‘Tis the season to be jolly!!! As I sit here writing up our (delayed) November newsletter (writing most of it on Tuesday December, 2), some light snow is falling, we are now a couple of days into December, and the Christmas spirit is now in full motion in the stores, in homes, and the streets with crazy drivers and traffic. Please be safe out there. I’ve already had a couple of close calls this week because of drivers that have absolutely no sense of road safety or others around them. If it takes you a few additional minutes to get somewhere, then allow those additional minutes. Bad drivers aside, I do love Christmas. I always have. Obviously as a child, receiving gifts from Santa and family was always a highlight and exciting. As I got older, that changed to the more important aspect of spending time with family and friends, and less about gift giving and receiving. Many also have Christmas traditions that are carried out each year. My own personal tradition is hearing Bruce Springsteen’s live version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, and I must hear it on the radio and not on Spotify or streaming services. For me, it’s not the Christmas Season until I hear that on the radio. Growing up, my Mom and I always watched ‘White Christmas’ on Christmas Eve, a tradition we still continue today. ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ is one of mine, and Sue’s, favourite Christmas movies, and this year we decided that watching that is going to be our annual tradition now. And of course, the food. From Christmas baking, to candy canes, to turkey dinners, there always seems to be more food than needed every year. There is nothing better than left over turkey and stuffing sandwiches with some mayo!! We have a lot to cover in this newsletter as it will be the final one for 2025, and includes some important updates so let’s get to it. Here’s what we have for this month…..
- Reader’s Choice Business Awards Results
- Alex On Vacation
- Christmas Lesson Schedules
- Sick Days & Lesson Cancellations
- Winter Driving Conditions
- December Newsletter Schedule
- Alex’s New Piano
- Halloween Photos
- Liana’s ‘Peter/Wendy’ Performance
- William’s Achievement
- Student Of The Month
Reader’s Choice Business Awards Results
Written Thursday, December 4th:
As mentioned in the email I sent this week, I delayed sending the newsletter until the Business Awards were announced this morning. Now that the official winners have been announced and published, I can share this.
WE WON IN BOTH CATEGORIES!!!!!
We placed as Platinum Winners for both ‘Best Music Instruction’ and ‘Best Music Instructor’ !!!!!!!
Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this. First and foremost though, I can’t thank everyone enough for the constant support and your votes in these categories for both securing the nominations and now, the win. I’m currently waiting to hear from them about receiving the awards. This has been an incredible year and this, and my upcoming vacation, are fantastic ways to close out this amazing year. Thank you again to all of you for this. It means the world to me.
Alex On Vacation
I’m taking a vacation!! Yes, I know, mind blowing, right?!?! This has absolutely been the busiest and best year of my adult life. Full student registration, instrument purchases, our first student recital, the Business Awards nominations, and the wonderful changes in my personal life have made for an incredible year. It’s been almost two years since I’ve taken time off, and it’s time for me to refresh and enjoy some time for myself and Sue. I’ll be handing out vacation reminders this week to everyone as I did prior, but here’s all the details and how billing will be handled:
- Vacation Dates: December 31 – January 9, 2026
- Last Day of Lessons before my vacation: Tuesday, December 30th
- Lessons Resume: Sunday, January 11th, 2026
- How Will Billing Work?: I will not be billing for lessons that would normally take place duing my vacation time. Any lessons that would normally take place on Wednesday, December 31st, will be done prior to my vacation time and I’ll be speaking to those homes this week. With kids being off for school, there shouldn’t be a problem with getting those lessons done. January invoices will still be dated and due for January 1st, and will be sent out approximately 12-14 days prior, as per usual. Please plan accordingly.
I know this goes without saying, but I will not be answering emails, texts or phone calls regarding the school while I’m away. I’ll be enjoying the beach and sun in Florida!!
Christmas Lesson Schedules
Christmas Day: This year, the 25th is on a Thursday. There will be no lessons on Christmas Day. Lessons that would have normally taken place on that day, will be moved and I’ll be speaking with those homes this week.
Christmas Eve: Lessons that normally would take place that day (Wednesdays), can be moved to the morning or another morning that week since kids are home and I’ll be speaking to those homes this week.
Boxing Day: Lessons will be carried out as per normal unless you have already spoken to me about schedule changes for that day.
Make Up Lessons: There are a few outstanding make up lessons that will be done during the holidays since kids are home from school. I’ve already started talking to those homes but I would like to try and start locking in some schedules for those this week so we can get those completed before my vacation. If need be, I can make Saturday, December 27th a work day for make up lessons prior to my vacation. I would prefer to get them done in morning time slots during the week once the kids are off, but the Saturday is an option if need be.
Sick Days & Lesson Cancellations
Starting in January, 2026, if I arrive at your home for your lesson and at that moment you inform me you need to cancel the lesson due to illness, the lesson will be considered taught with no make up lesson scheduled. I will still schedule make up lessons for illnesses, but this pertains to only notifying me as I arrive at your home. That’s my travel time and my gas that is being used and time that I could have used for other make up lessons if proper notification was given to me. With that being said, some situations are obviously exempt from this, such as a broken bone that happens as I’m arriving or other unfortunate things that are understood.
In addition, if you or your child(ren)/household are sick, PLEASE RESCHEDULE WITH ME! At the very least, please wear a mask. Being sneezed and coughed on is not enjoyable for anyone, and I don’t want to get sick, and I certainly don’t want to be spreading illness to the other 30 homes I’m at weekly. If you are clearly sick, and refuse to even wear a mask when I arrive, I’m going to have to consider the lesson taught as well. It’s not fair to me or the other families I see each week. I will be updating the policies on the website to reflect these changes, and thank you in advance for your understanding regarding these two changes.
Winter Driving Conditions
As we enter our Winter Season, I’m sending out my annual friendly reminder to be patient with me if the weather turns bad while I’m out teaching or if the roads are unsafe before my work schedule begins during the day. My safety will always take priority over arriving on time or teaching lessons on a day that road safety is a concern due to the weather. If I need to reschedule a lesson due to the weather while I’m enroute, I will contact you when it’s safe to do so to reschedule. I’m hoping this year isn’t as bad as last year was and everyone is always undestanding regarding this, but I still like to send the reminder out. 🙂
December Newsletter Schedule
December is the busiest time of the year for everyone with the upcoming Christmas holiday and everything involved with preparing. There will be no December newsletter. The monthly newsletter and our Student of The Month selection will return in January, including our Pet Corner and This Month In Music History features.
Alex’s New Piano
The end of November was exciting for me, not only because I turned 48 years old (more on that in the Coda section below) but because of my latest, and probably final, instrument purchase. I wanted a digital piano that had a full 88 key setup, sounded fantastic, could replicate acoustic piano features such as touch sensitivity, and also fit nicely in my office or other small rooms if need be, with an option for mobility I needed to perform somewhere. I’m no stranger to Roland products, specifically any of their digital piano products, so choosing the Roand FP-10 was an easy choice.
Halloween Photos
With Halloween closing out October, I asked some of you to send over the photos of you, or your child(ren) in costume. Here’s some of the awesome costumes and thank you to everyone who sent over photos to be included this month!!!
Liana’s ‘Peter/Wendy’ Performance
In October, I had mentioned that one of my clarinet students, Liana, was going to be performing in the Ridley College performance of ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’, in addition to starring as Wendy, and I was very fortunate to be in attendance for the evening showing on November 1st. Liana was amazing!! In addition to playing clarinet, and painting, which we’ve seen in past newsletters, this was the first time I’ve seen her acting skills and she did not disappoint!! I wasn’t able to get any photos during the performance, however I made sure to congratulate her afterwards on a fantastic performance and get a photo with the star!! Big thanks once again to Liana and her family for including me on her very special evening.
William’s Achievement
This past month my saxophone student, William, entered into a Literary Contest that was hosted by the Port Dalhousie branch of The Royal Canadian Legion. William was given the Second Place – Essay Award in addition to $20.00 for the Remembrance Day Literary Contest!
Congratulations, William!!
Student Of The Month
Our Student Of The Month for November, 2025 is, Jude!!
Jude is one of my piano students and is currently learning from the Faber Piano Adventures Level 1 Lesson Book, and both his sister, Jacqueline, and Mom, Josie, study piano with me as well. Jude is an avid gamer and one day he would like to be a video game developer! His love of gaming can be seen in the Halloween photos section of the newsletter this month, dressed as Link from the ‘Legend Of Zelda’ game series. And to no surprise, his choice of stickers every week for his song completions are the Super Mario stickers!!
Jude 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, Jude!!
Coda
I would like to close out our final newsletter for 2025 on both a personal and musical note (no pun intended, I swear). As mentioned above, the month of November ended with me turning 48 years old on the 26th. Sue absolutely spoiled me and in addition to some wonderful gifts and an incredible dinner out, she surprised me during dessert by telling me she called in some favours and was able to get tickets for us for that evening to see, Sarah Brightman, in concert!!! For those unfamiliar with Sarah Brightman, she was the first to play Christine Daae in the original London production of, ‘The Phantom of The Opera’, and over the years has become the world’s best-selling soprano. Sue knew that Sarah was on my bucket list of performers to see live, so it was very special to be there together and see/hear Sarah Brightman sing not only Christmas songs, but also see her sing the title song from ‘The Phantom of The Opera’ and hit the high ‘E’ at the conclusion of the song that she made famous. I’ve included some photos below.
And, of course, please have a very safe, and a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and don’t forget I love stuffing. 😉
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 