January 2026 Newsletter

January 2026 NewsletterAnnouncements
Quick version:  
January 5- Lessons Resume
January 6- No Group Class, Yes Private lessons
January 19- No Private Lessons, sign up for makeup
January 20- No Group, Yes Private Lessons
January 24- Suzuki of Utah Parent and Teacher convention, register here.
January 31- Bountiful Philharmonia Children's Concert, 2 p.m., Viewmont High School
February 16- No Private Lessons, President's Day
February 26- No Private Lessons, Mrs. Clawson and Mrs. Ferrin presenting at the Suzuki Association of the Americas conference in San Francisco
March 9- No lessons, day off school
March 10- Dress rehearsal, 6 p.m., location TBA
March 14- 3:15 and 4:15 Spring Recital, Farmington Library
March 21 - Utah Federation of Music Clubs Festival; please let me know ASAP if you wish to opt out.
May 4- Suzuki Graduation, Ogden Tabernacle, 6 or 7 p.m.?

Italicized dates are purely optional, just for extra motivation.

Long version:
I love the energy of a new year and the opportunity to renew goals and intentions for the way I want to live my life. This month in lessons, we will talk about our goals for the year. Be thinking of a piece, technique, and habit you want to work on in violin lessons.
There are so many Monday holidays in the first third of the year! I've carefully reviewed the schedule to ensure that our Monday students still receive enough lessons. The schedule allows for 16 private lessons for every student, regardless of the day they attend. Monday students still get their 16 lessons if they sign up for a makeup for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I charge for 15 students/semester and schedule 16 so I can take a sick day as needed. 
I've updated the 2025-2026 event schedule here. Please let me know if you have any questions.
If you need an extra dose of motivation, consider attending the SAU Convention on January 24. There will be classes on making practice with your child more effective and more enjoyable- including one taught by Mrs. Ferrin and me. 
The Bountiful Philharmonia, a community symphony I play with, presents their annual Children's concert on January 31, 2 p.m., at Viewmont High School. We'll be playing Hedwig's Theme, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and a movement of The Planets by Gustav Holst. There is something particularly magical about attending live performances, especially when there's less pressure to sit quietly!
Check the website: smithcreekviolin.com for dates, group times, and more! The password is suzukitwinkle
If you are not feeling well or need an online lesson, we will use this link in December. This option is also available on bad weather days if you are unable to drive. 


More Important Dates here

Practice Tips
"Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before." 
-attributed to Jacob Riis


There's not a lot of instant success when learning the violin. It is an incredibly difficult skill. You have to learn a great deal of patience in order to practice something 200 times. Whether it's Twinkle or "The Grizzly Bear" in Concerto A minor in book 4 or the cadenza of Mozart Concerto in book 10, you have to practice the same music hundreds of times before it is easy and enjoyable. If you are starting to feel frustrated with a lack of visible progress, remember how much is happening invisibly. 


As a student, it's hard to know that. As a teacher, I've seen it over and over. A student and their parent who have practiced consistently may start to wonder if they will ever improve. They keep working at it. And one day, small improvement after small improvement, they realize that they're making music now. It's an incredible thing. 


Keep going. You will get there.


Listening Suggestion


Listen to The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. If you haven't already seen the version starring Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, can you imagine a story happening during the music?


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