At the time of writing, it’s the day before one of my favourite times of year, that being Halloween!! I still get excited when this time of year comes along. I love seeing all the different costumes and usually my annual celebration consists of watching the original 1978 classic, ‘Halloween’, and it’s many sequels. The past couple of years I haven’t had a chance to watch all of them but I’m pretty sure tomorrow I can squeeze in at least the original. Some of the students have been telling me about their costumes and they all sound really awesome! And as most kids do, I loved getting all the good Halloween candy. My favourite as a kid were bags of Hostess potato chips and we always knew the houses that were handing those out. As I got older, my love turned to Resse’s Peanut Butter Cups. Trick or Treating continued into my early high-school years as well. The local restaurants and pizza joints would give slices of pizza or gift certificates to us older ‘kids’. Even at my current age of 46, I still love the candy and getting dressed up. It’s one of the nights during the year when regardless of your age, it’s fun to play ‘make believe’….and eat candy…lol. My Dog, Molly, even gets dressed up. Here she is with her ‘Headless Horseman’ costume from last year (insert ‘awwwww’ here)
We don’t have a lot to cover in this months newsletter, but here is what we do have….
- Halloween Pictures
- Christmas Schedule
- Winter Commute
- Student Of The Month
Halloween Pictures
This year, I won’t be teaching on Halloween. Students that would normally have lessons that day have made arrangements to move their lesson day and time, which means I won’t get a chance to see some of the costumes. If you would like to share any of your Halloween festivites with the school, please feel free to send over some pictures and I can include them in next months newsletter. This can be photos of the kids dressed up, photos of your Dog dressed up, photos of your carved pumpkins that you want to show off, or even a photo of your sweet candy loot you get, whatever you choose to share!
Christmas Schedule
I know, I know….we still have Halloween to get through. But, since I normally send the newsletter out at the end of each month in addition to the invoices, next month will only put us a few weeks away from the holidays by the time both the newsletter and invoices are sent.
Christmas Day: This year, the 25th is on a Wednesday. I will not be teaching this day. For those with lessons on Wednesdays, I will be speaking to you individually regarding how you want to handle billing or make up lessons for that day.
Christmas Eve: I’m normally off on Tuesdays so nothing will change for Christmas Eve Day.
Boxing Day (December 26th): I will be back to work as per usual on the Thursday.
New Years Day (January 1): I will still be teaching this day.
With kids being home for the holiday break, I will have options for moving some lessons around to accomodate any holiday/family events you may have planned. In addition, any outstanding make up lessons that need to be completed can be done during the holiday break as well since the kids are home. Moving lessons around is going to be on a first come, first served basis. I will have Saturday and Sunday afternoon (December 28,29) as options as well for moving lessons around if need be. I will be talking to everyone about the holiday schedule, but just wanted to start a tad early this year.
Winter Commute
We are very lucky to be having July weather at the end of October this year…LOL. However, that isn’t going to be the case in the coming weeks/months, so I always like to post a friendly reminder to please have patience during the winter months with regards to my commute to your home. If the weather is poor, it may take me a few extra minutes to arrive and I may not always be in a situation where I can text or call if I’m focused on driving safely in poor Winter weather conditions. Last year there were a few days where I had to reschedule a lesson due to poor driving conditions and will do so this year if need be. And please, if you find that you are going to be late arriving home due to the weather, contact me when it’s safe to do so and we can schedule a make up lesson if we need to. I would rather do that than have someone feel they need to rush home in poor weather conditions for a music lesson.
Student Of The Month
Our Student of The Month for October, 2024 is, Luke!!
Luke has been studying piano with me and like many, started learning from the Primer Lesson book of the Faber & Faber Piano Adventure series, and has progressed into the Level 1 lesson book. Luke’s favourite subject at school is science and he has been telling me all about the nervous, circulatory and respiratory systems of the human body!! In addition, Luke would like to be an astronaut one day. In fact, he’s already promised to take me to space with him one day!! Luke also loves superheroes and doesn’t hesitate to pick Batman stickers to place on the pages of his completed songs.
Luke received his framed Student Of The Month certificate, and is featured in this months newsletter as well as on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and on the school webstite when the newsletter is posted there.
Congrats, Luke!!
Coda
That’s a wrap on another monthly newsletter. Have lots of fun for Halloween, please be safe, and send over those Halloween photos for next months newsletter. And most importantly, don’t forget…..I love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. LOL
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 