HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Are you like me? When New Year’s Eve approaches you think, “Wow, where did this past year go?!?!?” I, for one, was counting down the minutes to the start of a new year. The start of 2023 saw some changes in my life that I was not expecting, but I also had some good come out of the start of the year, that being the completion of my Web Design course. I’ve always had a love for designing websites in addition to my love of music and in September 2022, I went back to school to receive some certification for web design and completed that in February, 2023. Of course, 2023 certainly didn’t end bad. I relaunched the school in September, started teaching in November and very quickly became busy and met all of you!! Moving back to the Niagara Region in April, 2023 after not living here for 25 years was a big change and as scary as it was relaunching the school here, it very quickly became rewarding. I’m very fortunate to have started creating relationships with the parents and most of all, very fortunate to be teaching great students and forming relationships with them! I love my job and very fortunate that the school is growing here as fast as it is. This month we have a few items to talk about:
- Minor changes to the website
- Winter weather
- The Student of The Month
- A few dates to remember and talk about
Let’s get to it!!
Website Changes
When I originally designed the website for the school, I wanted to make sure there was a page for you, the parents, to find some additional information you may have been looking for regarding lessons. I wasn’t too happy with the low-quality content that I first put on the ‘For Parents’ page, so I’ve now added useful content for you, or new ‘viewers’ to the site. The page now has a dedicated section regarding the benefits of learning music for children, followed by a Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q) section. Within the F.A.Q. section, there are two links that may be of interest to you. One is a link to the Canada Revenue Agency website with detailed information about music lessons being tax-exempt and the other is a link to information regarding the Ontario Children’s Activity Tax Credit. If you are not aware, you can receive a tax credit up to $535.00 for music lessons, so make sure to check out those links if you haven’t already. Here’s the direct link to the For Parents page.
Winter Weather
Ok, I’ll say it….I’m a Canadian that hates winter and hates the snow more. The cold weather really isn’t a big deal for me, but the snow? Yuck!!! However, there isn’t anything I can do about it, so I just have to agree that snow and I have to co-exist together..LOL. With snow comes the chances of bad seasonal weather, and with that comes bad driving conditions.
I know this goes without the need to be said, but just a friendly reminder that bad driving conditions may slow down my travel to your home between lessons or the need for lessons to be rescheduled. I already had to move some lessons around last week because of winter weather, and everyone was fantastic and understanding about it. I just like to add the friendly reminder every winter season. And please contact me if you need to reschedule as well. I have no problem scheduling a make-up lesson that suits both of our schedules.
Student Of The Month
As promised in December’s newsletter, the ‘Student Of The Month’ feature returns this month and I’m very excited because this is not just our first ‘SOTM’ feature of 2024, but our first since the school relauched in Niagara!! So without any further delay….
Our Student Of The Month for January, 2024 is, Vanishka!!
Vanishka has been studying piano and has been learning from the Faber & Faber Piano Adventures Primer series! Stickers are always given to students upon completion of pages in their lesson books, and Vanishka just loves the Ice-Cream Dessert stickers, especially the strawberry ones! (I think I need to buy more).
Vanishka, as with all of our ‘Students Of The Month’, will be given a framed Student Of The Month certificate at her lesson this week, and will be featured in the ‘News’ section of the website, as well as on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Congrats, Vanishka!!
Dates To Remember
March 11 – March 15 (March Break): I know we are still a little ways away from the March Break holiday but since the billing cycle for lessons is monthly, I wanted to start talking about the break now before I send out the March invoices next month. If you are planning on being away for March break, please let me know before the end of February. Make-up lessons can be scheduled for either before or after your vacation plans. If you are not going away, I’m available to do lessons ealier in the day for that week if you want to take advantage of that since the kids are home from school. Just let me know if you would like to do that for that week.
Coda
That’s it for our first newsletter of 2024!! I know I say this lots, but thank you for the continued hospitality you have shown me and welcoming me into your home every week. I love my job and it’s very easy when you have nice people to interact with and students that get excited to see me when I arrive. They already know how to pull at my ‘heart strings’ and it feels awesome!! Once again, Happy New Year and have a safe 2024. See you at the lessons!
– Alex –
Socials & 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
Alexander Doan School of Music 