Alexander Doan School of Music

Happy Holidays and Thank You!

It’s really hard to believe just how fast this year has gone. I know it’s a phrase that sounds so cliche and something everybody says every year, but it’s very true for me this year.

As I’ve already mentioned, 2023 saw me return to my true passion, teaching music. The school was initially very successful in the South Simcoe region in prior years and after taking a break from teaching, it was time to return. It was also the year that saw me return to the Niagara Region, a place I was born and raised so many years ago. I was married when the school first opened in Barrie, Ontario, and when the marriage unfortunately ended, I moved back to Hamilton. Most of my friends were there, my family was close by in Niagara, and I knew the city well from my time at Mohawk College. I had always wanted to relaunch the school, but after getting comfortable in a ‘regular’ job, and scared that the business would not do as well as it initially did, I never relaunched…until this year.

As I mentioned the other day in my email, I want to thank each and every one of the parents and students for welcoming me into their homes the past few months since I relaunched. I was so nervous about starting the school again but after meeting everyone and starting to form relationships with the students and parents, it made the process very easy and made me realize just how much I have missed teaching. Thank you once again for being so welcoming.

Holiday Scheduling

I think everyone has spoken to me about scheduling during the holidays and we have scheduled make-up lessons. For anyone that still needs to make any last minute changes, please do so this week. I will not be teaching on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Years Day, so if you lessons fall on those days and we have not scheduled make-up lessons, let me know this week please.

Future Programs and Features

When I had launched the school initially in South Simcoe, there were many features I had implimented and a few that I didn’t get the chance to do that I will be doing this time. I’m always looking to advance the school is any way I can and also to showcase the awesome talent from the students. Here are some things that I am planning on implementing in the coming months……

• Student of The Month showcase – each month a student will be featured in the newsletter, the website and our socials. The student will also get a printed certificate awarded to them. I did this in Barrie and I will be launching this again next month!
• Monthly performace – I am going to get in contact with some of the local old-age/retirement homes and see if I can bring some students every month to play for the residents. I did this in college and it was so much fun and brought a lot of smiles to the faces of the residents. Music can help senior citizens in so many ways. It’s also a chance for some students to get experience playing for people. I’ll also be performing.
• Music School App – I was 2 months away from launching a free app for the school before and I want to make sure it is completed this time. The app will have some basic information about the school but the main feature will be a loyalty program. I teach X number of lessons, and you get one free. The loyalty program will not be launched until the app is launched but I will provide lots of progress once I get started with it.
• Yearly Recitals – as always, I do yearly recitals. I am not sure if I will be doing one initially this year, but I will be for sure moving forward. If I do decide to do one during this first year, I will give plenty of notice ahead of time so a date can be set and I can work on pieces with the students, as well as the location.
• Christmas Parade – it was too late this year to plan and enter some of the local Christmas parades, but we will be for sure doing it next year. I had so much fun doing this in Barrie. One year we even dressed the kids up as reindeer. Soooo much fun…Here’s a few pics from when we did it in Innisfil!

Save Money On Lessons!

If you haven’t been to the school website yet, we have various ways that you can save some money on lessons. To recap, here they are:

• Until January 2024, register now with Alex and receive one FREE lesson towards your first month of lessons. (Limited to ONE free lesson per home with a commitment of at least 1 month of lessons)
• Receive one FREE lesson on your next month’s billing if you refer another student/household. (Limited to ONE free lesson per home)
• Snap of photo of Alex’s car, showing off the new vinyl decals and receive a FREE lesson. (Limited to ONE free lesson per home, once only)… And no, you can’t take a picture of my car while it’s sitting at your house, nice try!! LOL

Socials & Where To Find The School Online

We’ve been climbing the ranks in Google (ranked in the top 10 now for various search phrases) and getting some great traffic and inquiries from varous online socials. In case you haven’t liked or followed the school yet on socials, here is where to find us!

• Web: https://www.doansom.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ADOANSOM
• Twitter (now ‘X’): https://twitter.com/alexander_doan
• Google Reviews if you would like to leave a review 🙂 : https://g.page/r/CbNrxK_Veae6EB0/review

Coda

That wraps up our December, 2023 newsletter, and our first one since the school re-launched! Thank you once again for all the continued support, the fantastic hospitality, and welcoming me into your home every week. 

I wish each of you, and your families, a very wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season, and a very safe and Happy New Year!

-Alex-