Practice makes you good. Daily practice makes musical skills solid and dependable whether you are sharing music in an audition or with your cat.
Many understandings go into creating one sound. How you know the pitch, how it is played on the instrument, fingering, duration time, dynamic level, body position, breath control, and more. Each concept is learned one at a time. Patience is necessary when we put all these concepts together into one process. This is why it takes years to be a musically literate, accomplished musician.
In our practice we move, feel, listen, count, sing and play. All these elements of active engagement bring us beyond mere mechanical activation of sound. For voice students, piano study is a required second discipline, enabling them to play a voice line and make sense of a written score. Acoustic pianos are a better option if a student wants satisfaction from creating beauty and a powerful sound utilizing a full range of expression.
HMTA (Helena Music Teachers Association) organizes the Celebrate Music! recital series. Students who have been awarded scholarships from HMTA are invited to share their talent along with HMTA members.
HMTA’s annual Spring Festival is an adjudicated event. Students perform for a master teacher. Those who qualify perform in the Honors Recital.
Students at any level of achievement share their talents while family and friends enjoy HMTA’s hearty Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction Fundraiser, which raises funds for scholarships awarded to qualifying students twice a year.
McLean Music Studio recitals and group sessions take place at announced times.
Summer Music Camps. HMTA awards scholarships for applicants who qualify.
Competitions. Fall Festival is a state-wide competition open to students skilled at the intermediate and advanced levels. The MTNA National Competition is held annually the first week of November and welcomes the serious developing musician. Winners move on to perform at the regional and national levels.
Registrations for new students are accepted at any time. If the studio teaching schedule is full, new students will be put on a waiting list and notified if an opening comes up.
A lesson is 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the student's needs. Young children will likely have shorter lessons. Older and more advanced level students will need a longer lesson time.
Lessons take place once a week September through July, excepting Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years.
If a student wishes to stop taking lessons, one month's notice is required.
1/1/2020 to 1/1/2099
Tuition/fees
Tuition is $30 per lesson, paid monthly, due the first lesson of the month.
A one-time $60 reservation fee reserves a newly enrolled student's time in the schedule.
Students purchase their own music. Piccolo's Music Store carries all the method books used in McLean Music Studio.
