No lessons will be held between March 22-27. This is our studio’s Spring Break week. Lessons will resume according to normal schedule on March 29!

Happy Spring to the entire Studio Family!

The Alpert Studio of Voice and Violin invites you to join us for a hysterically irreverent musical with one of the best musical theater scores ever written. With a wonderful professional cast and a live band, this will be a memorable theatrical experience. Seating is very limited, so order your tickets soon! Opens Friday, February 19th!

Featured studio students and alumni include: Brandon Alpert, Taylor Pearson, Kari Kennedy, Marissa Henkel, Tommy Tafoya, Hannah Meisser and Chris Small

Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes capitalism, socialism, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and petty small town politics. It also is a satire of the Broadway musical as a form. In reverse pantomime style, the unconventional plotline shatters audience expectations of a pleasant ending (from Wikipedia)

Event Flyer

For tickets and/or information call 909-982-5736

from:Ask the Experts, part 11: Balance – by Carol Ourada
from the Suzuki Association of the Americas Expert’s Column

Embrace the philosophy: “When love is deep, much can be accomplished.” Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy of love, step-by-step accomplishment, character building, and striving for excellence leads parents, children, and families to bond together on a journey that positively impacts the family as a whole.

Prioritize: With so many choices available, families will need to prioritize what is important. Practicing, listening, lessons, group class, concerts, and workshops/institutes need to be high on the list. This means a lifestyle change, with the benefit of time together scheduled regularly!

Reality: A daily commitment to practicing and listening is what will keep things going. Certain weeks, however, another activity or obligation might take more time than usual. If practice is still daily, even though shortened, the student will be able to at least maintain their level and motivation. Goals can be adjusted, then readjusted.

Limit how many extra activities the student is involved in. Most families can tell when the calendar is too full. Plan; rotate when those extra classes and activities will occur. Realize that there will be conflicts and recognize the commitments that need priority. Many families find that along with Suzuki lessons, one other activity per child is realistic.

Teamwork: Parents can work as a team and even friends and extended family can help too. In my studio, there is a mother who is the sole caregiver for the child. Certain times of the year, her work schedule causes her to be unable to get the child to group class on time. Another family picks up the child and brings her to group, and then the mom arrives a little later. For the youngest students, however, the primary practicing parent is the one needed at both lesson and group.

Support: Invite grandparents, friends, and schoolteachers to concerts, recitals, and lessons. Their enthusiasm and amazement at the process will give a boost to parent, child, and the Suzuki teacher. There are also wonderful resources to help support parents and teachers: Winning Ways, available from the SAA, Helping Parents Practice by Ed Sprunger, American Suzuki Journal articles such as Jeanne Luetke’s viewpoint for parents in Volume 35 #4 and To Learn with Love by Constance and William Starr. Visit the SAA website for more suggestions.

Island experience: Give yourself and your family the gift of an “island experience” at a workshop and especially at a Suzuki Institute. In Journey Down the Kriesler Highway Craig Timmerman relates how special events and trips heighten our awareness and memories for learning. Institute is a special time for new perspective, renewed spirits, and time together for the parent and child. The motivational benefits last a long time, as parents exclaim year after year!

A journey together: Being on both sides of the process, as a Suzuki teacher and a Suzuki parent, I have seen firsthand how the Suzuki philosophy of learning an instrument blends into our lifestyle, our parenting style and our family as a whole. It is a journey that bonds together families, well worth the time, effort, and especially the love that envelops it all.

The Alpert Studio is proud to announce Brandon Alpert will be appearing in the rock musical Rent, at the Grove Theater in Upland. Brandon is appearing the role of Mark Cohen.

Please join us in supporting Brandon, and also supporting high quality theater in our own community. Performances run between January 15 – February 7. Ticket information here. Please note, the production contains very mature themes.

Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of AIDS.
The musical was first seen in a limited three-week Workshop production at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1994. This same New York City off-Broadway theatre was also the musical’s initial home following its official January 25, 1996, opening. The show’s creator, Jonathan Larson, died suddenly the night before the off-Broadway premiere. The show won a Pulitzer Prize, and the production was a hit. The musical moved to Broadway’s larger Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996.[2]
On Broadway, Rent gained critical acclaim and won a Tony Award for Best Musical among other awards. The musical is largely responsible for helping to increase the popularity of musical theater amongst the younger generation.[3] The Broadway production closed on September 7, 2008, after a 12-year run and 5,124 performances, making it the eighth-longest-running Broadway show, nine years behind The Phantom of the Opera as of December 2009. The production grossed over $280 million.[4]
The success of the show led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions, and in 2005, it was also adapted into a motion picture that features most of the original cast members. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Studio Reminders (please mark your calendar)

VOICE STUDENTS
Voice lessons resume on Monday, January 4 at your regularly scheduled time.
Very important: As always, please contact me as soon as possible, if you are unable to attend your regularly scheduled lesson, so I may adjust my schedule accordingly.
There will be no voice lessons on Tuesday, January 26, my birthday
Spring break will be from March 22-March 26; no lessons will be given during that week.

VIOLIN STUDENTS
Violin lessons resume on Monday, January 4 at your regularly scheduled time.
Spring break will be from March 22-March 26; no lessons will be given during that week.
Lesson for the week of Feb 15-Feb 19 will be rescheduled, as I am attending the American String Teachers Conference.

We look forward to seeing you soon,

–Melanie and Bill Alpert

Colds, flu and busy performance schedules notwithstanding, it was standing room only at the Alpert Studio Winter Recital, held on December 5.

Bill and Melanie wish to congratulate each and every performer on a job well done. Also, a heartfelt thanks our extended studio family for all the support and the incredible turnout. This recital witnessed tremendous musical and personal growth throughout the studio!

Best wishes to all for a wonderful and safe holiday season!

All of the countless hours of dedication and solitary devotion to our instruments bring us personal growth, enjoyment and fulfillment. Still, we bring the greatest value to the world only by sharing our gifts.

I once read that performing is the hardest job that there is. It’s a statement that rings true for many of us. Sometimes it brings us pure elation, yet at other times it can be utter terror. It humbles us, and makes us appreciate what great performers do.

Most recently, I was privileged to attend a live performance of Jason Robert Brown’s groundbreaking musical Parade at the Mark Taper Forum. Beyond the heartbreaking story, I felt great appreciation for what each and every one of the performers (as well as the creators) shared so generously. It was an unforgettable experience.

Last summer a large part of our studio family devoted months of rehearsal to a weekend of live performance of Jason Robert Brown’s music. While it was my joy to perform this incredible music with students, friends and family, it was also my honor to be able to share it with all who attended.

When our work as performers reaches beyond our own aspirations and touches the hearts and minds of those around us, we’re each creating a more beautiful world. What greater gift of love could you give?

Studio Recital:
Saturday, December 5 • 4:00 p.m.
Studio Performance Facility

Rehearsal with pianist will be held at the same site on Friday, December 4 beginning at 4:30 p.m. Students will be assigned an individual rehearsal slot in advance.

All students are expected to participate in the recital, and support fellow students by remaining present during the entire event.

Amanda Workman performs in The Magic Flute

Studio alum Amanda Workman is performing in the role of Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Riverside Lyric Opera. Tickets and information here. Support Amanda and live opera close to home by attending this event.

Mercedes Machado won first place in the Chaffey Joint Union Solofest Competition in the classical category. Congrats to all the finalists: Marissa Henkel, Laura Musquez, and Hannah Meisser who won an honorable mention in the Musical Theater catagory.

Mackenzie Orr performs the role of Scout in Fullerton College’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (October 22, 23, 24)

Also on stage in in the near future is Marissa Henkel featured in the Los Osos High School production of To Gillian on her 37th Birthday.

Michael Sturgis is performing along with stage and screen veteran Fred Willard in the Grove’s production of Elvis and Juliet.

Gracie Unger is featured as Cinderella in the Grove Theater’s Children’s Production of Cinderella. One performance only: November 14th at 12 noon. Gracie receives credit for all tickets sold, so… please mention her name.

Leanna Arredondo is Tiger Lily in the Chaffey High School producton Peter Pan.

Maggie Anderson, Eryn Moore and Christina Stratford are featured the Lewis Family Playhouse Production of The Crucible.

Cesar Giovanni Quintero appears in the Candlelight Pavillion production of The Man of La Mancha.

Brandon Alpert will appear in the Performance Riverside production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

I am so proud of everyone!!! Every studio student should support your fellow students and attend as many productions as possible. Let me know what you are doing and I will post it on the website!

Our dear friends John Walz, Edie Orloff and Roger Wilke write:

Greetings from Europe. We are having a wonderful tour with the Pacific Trio. We have done concerts in Poland and Germany so far, tomorrow we are in France, then back to Germany. We finish up in Munich, playing at the Gasteig, which is the release concert for our new CD of American works.

This, the latest of many European tours by The Pacific Trio, brings home to us the universal nature of music. A great performance of live music will capture the imagination of people across any culture, social class, political or religious belief. Our performing artists have done much to promote understanding and cooperation across the far corners of the Earth.

Frequently we see the world in a distorted view of controversy, conflict and turmoil on TV and in newspapers. Yet as a race, humans share much more that connects us than separates us. Follow our intrepid three friends across the planet and you’ll find living rooms and auditoriums full of diverse audiences that celebrate the universality of great music.

In what city, country or continent could Gershwin’s Second Piano Prelude (arranged for trio) not melt your heart?