September 27, 2025: Saturday Remix
Teachers and Staff: Happy Saturday!
Congratulations to students and teachers who performed in our theme recital last night, “Songs of America” at Chamber Music OC in Lake Forest. It was a wonderful event! Thank you, as always, Miss Suzanne for coordinating things, and to Miss Grace, Miss Josephine, and Mr. Denny for their assistance in preparations and performances!
Next recitals coming up: Fall (“Halloween & The Harvest” - October 25 & November 1) and Winter (“Christmas & The Holidays” - December 18 & 22).
Off-weeks coming up for the Fall quarter run from October 28 through November 2, and then over Thanksgiving from November 24 through November 30.
Headphones, Adapters, & Classroom Management
Every new student receives a tote bag with various books, materials, supplies, and gear, including ear buds. Please encourage your students to keep everything in their tote bags and bring them to every lesson.
There are also headphones and ¼ inch adapters in every lesson room that has an electric keyboard. The headphones can be used when students don’t have their ear buds. Please take care of them and always put them back in their homes when finished. Teach students how to care for their gear and equipment, and their lesson rooms in general.
Please pay close attention to students when using the adapters. Some students have figured out how to twist and break them. Please employ good classroom management strategies to ensure students don’t fiddle with and break equipment.
Classroom Management Strategies
Good classroom management strategies center around proactive procedures, processes, routines, and setting clear expectations, rather than reacting to the unexpected. Proactive strategies include a) intentionally encouraging students to care for their environment (have discussions with them about this, get them on board, and set a good example), b) intentionally teaching procedures to use things (equipment, instruments, gear, etc.), and practicing them, and c) consistently following step-by-step set-up and tear-down / put-away processes and routines.
Walk through your procedures, processes, and routines every lesson: slowly, carefully, deliberately, and intentionally.
Q: If a student arrives late for their lesson, should I add additional time at the end?
A: No. When a student arrives late for their lesson, their lesson still ends at the scheduled time. It is okay if you go over a minute or two, but no more than that.
As always, we go by the “61 minutes, not 59 minutes” rule. We try to always give students maximum value and never cheat them, even out of one minute, when they arrive on time. But the number of minutes changes when they arrive late: all lessons need to stay on schedule and end at the scheduled time.
Also, please remember, if your student arrives late, or is a no-show, you should wait for your student during their entire lesson time, in case they arrive very late. Use the time effectively while you are waiting. It has happened many times where a student arrives 30+ minutes late, and was very pleased to find their teacher there waiting for them. In this case they can at least get some portion of their lesson time, however short.
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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.
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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