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December 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- I will be teaching my regular schedule through Thursday, December 20th. For most students this means we will meet for three lessons in December. However, I will not be seeing students on Sunday, 12/16 due to a conflict. I will communicate with Sunday students directly regarding this change. December lesson payments should be made out for the number of lessons plus the $15 per student recital fee . There will be a two week winter break running from 12/21 to 1/5. Normal service resumes on Sunday, January 6. -- The next student recital will be held  Saturday, December 15  from noon to 4pm in the recital hall at CSUEB. All the pertinent details (i.e. directions, start times) can be found on this blog -- As a reminder to CM students, here are the CM dates for spring 2013: * Performance  evaluations will be held on the weekends of  February 16-17 and February 23-24.  ** Theory  testing will be conducted on the weekend of  February 16-17. Have a happy day

November 2012 teaching schedule

-- There will be three holidays observed in November where I will not be teaching: Monday, 11/12 (Veteran's Day), 11/22 & 11/25 (Thanksgiving weekend). The rest of the month will be as normal. -- The next student recital will be held  Saturday, December 15  from noon to 4pm in the recital hall at CSUEB. Save the date! -- Fees for  Certificate of Merit  students are due with November lesson payments. As a reminder, here are the CM dates for this spring: * Performance   evaluations will be held on the weekends of February 16-17 and February 23-24.  ** Theory  testing will be conducted on the weekend of February 16-17. -- The  Theta Music Trainer  assignment for the month of November is these 4 exercises: Intervals  --  Melodic Drops Melody  --  Three Tones (Major) Rhythm  --  Rhythm Puzzles Sound  --  Channel Scramble -- The song of the month for November is "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes. Have a happy day, Jess

Guitarist Tom Morello on practicing

The most valuable piece of advice that anyone gave me was a high school friend who was a more advanced player than I was. He said, "If you want to get better, play at least an hour a day, every day." At the time we would jam on the weekend for six hours, and I might practice some chords once or twice after I had done my homework. I said, "I'm going to try that," and I really felt my playing rise. It gave me confidence that this works, and that encouraged me. The other thing is that it has to be playing. While I was very committed to developing technique, when I was doing eight hours a day it was like two hours of technique, it was two hours of theory, it was two hours of improvisation, and then it was two hours of "free swim," where I could either do more technique or I'd work on some funny sounds or whatever. Some of that felt like work, but a lot of it was really fun. The third thing is you get better when you play with other people, an

October 2012 teaching schedule

-- My teaching schedule for October will be uninterrupted. -- The  Theta Music Trainer  assignment for the month of October is these 4 exercises: Scales  --  Tone Drops Theory & Notation  --  Chord Locks Rhythm  --  Flash Rhythms Tuning & Pitch  --  Speed Pitch -- The next student recital will be held Saturday, December 15 from noon to 4pm in the recital hall at CSUEB. Please save the date! -- The song of the month for October is "Beautiful Day" by U2. Have a happy day, Jesse

September 2012 teaching schedule

-- My teaching schedule for September will be uninterrupted. -- The  Theta Music Trainer  assignment for September is to continue working through these 5 newly-published exercises: Flash Progression (Major) Flash Progressions (Minor) Three Tones (Major) Vocal Degrees (Major) Flash Notation (Notes) -- The song of the month for September is Otis Redding's version of "My Girl". Have a happy day, Jesse

August 2012 teaching schedule

-- I resume my regular teaching schedule on Monday, August 6 . -- The  Theta Music Trainer  assignment for August is to work on these 5 newly-published games: Flash Progression (Major) Flash Progressions (Minor) Three Tones (Major) Vocal Degrees (Major) Flash Notation (Notes) -- The song of the month for August is the Best Coast song titled "The Only Place". Have a happy day, Jesse

Last day teaching at Allegro Music, Fremont

I got my start as a music teacher in December 2002, shortly after graduating college. My good friend Ian, who I was living with at the time, recommended me to the owner at Allegro Music in Fremont when an opening for a piano teacher popped up on Fridays. (Ian is an outstanding guitarist; he taught for many years at Allegro. He now lives in Oregon with his wife and their three children.) I never had any desire to teach. I fell into this work backwards, and it took me some years to fully embrace the job. My teaching position at Allegro has been vital in this journey - a key signpost in the progression to who I am today.  At my peak, I was teaching four days a week at the store. In more recent years I have been teaching two days a week in Fremont: Mondays and Tuesdays. During the 2011-12 school year I pared my Allegro schedule down to a single day: Mondays. Today was my final day teaching at Allegro. I have been there for nine and a half years. Through many ups and downs,

July 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- I will only be teaching the first week of July (7/2-7/6). There will be no lessons conducted during the rest of the month. Lesson payments should be made out for the amount of one lesson plus the $15 per student recital fee . Normal service will resume at the start of August. Enjoy the break. -- The next student recital is  Saturday evening, July 7  in the recital hall at CSUEB. Group 1 begins at 6:30pm, Group 2 begins at 8:00pm. -- Here are the 4 students who completed the end-of-the-year  Theta Music Trainer  challenge: Alex, Jonathan, Jacob, and Kaitlyn T. Jesse

June 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- My teaching schedule will be as usual in June until the final week of the month. There will be no lessons on the following days: Monday, 6/25 ; Tuesday, 6/26 ; Thursday, 6/28 . This means that most everyone (excluding my Sunday students) will have only 3 lessons in June. Contact me if you have any questions.  -- The final  Theta Music Trainer  challenge for this year is different for each age group among my students. Here is the criteria, to be completed by the end of June: Elementary grade (K-5th) students - complete  Level 1  for all Theta exercises Middle school (6th-8th) students - complete  Level 5  for all Theta exercises High school students - complete  Level 10  for all Theta exercises -- The next student recital will be  Saturday evening, July 7  in the recital hall at CSUEB. Save the date. -- The Song of the Month for May is "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars. Have a happy day, Jesse

May 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- Lessons during the month of May will be uninterrupted, save the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, 5/28. No lessons that day. -- The final  Theta Music Trainer  challenge for this year is different for each age group among my students. Here is the criteria, to be completed by the end of June: Elementary grade (K-5th) students - complete Level 1 for all Theta exercises Middle school (6th-8th) students - complete Level 5 for all Theta exercises High school students - complete Level 10 for all Theta exercises The top Theta Music achievers for the month of April were: Aditya, Emma S., Alex, Allyn, Jonathan, P.J., and Rachil. -- The next student recital will be  Saturday evening, July 7  in the recital hall at CSUEB. Save the date. -- The Song of the Month for May is "Secrets" by OneRepublic. Have a happy day, Jesse

C.M. Branch Honors Recital hosting @ C.V. Center for the Performing Arts

Sit through four student honor recitals, hand out programs, re-arrange chairs, shepherd wayward parents & families, decipher a succession of crazy accents, spar with a fellow teacher who comes back from her lunch break to find you manning her previous post and insists that your reason for being there is not true and that in fact you are not a teacher (all this eliciting untold rage within you), become disgusted by all the formality, lament how the adjacent simultaneous recital always concludes before yours, shake your head at the handful of student performers showing up with winter gloves on their hands, wish to never hear Bach's "Minuet in G" again, refuse to become entwined in the trash-talking about how many misspellings have appeared in the programs, unexpectedly find yourself up on stage at the end of the 8-hour day unwrapping senior medallions and plaques to hand to people you only vaguely know, act as the stage manager pulling items on and off stage between per

April 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- There will be no lessons during the spring break week of April 9th through 15 . I will be teaching on the Easter holiday of Sunday, April 8th. The rest of the month's schedule is as normal. Email me if you have any questions.  -- Here are the  Theta Music Trainer  exercises I'd like students to work on in April: Melody  --  Paddle Tones Harmony  --  Flash Chords Harmony  --  Chord Drops Sound  --  Vocal Match The top Theta Music achievers for the month of March were: Alex, Emma S., Carissa, Jonathan, Christopher, Aniruddh, Jacob, & Kaitlyn T. -- I will have C.M. results packets to hand back to students who participated in the program this year by the middle of April. -- The next student recital has been booked for Saturday evening, July 7 in the recital hall at CSUEB. Save the date. -- The Song of the Month for April is "California Girls" by The Beach Boys. Have a happy day, Jesse

CM Theory Test Correcting @ Transfiguration Church

I must have corrected 60 theory tests today. It was a grind, but I'd rather work than loaf. The full day of work today fulfilled half of my obligated two work days for the Certificate of Merit program this year. Working at Transfiguration Church in Castro Valley was a pleasant change. The room we theory test correctors were situated in had many windows, which contributed a more cheery outlook to the proceedings. Our regular correcting room in the music building at Chabot College has no windows, which can make an occupant start to feel stir-crazy after being sequestered for hours within. I enjoyed the venue change. The teacher sitting directly across from me for most of the day at one point uttered this memorable line: "This student of mine scored 91%... the same score as last year. Another mediocre result." Is this fantasy? Am I a participant in this madness?  Jesse

March 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- My teaching schedule for March will be uninterrupted. I do have a couple conflicts due to my performance schedule at the end of the month, but I will communicate these to students individually. -- Here are the  Theta Music Trainer  exercises I'd like students to work on in January: Melody  --  Melodic Drops Harmony  --  Harmonic Drops Harmony  -- Number Blaster Sound  --  Channel Scramble The top Theta Music achievers for the month of February were: Emma, Alex, Katie, P.J., & James -- Here are the CM dates for the next two weekends: * Theory testing will be conducted on the weekend of March 3 & 4. ** Performance evaluations will be held on the weekends of March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11.  -- The Song of the Month for March is "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson. Have a happy day, Jesse

February 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- My teaching schedule for February will be uninterrupted. -- Here are the  Theta Music Trainer  exercises I'd like students to work on in January: Melody  -- Flash Intervals Harmony  -- Chord Spells Harmony -- Key   Puzzles Sound  -- Band Match The top Theta Music achievers for the month of January were: Emma, Allyn, & Waldon --  As a reminder for students enrolled in CM, here are the CM dates for next month: * Performance  evaluations will be held on the weekends of  March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11 .  ** Theory  testing will be conducted on the weekend of  March 3 & 4 . Have a happy day, Jesse

January 2012 Teaching Schedule

-- My teaching schedule for January will be uninterrupted. -- Here are the  Theta Music Trainer  exercises I'd like students to work on in January: Melody  --  Parrot Phrases Harmony  --  Tone Trees Rhythm  --  Rhythm Puzzles Sound  --  Dango Brothers The top Theta Music achievers for the month of November were: Carissa, Emma, Katie, Alex, and Kaitlyn T. --  As a reminder for students enrolled in CM, here are the CM dates for this spring: * Performance  evaluations will be held on the weekends of  March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11 .  ** Theory  testing will be conducted on the weekend of  March 3 & 4 . Happy 2012, Jesse