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-Stathia Orwig Are you curious to know where your student is compared to others? Well, I really love keeping things on an individual basis. However, there are 2 metrics I found interesting! Below, I grabbed a screen shot of what our students we planning to participate in this school year. Did you know how many events we plan for our students? Check this out!  The other data I love looking at is how our students practice- we all know how much they practice- but are they making good progress? Are we as teachers explaining how to practice- and then are our students progressing? Take a look at this!  So, I would say that our students are doing a great job or know what to practice and making good progress!! That says a lot about our teachers and our students need to give themselves a great pat on the back for following practice guidelines!!
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 Dear Friends of Music SO Simple, As you know, Music SO Simple is a growing music education studio dedicated to fostering a lifelong love of music in students of all ages. Since we began in 2016, we have been committed to providing exceptional learning experiences, nurturing creativity, and inspiring passion in each of our students. I keep my vision and expectations very high for MSS. We have just completed a wonderful expansion which has allowed us to see more students, add more instruments and even host small recitals in our big room! With this recital room, we are embarking on an exciting journey to elevate the quality of piano education we provide by acquiring a Steinway Spirio R piano. This extraordinary instrument is not only a masterpiece in craftsmanship and sound, but also an innovative tool that combines artistry with technology, offering unique features, like recording directly from the piano, that can enrich our students' learning experiences. As we have been working on preparing our students for an upcoming festival, this piano has proven to be a very valuable resource in helping prepare our students; We have been able to easily record their playing on the piano during a lesson, watch as it’s played back to us, learn from what we have heard and watched, and then make necessary adjustments to improve our playing. I can’t express how much this has helped students improve in such little time! The addition of the Spirio R will allow our students to explore new dimensions of music-making, including being able to easily record pieces, send them audio files, and interactive performance opportunities. With this instrument at our studio, Music SO Simple will be even more equipped to inspire & educate our students in ways that were previously unimaginable. It truly is an amazing instrument and we have already seen such phenomenal results using it with our students! I realize that I am dreaming BIG! To achieve this vision, we are seeking sponsorship and support from individuals and organizations who share our passion for music education and our belief in its transformative power. Your sponsorship will directly contribute to the purchase of this incredible piano, ensuring that it becomes a cornerstone of our expanded studio and a legacy for the students of today and tomorrow. Not only will it be accessible to all students at Music SO Simple, but it will also be available to students in the surrounding communities. In recognition of your generosity, we would be honored to acknowledge your contribution through a commemorative plaque in the Spirio’s room, recognition on our website, and recognition in all recital programs. More information and updates to contributions can be found at musicsosimple.com/spiriobound. Thank you for considering this opportunity to invest in the future of music education. If you would like to discuss this initiative further and explore how we can collaborate to make this dream a reality, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected]. With heartfelt gratitude, Stathia Orwig Founder & Director   This year, we were able to have a continuous, on-going recital in our big, new room at MSS! We decorated for Halloween and had our students dress up like their piece. Students were assigned a time frame to play for family and friends. After playing, students were able to Trick or Treat through the hallways of MSS.  Once outside, we had popcorn from The Popcorn Shack and fun games. Of course it helped that it was such a beautiful day to be outside! Yeah for October! -Stathia Orwig This past weekend, we had the pleasure of taking our students to Lindan Park Rehabilitation Center. It was so wonderful to see such joy on the residents faces as our students played for them. We even had one student play the Ukulele and one in his Mandalorian costume! Overall, what a wonderful experience and way to give back to our community.  Advertising can be such a tricky thing. However, I have always chosen to keep it as simple as possible. 95% of our advertising is word of mouth from our families! This is the first way we advertise and in my opinion, one of the best. And great families refer other great families. And, we love giving our families referral credits. It the gift that keeps on giving. The only "real" advertising we do is an ad in the Richardson Community Impact. Each year, our list of giving to schools gets larger and larger. And to be honest, I love it! This is our way of giving back to the school, helping to donate to the things that they need. In addition, it supports the school our students go to. At the moment, our list of giving to are:
If you don't see your school on this list & want to, please send me a donation form. Giving is important to me, even in a small capacity. And, it helps us spread the word of our amazing Music SO Simple music school.  -Stathia Orwig  On June 1st, we turned 8 years old!! And, we just finished our expansion...so, I think that calls for a celebration! Hopefully, by now, you have heard about our Open House on Saturday, August 24th from 1:00-4:00pm To celebrate, we will have student performances, teacher performances, tours, a presentation from Steinway, & a Music Together® sample class.  Soon, the schedule for the day will be publiished, so definitley keep your eye on the Open House page. If you're reading this, make sure you come by between 2:30-3:30pm as a special truck might just be swinging by for some treats!  While you are partying with us, don't forget to put your name in the raffle box. Raffle items will be: MSS gift certificate MSS water bottle MSS bag filled with instruments we use in Music Together class MSS sweatshirt  We hope you bring your family and friends by for what is sure to be a fun afternoon! Thank you for helping make MSS the best music school in Richardson!
-Stathia Orwig A year ago, our five year lease was coming to an end soon and we were running out of room. To think Music SO Simple started with 2 teachers teaching out of our homes and travel teaching to then renting a room at a nearby church to a commercial space with 6 rooms! All in 6 years! And now, 8 years later we needed more space. This is a story about our expansion and the vision I have for Music SO Simple. We did look around at moving for about a year prior. Honestly, my moving radius was SMALL! I love where we are and it feels very central to our families. So, ultimately when I was able to secure the deal to expand into the empty space next to us, it was a done deal. Our current layout was 6 teaching rooms (with one being my office), 2 waiting areas, and our teacher workroom. I, somehow convinced my brother, Dimitrios, to be the lead contractor. Together, we designed a layout that fit in the rooms I needed. He drew up the plans and we were able to get started.  The space on the left is our existing space, adding in the 4 rooms on the right with the hallway. THE CHANGES: We moved our teacher workroom to the back of the studio. The old teacher workroom was renamed "crescendo" and is now our Music Together & Merry Musicians room. The shape of this room is perfect for both of these classes and is allowing us to add more of them since they have their own dedicated space. The mood of the room is also wonderful since it's super preschool friendly with the carpet & art on the walls!  My office is now "our office". This allows me a space to work and Gayle, a space to get quite work in & phone calls!  The keyboards have been moved to the front of the studio into a slightly larger room. We have been able to make room for all 6(!!) digital keyboards AND a table for students to work on written assignments. In addition to Studio Kids ensemble classes, we are adding a new curriculum called Piano Express, which is a wonderful group piano program! We are planning to offer classes throughout the week!  Most full-time teachers now have their own spaces to teach in & each picked a musical name assigned to a room. It was super fun to involve everyone in the naming of the rooms! Ms. Lynne--> Rubato with her own Petrof grand piano Ms. Emily--> Vivace with the Boston grand piano Ms. Jean--> Dolce with the Boston upright piano Ms. Logan--> Rhapsody with the blue Boston upright Ms. Meredith--> Treble with the Steinway grand Mr. Large--> Largo (which is very appropriate, don't you think?) with all of the string instruments The old keyboard room is now for guitar and has been named "Bass". Even the restrooms have a name!! RESTrooms...and they each have their own artt, thanks to one of my talented students, Susu, who brought my vision to life! Look closely for the rests... In the front on the new side, we now have a bigger room, named Glissando, which will be used for teaching, but also recital prep classes, small recitals, meetings, and small yoga classes. My dream was to have a Steinway Spirio in this space. It's a Steinway grand that also plays by itself & records. Imagine being able to have our students listen to amazing artists from all over the world play right in our own school! And, we can make recordings of our students and be able to edit. Thanks to Steinway Hall- Dallas, this dream has come true! More coming on that later!! Lastly, we have some amazing custom touches to our space, thanks to Dimitrios. Not only did he share my vision of MSS and what we bring to the community, he put in his own creative touches which have literally blown me away. In the back waiting area, we have an old grand piano turned into an amazing bookshelf! And in the front waiting area, he made a coffee table. I want to thank a few key people: To my team of teachers: Thank you for covering pianos, dealing with dust, things being out of place, going with the flow, and making things work. Your patience and excitement helped propel me forward into this dream becoming our reality. To Casey: Thank you for all that you and Steinway Hall do...for helping us teach on the best instruments and for making my dream a reality. You seriously are the best. To Gayle: Thank you for being at MSS when I couldn't be, for letting in workers, cleaning up after workers, moving pianos, covering up pianos, moving pianos back, changing the room schedules endlessly, coming up with alternative ideas when I couldn't see clearly, and listening to me. You are irreplaceable. To Dimitrios: Thank you for your honesty, your sarcasm, & your humor. You answered most of my phone calls & texts, and you treated MSS like your own. Thank you for the electricity & plumbing- all of the stuff we needed but can't see. And for all of the things we can see: the finishes, the cameras, tvs, bookshelf, and coffee table. Your work is truly amazing. Love you so much and I owe you more than I could ever pay back. To Brian, my biggest cheerleader: I could have never done this without your help, wisdom, guidance, and patience. Thank you for the late nights and weekends at MSS. You're the best tech support and checkbook ever!! lol And lastly, to our students, parents, families & friends who have all cheered us on, dealt with the mess, shared the excitement, & helped decorate...thank you!! And...join us as we celebrate our 8th birthday and expansion on Saturday, August 24, 2024   Most of you who know me know that organization is my strength. My Full Focus planner is by my side all day, every day. I'm constantly thinking and doing.
We love beginning the new year with new goals and plans! I always talk with my students about the fresh start in September...and then we get to recreate in January!! Each year, I usually do a blog about goals for MSS- where we are, where we want to go. It's helpful for me to make it "public" so that I am (sort of) accountable. So, here it goes! #1: EXPANDING OUR SPACE I've signed a lease to expand our space!! Construction should begin soon. We are adding in one bigger room and 3 smaller classrooms. In addition, we are moving our teacher workroom to the back of the new space and converting the existing teacher workroom into our group keyboard room. All of this is estimated to be finished around March. #2: SUB CLASSES We began our school year with a schedule of amazing Saturday Unique Bonus (SUB) Classes. I want to continue this momentum through the spring and fall. This spring, we have lined up classes in Music Memory, Musical Theatre, Opera, and a special community outreach at a nursing home. #3: EXPANDING OUR RECITAL OPPORTUNITIES As we continue to get larger, I want to be able to offer our students the same "intimate" recital settings. However, we can not do this with our typical 2 recital dates per year. So, in order to help spread out performing opportunities, we are adding in a Family Fun recital in February. This recital will be for our family members who take lessons and want to perform a duet or trio! In April, we will offer a few outdoor recitals and then, we will end with our May recitals. I plan to keep this momentum going in the fall. We are not trying to have everyone play at every recital, we are just planning to have students pick and chose which recitals fit best into their schedules. #4: MUSIC TOGETHER PROGRAM I have been setting up a plan to switch the curriculum of our baby classes to one that is research based- and I am settled on Music Together. As of this blog, I have officially finished my teacher training and am getting ready to begin these classes. To say I'm excited is an understatement!! Classes are estimated to begin in February 2024! #5: GROUP PIANO CLASSES It is my goal to ramp up our group piano classes, especially for beginners. Expect to see a greaat schedule this summer which will continue into the school year! These are 5 big goals for 2024!! I'm pumped and ready to tackle these goals! When you see me, feel free to ask how they are going! Thank you to those who took the time to fill out our questionnaire from our December Holiday Recitals. Here are the responses from our questions. I feel that I received good communication from the studio and was well informed of registration and information about the recital.
100% gave 5 of 5 I feel that the venue allowed for good visibility of the performers. 2.9% gave a 4 of 5, 97.1% gave a 5 of 5 I feel that the venue was easy to get to. 100% gave 5 of 5 I feel that the recitals that Music So Simple offers are well run, organized, and a great representation of its students. 100% gave 5 of 5 NEGATIVE FEEDBACK:
POSITIVE FEEDBACK:
Our recitals are truly a showcase of who we are and what we do. From the feedback, I think we knocked it out of the park! In my opinion, this room was amazing! It was super easy to get to, including parking and entering the space! Of course, we will be making some tweaks in future performances. Renting a room of this size and grace is expensive, especially when we use their sound and light equipment. It is only possible now that we do have many students! Our students played so well and were very prepared. Playing on the Steinway which we brought in- a beautiful instrument for our pianists- was a lot of hard work, but truly worth it. Many recitals charge a participation fee and then charge for audience seating. I have no interest in doing that so we do charge a nominal recital fee which I believe is a small price to pay for sure an amazing experience and venue. I'm so proud of how our recitals turned out this December and it was an excellent way to showcase our students and end the 2023 semester. Stay tuned for other recital options this spring! Each fall and spring, Music SO Simple teachers evaluate their students. The fall evaluation takes place about 6 weeks into the school year. It is primarily used to assess where each student is and what we see the goals for the student to be for the year. To help parents understand these evaluations better, I have put together a report on the accumulations of all students so that you can see where your student falls. All evaluations include critiques on musicianship, practicing, and technical development. The ratings for each category from lowest to highest: Not Applicable, Needs Improvement, Developing, Making Progress, & Excellent. PRACTICE & PROGRESS WITH PRACTICE We do like for our students to practice about 5 days per week. Obviously, more is great, but less contributes to less progress being made in lessons and overall. But, it's not always enough to just "practice" 5 times each week! Students need to be exhibiting good practice habits in order to make that progress! Your student may be sitting down to practice several times per week, but are they practicing their assigned work? Or are they practicing old pieces that they already know? Are they practicing in small sections or just playing through their pieces? All of these contribute to the practice and progress!   THOROUGHNESS & FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS How thorough is your student being while practicing? Are they following the directions of their teacher at home? Do they keep their binder out and look at the assignment sheet while practicing? It is our job to teach our students how to practice to make sure they are making progress, however we cannot be there during their practice time! You know that old saying that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't always make him drink....   ATTITUDE This is a big one! And look at how our students scored- Excellent! This generally applies to attitude in the lessons. If your student scored low on this, we need to find out why. It could be various reasons- maybe they don't feel like lessons, maybe it's due to lack of practice or motivation or progress. Maybe it's not a good fit with teacher...it could be so many things! But, talking to your student is the first thing that should happen regardless of how they score. If they scored "Excellent", find out why and keep that going!  I hope this was helpful in looking at your student's evaluation. In the spring, we will be looking back at the entire school year. Obviously, we want scores to be even higher! That means progress was made!
But honestly, the most important thing is our communication with you, the parent, on how your student is doing. Many of us already have great conversations after lessons, however, it is my thought that it is written down and documented. Of course, if you have any questions on evaluations, please reach out to me. If I don't know the answers to your questions, I will definitely find them out! |
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