June 21, 2025: Saturday Remix
Teachers and Staff: Happy Saturday!
Musical Ladder “Tests”
The Musical Ladder uses the term, “tests.” These are intended to be assessments of some sort to help make achievements on the Musical Ladder more meaningful. The Musical Ladder levels are based on longevity – how long a student has been continuously enrolled in lessons. (If a student withdraws and then returns later, they restart at the first rung of the ladder, because their continuous enrollment restarts.)
What are tests?
Tests or assessments have two important features: 1) They should be designed and planned for by students and teachers in cooperation. 2) A student must never, ever, fail their test. (They can, perhaps, not succeed the first try, but then they should soon succeed – that same week or the week following. They cannot ever go a level without completing it.)
Tests do not have to be tests, per se. They can be other types of achievements and accomplishments. They should be brief, attainable, yet meaningful. Here is a list of ten examples of potential tests or assessments. I will provide a list of ten examples each week over the next few weeks. I am confident that you can think of others that might be useful, appropriate, and meaningful for your students.
Complete the written Review of Part 3 of Presto! It’s Piano Magic, Book 1.
Play two songs from memory while singing the lyrics, back-to-back, and demonstrate proper performance practices (such as coming to the performance space, bowing in response to applause, exiting the space, etc.).
Play the G Major and D Major scales up and down, one octave, with proper fingering, in a consistent rhythm.
Complete the Review Test at the end of Book 4 of The Basics of Keyboard Theory series.
Perform in the studio recital taking place in this evaluation period.
Complete a written self-evaluation, approximately 2-3 paragraphs, possibly answering one or more questions posed by the teacher.
Successfully tune your own guitar or other string instrument.
Play a song accurately and in good rhythm to a recorded backing track.
Define a list of music vocabulary terms (written or oral).
Complete a harmonic analysis of a piece or section of music.
Musical Ladder System Login and Setup
Musical Ladder login and setup information was emailed to you separately. I have placed it in this Saturday Remix as well, down at the bottom after everything else.
Studio Recitals July 2 & 3, 2025
Every teacher should encourage their students to participate in as many recitals as possible. Students should always be developing their repertoire of music that they can perform anytime, anywhere, for anyone. These are the pieces to help them select for their recital performances!
Our upcoming studio Summer recitals are July 2 & 3, 2025, at the Norman P. Murray Community Center in Mission Viejo. Please work with your students on their performance practices, including dress, bowing and acknowledging the audience, handling a microphone, announcing their music (especially vocal students), if desired.
Theme Recital Coming in September
We have a theme recital coming up in September, which will be Songs of America. Please encourage your students to learn one or more patriotic songs, folk songs, or other pieces of music that represent the breadth and depth of American culture.
These kinds of songs and pieces are often found in abundance in method books and music curriculum, and we can also provide others as needed. If you want some music that we don’t already have, please let us know, and we will strive to get it for you.
Coming Off-days
We have off-days over the Independence Day (4th of July) holiday. This off period goes from Monday, June 30 to Sunday, July 6. No regular lessons during that week. We have our Summer recitals during that week (July 2 & 3). (There will also be no Forum in July since the off-week falls on the first week of the month.)
Start Thinking about Holiday Music Now
It’s easy to wait too long to start preparing for holiday music. We recommend that you start thinking about holiday music now, and then students start learning and practicing it in July & August, after the summer recitals. Holiday music includes everything from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas & Hanukkah to New Years and others that your students celebrate. It also includes seasonal music for Fall and Winter.
If you think summer is too early to start holiday music, reconsider! Students should be learning a variety of music (not just holiday music), but they should definitely start learning and practicing very early, to be well-prepared for holiday recitals, soirees, and family times at home.
The holidays are a season, not one day or one single performance! And it’s a long season! Don’t fight against the several-months-long holiday season – embrace it!
VOTE for Us!
Click here to vote for Laguna Niguel School of Music, Dennis Frayne Music Studios as the Best Music Lessons in Orange County! It’s fun, and you will support our school!
Click this link (Parenting OC) and then select the category Classes, After School Programs, and Music Lessons.
https://parentingoc.com/readers-choice-awards/readers-choice-awards-2025/#/gallery?group=512228
VOTE for us!
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Q. What is our music studio policy on long fingernails?
A. In general, we take a “follow the child” and “follow the student” approach to everything. We believe in helping students become autonomous people who make decisions for themselves. We provide guidance and make recommendations, when appropriate, but except with concerns for health, safety, ethics, and emergencies, we strive not to tell others what to do, including students.
With regard to fingernails, similarly, we encourage students to make their own decision about whether or how much they should trim them. Even if this means an imperfect technique, or required workarounds, etc. Some students find a way to make long fingernails work for them. Others decide to trim their nails. But we (the teachers) do not mandate either; rather, we celebrate our students’ tenacity. If the student can make their awesome long painted nails work, however they like, more power to them!
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Thank you, everyone, for all that you do!
Have a magical Saturday, a musical weekend, and a safe and healthy coming week.
Musical Ladder System Login and Setup
Here are the basic steps for getting set up in the Musical Ladder System as a teacher.
You will receive an email from Office noting that your username is your email address. Click through to set your password, which must be 8 characters long, contain 1 lowercase, 1 capital, 1 number, and 1 symbol (enter twice for confirmation). Agree to the terms and conditions, and click through some additional pages.
Once in the Web Portal, if you teach at more than one school (including the travel studio), then you will have the option to Select School on the upper left hand side of the window. This allows you to switch between Laguna Niguel School of Music, Dennis Frayne Travel Studio, and later, Lake Forest School of Music.
Once there, you will see your students and their level on the Musical Ladder. If you click the plus + icon next to a student, the listing expands, revealing the option to add notes, and to add a test. (See more about tests below.)
The right hand side of the screen features a calendar as well as three sections:
Upcoming Events
My Scheduled Tests
Projected Unscheduled Tests (your students will likely appear in this list, initially, with various months in the current and possibly upcoming year listed.
About Tests
The Musical Ladder System calls them tests, and they can be tests, but they can also be other types of goals and milestones. Accomplishments can be: written tests, oral tests, playing tests, performances (including in-lesson, at-home, Forum, recitals, at school talent shows, and more), memorization of some material, completion of a task or project, reading or research and then a written or oral report, demonstration of a new skill, a self-assessment, and many more.
Remember, students NEVER fail their test or are unsuccessful in reaching their scheduled milestone and level. It is your responsibility, as their teacher, to define their goal at each level in a manner that ensures that they attain their goal, every time.
In the Musical Ladder System, tests have three features which can be selected:
Date Scheduled (required)
Date Completed (optional, enter once completed)
Notes (optional, enter once completed)
Once a test is scheduled, it appears in the calendar and the appropriate section on the right hand side of the main window.
Please browse around and get to know the Musical Ladder System. More instructions will follow as we continue our launch!
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Thank you,
Dennis Frayne
"Dr. Dennis"
Laguna Niguel School of Music
Dennis Frayne Music Studios
30110 Crown Valley Pkwy, Suites 105/107/108
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 844-9051 (office cell)
(949) 468-8040 (personal cell)
www.lagunaniguelschoolofmusic.com
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