Jennifer Thompson – Staff Spotlight
The staff spotlight for this month is on Jennifer Thompson. Jennifer is our office manager and has been with Paige’s for over 20 years. Watch the video below to learn more about Jennifer!
The staff spotlight for this month is on Jennifer Thompson. Jennifer is our office manager and has been with Paige’s for over 20 years. Watch the video below to learn more about Jennifer!
Students at schools with excellent music programs had higher English test scores across the country than students in schools with low-quality music programs; this was also true when considering mathematics.
You’ve made it through the first half of the school year! For many of you, that means you’ve probably played a few concerts, recently completed your marching band season, or maybe you’re headed to the Rose Parade. With winter comes the thrill of pep band, the improvisation of jazz band, the spinning of winter guard, or the rhythms of winter percussion. You know by now, being a musician is a never-ending process with performances and rehearsals perpetually around the corner.
With so much going on, you’re probably ecstatic to have a few weeks of winter break to take a break from all the commotion. While it’s great to take a break from any activity that takes up so much of your time, it’s important to incorporate a little bit of practice during your off-time to maintain your peak condition. Many professional athletes can attest to the same thing: just maintaining your physical state during the off-season makes it much easier to perform at your best when it’s game time.
Here are few tips for musicians to maintain their “chops” during the off-season:
For a few minutes a day, simply play a few long tones. This will get your air moving and will help you keep the embouchure you’ve developed (brass and woodwinds).
Working your way through a few scales a day will keep your fingers flexible and coordinated. Any scale (major, minor, chromatic, and etc.) will work!
A few lip slurs will go a long way over winter break. For the purposes of winter break, choose a few simple slurs and take it nice and slow.
Do any combination of the above for 10 minutes a day and you’ll be able ease back into your normal rehearsal routine and perform your best in 2017!
The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study in order to succeed in college.
Nearly half of parents and teachers support integrating music into the professional development of all educators.
It’s not too late, but time is running out. Contest Season is almost here!
January through April is a really busy time of year for school music students. Many of the annual contests and festivals happen during this time of the year. These include:
Your performance level and the success of your organization depend on a properly playing instrument. If your instrument has not been looked over by a technician in the last 6 months you may be overdue.
Send your instrument in for proper maintenance to help avoid small problems from turning into something larger at an inappropriate time. It could help you get to the next level during the upcoming contest season.
If you’d like to send your instrument in for us to check, we have a step-by-step guide on how to do that right here.
As always, please give us a call if you have any questions.
1-800-382-1099
Musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with general intelligence skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visuospatial processing, mathematics, and IQ.
Young Children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year, compared to children who do not receive musical training.