A week and a half ago I was arriving to lessons in shorts, sandles and my work sweater. This week, I’ve had to pull the winter coat back out…LOL. Sure, an argument can be made that I jumped the gun a little bit, knowing that Ontario weather can change within seconds, let alone over night. But hey, I enjoyed it for those two days. Regardless of it being a very short glimpse into the near future, it felt great after the winter we have had, and I never hesitate when the opportunity presents itself to wear shorts and flip flops. Soon enough it will be a constant, but for now, I still need to enjoy those benefits in the comfort of my warm house until the weather decides to favour my liking. At least, for now, the snow still has not returned and with tomorrow being the start of April, I have faith that we won’t see it until next Winter, but at the same time, I’m not holding my breath. With the hope that we are past the snow for this year, I just want to say thank you once again to everyone for being understanding regarding snow days and slower travel for me to lessons. Your understanding was/is very much appreciated. Here’s what we have for this months newsletter…..
- Thorold Tunnel Closures
- Recital Venue
- My New Baby
- Student Of The Month
Thorold Tunnel Closures
Starting in April, there are going to be some lane closures due to construction and fixes to the Westbound lanes of the Thorold tunnel. All the information is included in the photo below. I’m mentioning this since I use the tunnel to get to many lessons in the St. Catharines, Welland and Fonthill areas. During the day, only one of the lanes going Westbound will be closed and in the evening all the Westbound lanes will be closed. I’m going to see how much this will impact my travel time when it first starts. Having a lane open during the day will be good, but I will have to see how much of a slow down there will be. If all else, I will use the Allenburg lift bridge on highway 20 for getting to some of my Fonthill and Welland homes. The issue with that is of course boats travelling through and waiting for the bridge to be lowered, which is why I started using the Thorold tunnel last summer. Leaving earlier for some lessons is an option, but for most I don’t have that option because of scheduling, so please bare with me during the months of the construction. If I do get held up at the lift bridge, I’ll be able to text if I’m running late, as I’ve done before with some of you, and if I’m held up at the tunnel, I’ll call from my car bluetooth when it’s safe to do so.
Recital Venue
Now that we are pretty much done with snow, (fingers crossed) I’m starting to think about the first student recital. I’m planning for a date in June and this week I’m going to start looking into venues, such as churches, Lions Clubs, etc. Many of you have held events for your children at such locations, so I figured I would start by putting out a call to all of you. If you have suggestions for a location that would be good for our first student recital, please let me know by email/text or when I’m at your home for lessons. One parent has already suggested a church in Niagara Falls which I’ll be looking into but having more options and suggestions from others won’t be a bad thing either. The location doesn’t need to have a piano, although that would be a nice bonus. I can rent a digital piano if need be for our piano students. Thank you in advance to anyone that provides suggestions!
My New Baby
Before you start congratulating me, no, I am not a father. LOL. Musicians refer to their instruments as their ‘babies’. I wasn’t going to post anything in the newsletter as I didn’t want to draw focus from last months achievements for some of our students, however some of you have encouraged me to mention this in the newsletter so I’m taking your suggestion. LOL. As some of you know, my primary instrument is the clarinet. In January, I was very fortunate to be able to purchase a brand new, professional wooden clarinet. My previous wooden clarinet was a used instrument, and when kept in perfect condition, used instruments can be just as good as a brand new one. This one, like my saxophone last year, is brand new. I won’t lie, it was a pretty emotional day for me. The support from my family regarding me taking a chance on launching the school in this region, and your continued support, helped to make this possible.
Student Of The Month
Our Student Of The Month for March, 2025, is William!!
William has been studying saxophone with me, specifically the alto saxophone. William has been learning the saxophone at school and in December, 2024, he began lessons with me. Playing a wind instrument presents many challenges to a new player, such as how to breathe through the mouth properly, how to use your tongue to start and stop notes, in addition to mouth placement on the mouthpiece to achieve a proper sound. Recently, William has put in a lot of work regarding all of these challenges and has been doing awesome!!
William 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 website when the newsletter is posted there.
Congrats, William!!
Coda
That’s another wrap for another newsletter! Please send over any suggestions you may have regarding a venue for our first recital, and don’t forget that my travel to lessons may be slowed due to the Thorold tunnel construction that begins in April. I’ll leave you with another photo of our Student Of The Month. William’s parents wanted a photo of me with him holding his certificate, and I told them I would include it in the newsletter as well. See you in lessons!!
Alexander Doan School of Music 