Subject: 🎹 December News from MCMA and Music Together at MCMA! 🎶

DECEMBER 2023

STUDIO UPDATES

As the end of 2023 draws near, it feels like a time to take stock of some milestones. MCMA has been in our new Rockport home for just over three years! We have greeted so many wonderful new faces this year - wonderful students of all ages, our newest board member Dan Bookham, and faculty that already feel like family (Dan, Heather and Mark). We've said goodbye to another set of forward-facing graduates, and to our longest tenured faculty member, Abigail Nash, who is doing beautiful work in our community. We've expanded the offerings for our youngest students, and welcomed the addition of music therapy into our community. We're grateful to you all for being there alongside us this year. The support of our musical community is humbling and inspiring!

While a lot of progress has been made, there is much more to do. Our Annual Appeal is now in everyone's mailbox and we hope that your donations will help us fill the halls with more music than ever before. MCMA is dedicated to ensuring the accessibility of music education, and will allocate $35,000 in tuition assistance this school year. Please support our efforts if you are able! More information below.

Read on to meet our December student of the month, register for our winter session of Music Together®, and learn about how to get involved with our upcoming recital. As always, if you're interested in trying out a lesson to see if it's a good fit for you, please send us a message. We'd love to schedule an introductory lesson for you!

MEET OUR STUDENT OF THE MONTH!

Elora has been studying piano with Tom Luther for a year and a half. Tom has this to say about his student:

“Elora and I started working with conventionally notated music and have expanded into improvisation and jazz studies. She has modeled the kind of effort and tenacity it takes to develop both skill and confidence in a discipline. Through her practice she has steadily realized and developed her own unique voice and is now learning how to apply it to both unstructured improvisation and traditional jazz tunes.

Two things have stood out to me as keys to Elora’s growth. The first is her solid grasp of fundamental scale practice. This has helped her mechanics and been an important factor in learning to use musical language. The second is her bravery and tenacity. Improvisation was initially not comfortable for her, but Elora has gradually learned to trust in her voice and is coming to realize the fun, intrigue, and insight that improvisation brings. Her practice has grown measurably from her initial explorations and she is learning to apply her knowledge and experience in a fun and enriching way.

In the last few months, Elora has been able to move from improvising in a single key to improvising in several and is starting to take on a deeper harmonic study. It has been a real joy to watch her experience grow as she takes on more and more ideas and develops her own unique narrative.”

SPREAD MUSIC, SPREAD JOY - 2023 ANNUAL APPEAL

MCMA's annual appeal is underway! As a nonprofit charitable organization, we raise funds each year to support our mission: Midcoast Music Academy harnesses the power of making music with and for others, through equitable access to instruction, performance and community programming. It is vital to our mission that we are able to support all dedicated students who would otherwise not be able to take lessons.

As of December 19th, we are just past halfway to our goal of raising $35,000. If you're able, please consider helping us to keep the music playing in 2024. A donation of any amount helps. Thank you!

Donate today!

MUSIC TOGETHER® REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Join us this winter for Music Together Classes!

The fabulous Alyssa Kelly will be teaching full 10-week Mixed-Age classes featuring the Bells Song Collection on the following days:

9:00am Wednesdays in Belfast

9:00am Fridays in Rockport

10:00am Fridays in Rockport

Click the button below for more information & register to save your spot!

In addition to 10-week class sessions, the wonderful Shannon Burns will be offering multiple Music Together programs at local libraries. You can find Shannon at:

Lincolnville Community Library:

1st Saturdays, Jan. - March

Gibbs Library (Washington):

2nd Saturdays, Jan. - June

Rockland Public Library:

last Saturdays, Jan. - June

RECITAL SIGNUP

Are you interested in performing in the upcoming recital? Now is the time to speak with your instructor! If you have been taking lessons since the beginning of the semester and are excited to share your hard work with others, we want to hear from you. We welcome performers of any age or ability.

Our end of semester recital is on Sunday, January 28th at 4pm at the gorgeous Strand Theatre in Rockland. All students are encouraged to attend, even if they're not performing this time around. Supporting our musical community is what it's all about!

An official recital signup email will be going out over the winter break. If you have any questions about signing up, please speak with or email your instructor directly.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES:

December 25th - January 1st - winter break, MCMA closed
Wednesday, January 3rd: Music Together® winter session begins
Friday, January 5th: New Years Day lessons
Monday, January 15th: MLK Jr. Day, MCMA closed
Friday, January 19th: MLK lessons
January 26th: group makeup day
January 28th, 4pm, Strand Theatre: MCMA Recital

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Subject: 🎹 December News from MCMA and Music Together at MCMA! 🎶

SPREAD MUSIC, SPREAD JOY - 2023 ANNUAL APPEAL

MUSIC TOGETHER® REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

RECITAL SIGNUP