Opus Music School February 2021 Newsletter
Opus March Madness Music Contest Submissions Open Today!
The time has come: the Opus March Madness Music Video Contest submissions website is now open! You can now go to our March Madness Site and upload your video until 3/7. The first 25 participants to upload a video will get a free Opus face mask in addition to a merch prize bag.
Here is more info about our contest:
Video Submission Guidelines:
You must be a current active student of Opus Music School.
Video record yourself performing a song of your choice, up to 5 minutes in length.
Glam up your background and dress to impress - the sky's the limit!
Upload your video to our website by Friday, 3/7/21 at 11:59 PM.
Voting Rounds:
Video submissions accepted: Monday 2/15 to Sunday 3/7 at 11:59PM. The first 25 students to submit their video will also receive a free Opus face mask!
Round 1 of voting: Week of 3/8 on our website
Semifinals (top 6) voting: Week of 3/15 on our social media (Instagram and Facebook)
Finals (top 3) voting: Week of 3/22 on our social media (Instagram and Facebook)
Champion announced: Monday 3/29!
Prizes:
We put together some really amazing prizes together so we hope you're as excited as we are! Winners will be determined based on the number of votes/likes in our voting rounds.
1st Place Champion: $100 gift card of your choice (Apple, Amazon or Target) and an Opus Merch Box
2nd Place Winner: $50 gift card and an Opus Merch Box
3rd Place Winner: $25 gift card and an Opus Merch Box
All Participants: Opus Merch Bag and the first 25 students to submit their video will receive a free Opus face mask!
Opus Merch Box
Opus Merch Bag
Prize for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Place Winners:
Opus Merch Box
Prize for All Participants:
Opus Merch Bag
(First 25 submissions get an Opus face mask!)
Be sure to follow us on Instagram @opusmusicschool for updates and to vote for your favorite videos!
New Opus Face Masks!
When we sent out our care packages last summer, we had lots of parents inquiring about how they could get more of the custom Opus face masks that we had included in each box. That got us thinking about other ways our students could show off their music spirit and style, and thus our brand new Opus Music School Merch shop was launched in February!
At this time we have four different patterns of face masks available:
Opus the Octopus face mask
Jellyfish Music face mask
Symphony face mask
Graffiti face mask
All of the face masks are 100% cotton 3 layer masks with a filter and available in adult and youth sizes. Support our local small business and shop at www.opusmusicschool.com/merch.
We're Giving Away a
Casio Keyboard!
For the month of February, love and luck are in the air as we host our very first Instagram giveaway! One lucky winner will be receiving a brand new Casio brand keyboard to help expand their musical horizons!
Entering our giveaway is super easy too! Simply follow us on Instagram @opusmusicschool, like our Giveaway Instagram Post and tag 3 friends in the comments!
All entries will be accepted until 2/28. For more information on the giveaway and a full list of terms and conditions you can head to www.opusmusicschool.com/giveaway. Good luck!
'Online vs. In-Person Music Lessons - Which is Better?' Blog Post
Over the last year we've been making lots of new and exciting changes here at Opus such as our new student web portal and our redesigned website. One of the newest things you can find on our website is the launch of Opus Music School's official blog, called Music Memos! We'll be updating the website regularly with new blog posts that we've written to help with you or your child's musical journey!
Our first blog post "Online vs. In-Person Music Lessons - Which is Better?" was written for parents or adult students to give some extra guidance and insight into what teaching format will best suit you and your lifestyle. You can find this first blog up now on our website!
If you have any thoughts or ideas for future music education topics, please let us know by emailing our office at info@opusmusicschool.com. We love getting to hear from our students and parents and we hope these blog posts can be a great resource to you all!
Black History Month Spotlight
All of us here at Opus hope you have been having a wonderful Black History Month! If you follow us on Instagram you may have seen some of our diversity series posts about such influential black musicians such as Scott Joplin and Billie Holiday, and we wanted to bring some awesome facts and recognition to our newsletter too! Today we're talking about the legendary Diana Ross!
Diana Ross' was born on March 26th 1944 in the city of Detroit. Her music career began while she was still in high school when she started the music group 'The Primettes', the all female counterpart to a group called 'The Primes' who later moved onto become 'The Temptations'! After high school they signed a deal with Motown Records and became 'The Supremes', recording 10 #1 singles in their time together and becoming the 2nd top selling music group of all time.
In 1970 Diana Ross left 'The Supremes' to start her solo career, going on to record many iconic tracks such as 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' and 'Upside Down'. She later went on to a career in acting, starring as Billie Holiday in her biographical film "Lady Sings the Blues" and even performing on Broadway as Dorothy in "The Wiz"!
Diana Ross' career has inspired countless other artists and has earned her countless awards and nominations. She's even considered to be the most successful female artist of the 20th century according to the Guiness Book of World Records!
JANUARY 2021 STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Student Name: Isabella (Izzy)
Age: 17
Instrument: Voice
Teacher's Name: Mr. Troy
1. What do you like the most about taking music lessons at Opus Music School?
My lessons give me the ability to learn how to control my voice and sing at different ranges with ease.
2. What do you like the most about your teacher?
I like that we get along well and he's able to help me be a better singer while making things fun.
3. What is your favorite piece to play and why?
My favorite song to sing is "Don't Watch Me Cry" by Jorja Smith because I like how she changes her voice throughout her song.
4. What challenges have you faced when learning music and how did you overcome it?
My biggest challenge has been learning how to do vibrato and I overcame it with a lot of practice.
5. What is your goal with music?
My goal is to be better than Mr. Troy.
6. What makes you unique? What are some of your other interests?
I can still match musical notes even with my newer hearing impairment. My other interests are animals and cheerleading.
Congratulations Izzy! Keep on being a superstar!!
February 2021 Student of the Month!
Student Name: Kerrie
Age: 12
Instrument: Piano
Opus Teacher's Name: Ms. Melissa
1. What do you like the most about taking music lessons at Opus Music School?
I love taking music lessons at Opus Music School because all the teachers and staff are friendly and supportive.
2. What do you like the most about your teacher?
What I like most about Ms. Melissa is that she encourages me when I am having a difficult time with a piece. Plus, she gives me the option to choose which pieces I want to learn.
3. What is your favorite piece to play and why?
My favorite pieces to play are "Fur Elise" by Beethoven and "Turkish March" by Mozart. I like to play these pieces because they are very famous and fun to play.
4. What challenges have you faced when learning music and how did you overcome it?
One of the challenges I have faced when learning music is getting frustrated with a difficult piano piece. I overcome it by splitting it up into smaller sections. I practice a section over and over again before I move on.
5. What is your goal with music?
My goal with music is to have fun, practice my technique and play with more emotion.
6. What makes you unique? What are some of your other interests?
I am unique because I enjoy going to school and having different hobbies. Some of my interests are playing basketball for my school and club teams, being a Girl Scout Cadette, ice skating and doing arts & crafts.
Way to go Kerrie! Keep up the amazing work!
Aaria B. Kieryn W.
Ana F. Leo B.
Aiden H Liam C.
Audrey B Mia F.
Christian S. Mila G.
Daniel R. Natalie M.
Delilah C. Neeya V.
Emet R. Noam O.
Emma L. Oliver C.
Evelyn C. Vienne L.
Flynn H. Rishi R.
Tiffany P.
Welcome to our new students who just joined us, and thank you to our staff and teachers for your tireless commitment to virtual music lessons. I hope all of you are having a good start to your year. We at Opus have been working hard and are excited to be releasing some new upcoming programs!
The first being our March Madness Contest. For those of you who are sports fans, you know that March Madness bracket pools are a popular and fun activity this time of year. We have taken a fun twist on it and will be hosting a March Madness Online Music Video Contest. This will give students a way to show off their talents online and have an objective to work towards. Who knows, we may even see our next viral music superstar! I hope many of you will participate to win great prizes including gift cards and Opus merch!
We hope you have been staying safe. While Opus will be remaining online with virtual lessons for the time being, I hope you are ready to get excited, because once it is deemed safe to reopen, we are planning an epic reopening bash with a return to live music and have some exciting things we are looking forward to plan for our students and community. We are committed to you and keeping music alive during and after this pandemic.
We acknowledge and commend you for your commitment to music and the arts during this time. Let's continue supporting our fellow musicians to get us through the last stages of this unprecedented world event.
Sincerely,
Ms. Theresa Cheng
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