ALMSG Oct '24 Newsletter - Fall: A Time for Nurturing, Better Focus and New Directions
Dear members and subscribers,
It is Sunday, October 20th and I am writing to you from a place of humble gratefulness. Last Sunday, I had the priviledge of preparing Thanksgiving dinner for my family of three and also for my 92 year old mother (who is in the best of health) and my two brothers. "I am happy and grateful for my family, this life, this moment." This is a line from a poem called "Life" that I wrote on October 3rd at my Thursday writer's circle. I am quoting it here because it so aptly describes how I am feeling right now.
The two words, "this life" involves many things: my weekly hiking sojourns, my music learning, nurturing creativity in writing, nurturing my curiosity by always learning and nurturing my human connections or what the Danish call "Hygge". But a large part of "this life" revolves around the ALMSG and the community that has flourished since I laid the foundation for its growth in March 2018. I just wanted to let all ALMSG members know how grateful I am for your support these past 2 years. I had been going through a tough phase ever since my dad passed away in Dec 2022. It has been slowly easing since the beginning of 2024 especially in June when I was able to slay my crippling self-doubt by completing my level 6 piano exam.
Today is Wednesday, October 30th and I am continuing where I left off 10 days ago. These past 10 days has been a week of cancelling learning events and social events. It had been crazy busy for me from August 31st to October 21st and I finally had to force myself to step back. I have used my downtime constructively by creating and scheduling more time for preventative health strategies. I scheduled a yoga class this past Monday for the first time in months and it felt really good to get back to the mat. I am also incorporating either walking or cardio exercise every day. It is scheduled in my google calendar now so it is as important as everything else in my life. I realize that if you don't have good health, you really don't have the ability to live a good "quality" life as you age . Preventative health measures, good sleep and good nutrition are just as important as everything else that I love in my life and I have to make these three things a priority.
I had been dealing with a shoulder injury since the summer and it really affected my cello learning and practice. So much so that my new private lesson cello teacher initiated a conversation about my lack of progress and his concerns regarding that. I told him I was concerned too but I admitted to him that it was because my shoulder hurt that I did not want to even touch the cello. No practice means of course no progress. I am happy to say that I have focussed on strengthening my shoulder and my injury is about 90% recovered. I now look forward to practicing on my cello. I hope to tell you more good news about my cello progress in my next newsletter.
In terms of ALMSG workshops and masterclasses, we created our first 3 hour in-person "Level 1 Solfege" workshop for nine members on September 28th. I am so thrilled with the success of this workshop. Marni is an extraordinary educator and we were all so amazed at what we were able to learn at that workshop. It was such a success that Marni will be returning to teach the "level 1 Solfege" workshop again for those that missed it the first time but this repeat class will be online so that our out-of town members can participate as well. Marni will also be teaching a "Level 2 Solfege" workshop for those members that want to continue their learning and further develop this important musicianship skill.
And we are about to experience our second workshop of the year "Marriage of Voice with Piano" which occurs this Saturday, November 3rd 10 am - 12 pm. This is a workshop where we will learn the fine art of accompanying yourself at the piano while singing. Seven of our pianist members have signed up for this workshop which will be taught by Amy Wood. Her bio is also located on our Masterclass/Workshop of our "Events - Other" Page if you want to learn more about her. This workshop was capped 2 weeks ago with just our member registrants and we are running a two hour masterclass with Ms. Wood. I am really pleased that so many members were interested in this masterclass as well. All participants are looking forward to this event this coming Saturday morning.
Due to interest from two non-Calgary members in this workshop, I am also working on an virtual version of this workshop which will also be taught by Ms. Wood. I am opening up registration to non-members who live in Calgary and outside of Calgary. As the in-person masterclass is already capped with our own members, the online workshop is the only way left, even for a Calgary pianist, to experience this unique learning experience. Our first access to members' registration for the online workshop has already passed and registration is now open to non-members until midnight Nov 12th. Ideally, we would like to recruit two additional participants but if we can recruit just one more, then we can definitely run this workshop which is tentatively scheduled to run on November 30th 10 am - 11 am. Please contact me at pianojazzlover@gmail.com if you are interested in this workshop.
Non-members that live in Canada will have to sign up for membership in our group before they can register for learning events. In 2024, in November, the membership fee is pro-rated to $10 so this will need to be paid in addition to the $35 course fee. You will be entitled to attend the four remaining meeting performances left in this year for that $10 pro-rated fee. It is a good way to try out our group if you have every wondered about whether this group is right for you. In 2025, we will have only one reduction in fee that takes effect on July 1st at which time the membership fee will be reduced by 50%. You can read more about this change below where I talk about all the new changes to ALMSG.
There is a new bit of information which I received just a few days ago from our excellent broker, Levi Smith, from Cornerstone Insurance. Membership in ALMSG can only be extended to musicians who reside in Canada as our insurance covers all in-person events anywhere in Canada. However, our online classes/workshops are open to anyone that lives outside of Canada ie anywhere in the world as long as you have a good and fast connection to the internet. We do not have to worry about any liability issues with online events. But please note: non-Canadian residing music learning adults can not become ALMSG members. Please contact me at pianojazzlover if you are interested in learning with us via a virtual event. We would need to charge a non-member surcharge fee which would of$15* per registrant per learning event. This fee compensates ALMSG for registering and coordinating the online workshop/masterclass for you. We are a non-profit so usually our course fees are very reasonable in cost because we only charge our registrants the fee that would cover the instructor's fee. In the rare case that we do take in extra funds for a learning event, then it is understood by all registrants that those extra funds go to support ALMSG. These additional funds help us with our bottom line so we can meet all of our financial expenses. Our financial expenses include our Wix website, our Zoom licence and our liability insurance.
I have two other announcements. The first one is that we will be having our first ever public recital. Since ALMSG was created in March 2018, all of our performances at meetings were limited exclusively to members only. For the first time ever, we will be holding a public recital where we will be inviting our family and friends to come and hear us perform. It will take place early next year - tentatively in late January, early February. Stay tuned for more news on this event in the new year.
The other new development is that we will be increasing our annual membership fee which has not seen an increase since we implemented the annual fee in 2019. However, there will be two different types of membership. For non-Calgary members, the membership fee will increase $5 to $45 and for Calgary members, the fee will increase $15 to $55. The reason for the two different memberships and the price difference is that Calgary members have more benefits than non-Calgary members. Calgary members are able to participate in many in-person events - the Calgary Steinway Piano Gallery in-person monthly meetings and any Calgary in-person workshops. (We do Zoom our Steinway meetings so our out-of-town members can participate as well.) And in terms of pro-rated membership fees, in 2025, we will only offer one reduced fee of $22.50 on July 1st** onwards for non-Calgary memberships and a reduced fee of $27.50 for Calgary memberships which reflects a 50% reduction in the membership fee. It will be easier to keep track of the one reduction in membership fee which comes in effect on July 1st and which remains in effect until December 31st of that year. I will be changing references to our annual membership fee and the pro-rated fee along with effective date on the website in January 2025 when our new membership fees go into effect.
And before you go, I want to direct your attention to one last thing. ALMSG member and new meeting chair coordinator, Linda, has put on an additonal hat as investigative reporter in the last few months. She has interviewed three teachers about the differences between teaching music to adults vs children. She also writes about what these teachers consider to be adults' assets as music learning students. Please read her excellent article "The Adult Advantage" - it is posted on the blog but I have included a link to her article below for your reading convenience.
In closing, please check the members' page on the home page to find out more about our endeavours and our learning experiences
Until the next newsletter in the new year, I wish you a happy Halloween and a great Winter holiday season.
Enjoy your music learning endeavours and please contact me via the contact form if you would like to tell me about your music journey. I am always interested in all your journeys.
Musically striving with you always,
Sandra
October 31st, 2024
Post-publication changes
*ALMSG is considering charging only a $10 surcharge for non-members taking online workshops/masterclasses
**ALMSG will reduce the membership fee by 50% for those joining our group in September onwards. This reduced pro-rated fee will be in effect from September 1st to Dec 31st.
