Term: 1 | Issue 3 | Date: {{date:MMMM d, yyyy}}
Key Dates
Newsletter
This year our Christmas holiday performances will be video recorded at Groove Academy. All performances will be pre-recorded and aired to family and friends. (more details on page 2).
What an amazing start to the school year! All of us at Groove Academy were so happy to see almost everyone return in-person again. It was a thrill to see how everyone grew so much, (physically and musically), it was amazing. We are looking forward to 2022 with plans of bringing in new ways of our students performing in-person and live streaming throughout Canada. We are also happy to announce our talent showcase Musicm. This is a talent showcase open to students inside and outside Groove Academy. Stay tuned!!
Drop & Shop Christmas Event First three Saturdays. December: 4, 11, 18 1pm-4pm $30 per child $50 Two Children Includes: Snacks & Entertainment. Music & Dance, Crafts Outdoor Play Tobogganing/Skating Hot Chocolate and more!
Holiday Event
From The Editor
Remembrance Day Thursday November 11th, Classes are still on - We Open at 4pm Drop & Shop First 3 Saturday's in December. 1pm-4pm Christmas Break Closed Dec.22- Jan. 3 Classes Resume: Tuesday January 4.
Holiday Programmes
8 Practice tips
Christmas Performances
Open To All Ages!
This year our holiday performances will be video recorded at Groove Academy. Students can also record their performance at home and email it to us or send us a DropBox link. Video sessions will take place the first 2 Sundays in December. December 5th - 1pm-4pm December 12th - 1pm-4pm Students are welcome to dress up for the event. We will be recording a few takes of each performance to choose the best one, (helpful if students are a bit nervous). You can register now at grooveacademy.ca or call in at 204-254-2184. Aired date will be Sunday December 19th. Time TBA
1. Choose a place that is quiet and where you are able to concentrate without distractions. 2. Pick a time of day that can be consistent throughout the week. 3. Create a practice routine, (time/place), and stick with. 4. Listen to examples of the music you are trying to play. 5. Put in as much emotion and feel into the music as possible, even if you are just playing scales. 6. Focus on the hard parts first. 7. Don't get into the habit of always starting from the beginning. Try starting from different places in the music. This will work on your ability to just jump in and sight reading. 8. The parts that give you the most difficulty, are the parts that will make you grow more.
December 4, 11, 18
Our Drop & Shop event is a gift to our parents who may need to get Christmas shopping done, but need a fun safe place for their little ones. Our Drop & Shop event will have your little ones involved in crafts, music, dance, indoor and outdoor play. We will be going tobogganing and or skating and treating everyone to snacks and hot chocolate. Drop off will be a Groove Academy, 48 Speers Rd. Unit B, at 1pm, and pick up will be at 4pm. Make sure your little one is bundled up warmly, has ski-pants, toque and mitts or gloves with extra pairs of clothing, (just in case). You can register online at grooveacademy.ca, or you can call us at 204-254-2184 to book your spot!
Ages 4-11 - 1pm-4pm
Drop & Shop
How To Help Your Little One Tune Their Guitar
  What you will need App tuner or physical tuner Your guitar  Our Top 3 recommendations for guitar tuner apps Fender Tune App Guitartuna ProGuitar Tuner What Are Machine Heads?? Also called tuning keys…..To tune your guitar, you will need to turn the machine heads located at the head of the guitar.  Your guitar should be stringed so that if you are turning the machine head away from the guitar, (counter clockwise), that would be tightening it and tuning it higher. If you are turning the machine head towards you, (clockwise), that would be lowering the pitch.  To find out, turn the machine head before your start. Our Recommendation If this is your first time tuning a guitar, we recommend starting with GuitarTuna app, as you will see the circle above fill in green and "ding" when you are in-tune.
How You Can Help Your Little One Tune Their Guitar
How To Use Your Guitar Tuner First, turn on your app and allow microphone access or turn on your physical tuner. Some tuners have options of selecting electric or acoustic guitar, bass or ukulele. In this example, we will be tuning an electric/acoustic guitar. On the GuitarTuna app select "Guitar" bottom right. We will start off with the bottom string, the high E-string, and work our way up to the lowest sounding string, (low E-string). With the guitar, your first string is the highest one, (bottom), and the 6th string is the lowest one, (top one). You will pluck the string while looking at the tuner to find out if you are in-tune, sharp or flat. If you are flat you need to tune up, (tighten the string). If you are sharp, you need to tune down, (loosen the string). After working your way up with all the strings in-tune, go back to ensure and fine tune each string, as some may have loosened. You may have to do this a few times before all strings are perfectly in-tune.  ProTip! Be patient, take your time, keep it positive. Have your little help, by asking “should I tune it up or down� Then have your little one tune their guitar on their own with you aiding if necessary.

Had a very shiny nose And if you ever saw it You would even say it glows All of the other reindeer Used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudolph Join in any reindeer games Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say "Rudolph, with your nose so bright Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" Then how the reindeer loved him As they shouted out with glee "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer You'll go down in history"
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen But do you recall The most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Had a very shiny nose And if you ever saw it You would even say it glows All of the other reindeer Used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudolph Join in any reindeer games Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say "Rudolph, with your nose so bright Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" Then how the reindeer loved him As they shouted out with glee "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer You'll go down in history" Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Sing Along With Family & Friends
Shannon Giancola
Creating a positive learning environment
Tips on Setting Up Your Practice Area: When and where your child practices plays an important part in their success. A loud, chaotic environment will not be helpful for your child to focus. Here are some tips for creating a positive learning environment: 1) Have your child practice in a room that is quiet and free of distractions (T.V, toys, etc). Maybe they can have their own practice corner in your home. 2) Other siblings around? Make sure they are occupied with an activity before you start to practice. That way there should be limited interruptions. If there are two parents home the other parent can supervise the other children, while you spend time with your little one. 3) Timing is also important. Right after dinner may be a good time, so your child is not hungry. If it is late in the evening, your child may be too tired. Right after school and a snack may be successful as well. Some children do better with getting their jobs done right away, rather than waiting. It truly takes a family effort for children to be successful with their music practice. It may take planning, but it is well worth it!

Practicing is a personal thing, but it can have more or less the same elements from session to session. Here are some key things to consider when thinking about practicing: The most important thing about practicing is that it consistent and happens regularly. For musicians of any age, if practicing is a regular and anticipated event, it makes the actual practicing easier. Stick to a schedule. It is hard to find time to fit in practicing if you don’t have a plan for when it will happen. Find a time that works for most days to practice, so that it can be at more or less the same time every day. This is helpful so that practicing is not a thing to fit in, but becomes a natural part of your day A tip for the younger student: Use choice to give your student some control over their learning. Do whichever option they choose first, and then do the second one after. Use stickers and other fun things to incentivize good practices and keeping to the routine. A Tip for the older students: If you feel like you are practicing lots and still aren’t making progress on your pieces, that is a sign that it is time to switch things up. Playing through your pieces is a good start, to help you identify the parts you have trouble with. After you play through your songs, go to the parts you had issues with, and practice those in small chunks. Go over it, working on the things you are struggling with, maybe intonation, a rhythm, or a dynamic marking, (continued on next page),
Creating A Practice routine!
Sophie Reimer-Epp
until you can get it right a few times in a row! You will see results quickly with this method. 5. Intentional focused practicing will get results! Believe it or not, 20 minutes of focused, (undistracted practicing), will get you further than 40 minutes of unfocused practicing! Try to create and environment and practice routine that will keep you, or your little one focused and on task. This can look like a few things: Finding a space that is not distracting to practice in, and having a pattern you always do! (ex, scales, then studies, then the piece you are working on) There are many methods of breaking down practicing even further, so if you are having trouble finding a routine that works, or keeping focused and excited to learn, speak to your teacher. Your teacher will have lots of suggestions to offer you, and advice to give. The bottom line is, practicing shouldn’t always be a chore. Do what will make it fun and exciting!
Creating a Practice routine! (Continued)
Here is what some of our students and staff had to say Candy Canes Snowmen Stockings Santa Gingerbread Men Reindeer Penguins Rudolph Dinner with grandma and grandpa Spending time with family Presents Snow Tobogganing Ice skating Walking in the snow Christmas decorations Decorating the Christmas tree Seeing Christmas lights  "Whatever feelings and thoughts Christmas brings you, we hope that it's positive and wish everyone the very best this holiday season".

What Does Christmas mean for you?
We have a few spots open for After School Care if you or anyone you know is looking. Our after care program will pick up your child from school and shuttle them to Groove Academy where children take part in the following activities. Crafts Music & Dance Indoor and Outdoor play Some of our music activities include bucket drumming, keyboard group class and stringed instruments. For outdoor play, we have 3 parks nearby and also arrange winter activities like skating, hockey, building snowman....etc. To find out more about our program, give us a call at 204-254-2184 or visit us at grooveacademy.ca
After School Care - Spots Now Open!!
My musical journey has so many aspects because I come from a very musical family and I was given many opportunities to engage with others musically. I think the three most important ways I use music now are: to process my own emotions, to engage in ceremony, and as a family activity that brings all ages together. I’d like to take a moment to share some highlights of my journey with you.
 One thing that I’ve drawn on during this journey is my family. I come from a long line of musicians, the kind of people who sit down after dinner for a sing along, who show up on Sunday to be part of the church band, and who perform at local dances. I have so many fond memories with my grandmother playing piano for us all to sing, my dad breaking out the trumpet when visiting friends to jam along with a piano, and times when all my cousins show up in various stages of learning their band instruments to create what grandpa called the “Allison Sympathy Orchestraâ€. My family really embodies healthy social bonding through music that spans across generations. One person I find particularly inspiring is my grandfather, who was still playing his trumpet at 93! He followed in his father’s footsteps and played overseas during the war. He committed his post war life to the remembrance of the sacrifice of so many people during the war. Which included playing for the funerals of all the veterans in his area of Manitoba (until he was the last one left), Remembrance Day services and he even played last post with the symphony in honor of those fallen. My dad, his brother and my brother picked up the trumpet as well, playing services in their father’s footsteps. My grandfather was also a piano tuner and it was his wife who played piano and inspired me to learn.
My Musical Journey
Jane Allison
Almost everyone in her family plays piano, but those that spend the most time playing are my uncle (an amazing Jazz pianist) who took the piano tuning business over, and me. Now I am often the one who leads a sing-along , who plays piano in the Allison Sympathy Orchestra and I also play piano with my dad in a band called the Dixie beats. We play the music my grandpa would have played at dances when my dad was growing up. My mom’s side is also very musical and her dad would play guitar after dinner. He died young but my mom’s stories and her love to sing is my brother’s inspiration for playing guitar. His band, The Grey Jays, just put out a swanky new music video. My cousins are so talented on this side as well, I would say the cutest thing we did musically was make a Christmas CD for our grandma before she passed. Thanks for coming with me through some key parts of my musical journey and I wish you the best on your own journey. Maybe we’ll jam together one day. Jane Allison: Piano & Vocal Instructor at Groove Academy.

My Musical Journey, (continued)
Term: Summer | Issue 1 | Date: {{date:MMMM d, yyyy}}
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