Winter Quarter 2003-2004

Music Arts Caught Discriminating!

We admit it. We’ve been guilty of age discrimination.

In the past, our annual Composition Contest was open only to school-age Music Arts students. If you were over 18 years old, you were Not Wanted!! Go away!!

This year, everything’s changed. Adult students are invited to join in the fun. If you’re 18 or older, you’ll have a special category so you won’t be competing with all those little kids. You know how heartless you’d look if you beat out an 8-year-old! Or how sick you’d feel if your opus came in second to a 10-year-old’s piece!

So go for it!

• Whatever your age — Develop your creativity! Come to terms with note values! The contest is your chance to express yourself in an original composition.
• Any length (even 8 bars is better than no bars!).
• Any instrument (doesn’t have to be the one you’re studying – how about a concerto for harmonica?).
• Any form (ditch the concerto, how about a theme and variations, or maybe a dishsoap jingle?).

We’d like to see each and every student – all 400 or so – submit a piece they’re written. (Ouch, the poor judges!)

Get busy! If you don’t have staff paper, your instructor will be glad to give you a sheet. Need help? Of course you do! And that’s why your instructor stands ready and willing to give you advice.

The deadline, as usual, is February 1. And we’ll give out prize ribbons to the winners in each category. You’ll want to submit your piece (yes, it can be computer generated if you like) with a tape/CD recording made by you or friends or even your instructor.

There’s a separate category for ensemble works. Write something for orchestra and you might get to hear it played, and maybe publicly performed, by the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra!

And all winning pieces are added to our music library!

Donors Appreciated!

The checks are still coming in, and thanks to all of you who have already donated to the Music Arts Fund.

If you haven’t but would still like to help support our Scholarships and other special programs, please include something extra with your Winter Quarter payment! We’ll take any amount.... but a minimum of $25 will get your name on our recital programs as a Patron. There are also categories for Benefactor and Mentor, and if you give $200 or more, you’ll be a Grantor!

Since we’re a non-profit, anything you give is tax deductible.

Shameless Bribe - Win free lessons!

As usual, for each new referral (someone whose family hasn’t studied with Music Arts for the past four years) who completes a full Quarter of lessons, you’ll earn one free lesson, and that’s good for two years, a possible total of 8 free lessons! (See "Do you give discounts" in the Music Arts Student Guide.)

But now, if you’re the top referrer during the past 6 months, you’ll win an extra two quarters of free lessons! As many as 24 lessons in addition to your usual “take!” It could be worth over $600 to you! (Maximum of 12 half-hour lessons per each of two Quarters, and credits can’t be carried forward or returned for cash.)

Hey, get busy -- our special Referral Contest is draws to a close on December 31.

A word of warning: Although we always try to find out how a new student learned of Music Arts, sometimes we might not find out that you were the person who referred them to us. So if you’ve tipped someone off about how wonderful Music Arts is, but we haven’t let you know that they’ve joined, two things might be wrong: Maybe they didn’t remember that you referred them, or (horrors!) maybe they’ve been putting off calling us. Let us know!!

Acoustic or Electric? Which Type of Instrument?
By Rudolph Nemeth