see you there with your family, both to hear some beautiful music and to participate in the AGM. As always with solo concerts, this will be a potluck - if your child is performing, please bring a bite to eat to share!

Rehearsals for the solo concert will also be at St. Mark's on the Saturday of that weekend (November 19th) from 9 AM to Noon. As soon as it is finalized you will receive an email with a rehearsal schedule - please arrive 15 minutes before your time!

- Josh Smee, Administrator

Do you review? You do!

Review is one of the most important things we do. Don't forget, the older pieces make up the platform upon which your child stands when he is reaching for the new piece. If that platform is shaky, it will be more difficult to learn the new piece. In the lower Suzuki books, we don't have studies because the technique is incorporated into the pieces - so to keep up the technique, it is necessary to review the pieces.

Early- to Mid-Book One students should play all their pieces every day - if you do Twinkles to Allegro without stopping, it takes about 8 minutes. It improves stamina, as well as competence, confidence, technique, musicality and tone. Late Book One students should play at least half of Book 1 every day. Dr. Suzuki says "improve your ability with a piece that you know" so when reviewing, always have an objective in mind - straighter bows, nicer tone, better intonation, vibrato - whatever the teacher has indicated can be improved.

- Christina Smith, Artistic Director

Tulip Bulb Fundraiser Continues!

At the last group class, you will have noticed Josh's table overrun with bags bearing beautiful pictures of flowers - those are tulips, they're for sale, and it's for a great cause!

Stop by Josh's desk at this Saturday's group classes or the Solo Concert to purchase a bag (or 5) of tulip bulbs. Each bag is $6, and the money raised goes to support STEP's partnership with the REAL program, a city funding resource that has helped many families around the city keep their children enrolled in activities - including STEP classes.

Playathon a success!

On Sunday, October 16, STEP presented a wonderful concert at St. John's Airport. It proved to be a lovely place to have this kind of event: spacious, bright, pleasant, quiet, and there was even a place for the audience to sit! The airport staff enjoyed it, and we've already been invited to come back.

Bravo to all our wonderful performers! It was wonderful to see so many Suzuki students in such good "review shape!"

Please don't forget to bring in your pledges if you haven't already, and give them to Josh.

Thanks to teacher volunteers Ellen, Lauren and Christina, and parent volunteers Inbal Koubi, Brian Cherwick, Boyd Chislett and Paul Bassler.

- Christina Smith, Artistic Director

New Volunteer Coordinator!

Inbal Bahar has STEPped into the position of Volunteer Coordinator. (Round of welcoming applause, please!) She will be contacting all of you at some time to ask for help with STEP events. Please do your best to help her (and STEP) out when needed!

Kudos Corner

• Sofia Q has improved her posture tremendously! She's worked very hard on keeping her head up tall and she looks as good as she sounds!
• Eli Q is working very hard at perfecting the slurs in Minuet 3. Way to go, Eli! Book Two is just around the corner!
• Veronica Q is getting better at being ready before she plays. She's working really hard at remembering all those pesky up-bows in O Come.
• Jenna P learned the previews for Etude so well, she played the whole piece the first time she ever tried it in her lesson! Wow!
• Charlotte S has a beautiful bowhold and can play all her rhythms really well now on the cello!
• Chloe S is sounding really good! She's really making her fingers and bow do what she wants them to - not the other way around! Tone and intonation are sounding better and better.
• Katie R has a great big new half size cello! She's making it sound really good, too!
• Frances N is playing French Folk Song with beautiful long bows!
• Abbie H, Lauren S, and Alexander F have all learned to shift into second position! A great leap forward!
• Cole M has a wonderful bowhold and he can play Taka Taka Stop Stop on his Cello now! And he always sits up SO tall.
• Maggie A-B can play a whole Twinkle sandwich now! And she's teaching her little sister Charlotte to play too.
• Anna R has started to practise without mom or dad even having to ask! Way to go, Anna!
• Conrad T is listening a lot more, and is it ever helping with rhythm!
• Francis K is now a Twinkler! He's learning Lightly Row! Congratulations, Francis, well done!
• Miriam S can play all her rhythms on the cello with a really straight bow now, and has started ski jumps too!
• Katie A is working very hard to get every single mistake out of her pieces! She's being so careful to make her fingers do it right the first time! That's the spirit, Kate!
• Grace A's started fingers! Big sister Katie showed her lots of things so when she started lessons she could already play all her rhythms.
• Noam K is now an expert in B flat. He can play the whole of Perpetual Motion in B flat and you should see his shoot bows in Two Grenadiers!
• Rashmi E is so close to having Vivaldi G Minor Concerto First Movement memorized! Almost there Rashmi - you can do it!
• Daphna K is playing almost all the time now with a beautiful tone. Her violin hardly ever shouts anymore - it sings instead!

• Kudos to the whole Musicianship Two class for being so awesome and learning their circle of fifths!

• Rory S for his excellent finger work this week - amazing Monkey Songs!
• Ella S for her careful and mature practice - what a beautiful and mature Gavotte in G minor you have!
• Congratulations to Heather P on finishing the notes of Bach Double in record time! Yo-Yo Ma style - 1 bar a day keeps the black-note fever away!

• Camilla H has finished Book One and has already learned all of Chorus, with such a beautiful tone! Good job Camilla!
• Cecilia H has learned all her twinkles and her long bows in Twinkle Theme are sounding so nice! She'll be learning Lightly Row in no time!
• Rayne A has been working hard on polishing all her review pieces and Minuet One on her brand new violin! Her fingers know just where to go!
• Brooke A is doing so well with her Listening Challenge. She's zipping through Minuet One and is ready to start Minuet Two! Way to go Brooke!
• All the Musicianship One students are doing so well with naming the lines and spaces rhymes and clapping tricky rhythms. They all composed their own melodies last week, and they were just lovely! Keep it up!

• Congratulations to Nicolas P for completing his Twinkle Graduation!
• Sam F has been doing a great job participating and focusing in lessons and group class! Way to go Sam!
• Bertha R played her first duet this week! Good work Bertha!
• Samuel W was 38 days into his 100 Day Challenge at his last lesson. Keep up the good work Samuel, you're making great progress!
• Jessica C's left hand technique is looking great and getting better and better. Way to go Jess!