Opus Music School March 2021 Newsletter
In Person Reopening Update
Los Angeles County has moved to the Red Tier as of March 12th and our teachers and staff are gradually getting vaccinated! Hopefully the positive trend will continue and as more teachers become fully vaccinated, we can start the gradual reopening of our school for in-person lessons.
Opus Music School tentative reopening schedule (subject to change):
April (Trial)
Limited reopening on select days throughout the month (invitation only)
May (Phase 1)
Begin phasing in Opus teachers, with most teachers in person one day a week starting 5/3
June to July (Phase 2)
Gradual phase-in of teachers/days (schedule TBA)
Date TBA (Projected Early Fall)
Full reopening of Opus
We ask for your patience as we reopen in stages to ensure we maintain capacity requirements for the safety of everyone in our Opus community.
For active Opus students: We will notify you.
Active Opus students will be given priority to return for in-person lessons. Once it is confirmed that your teacher will be teaching in person on your lesson day, we will notify you via text and email. We just need 24 hours notice from you if you plan to come to Opus for in-person lessons. As a reminder, virtual lessons will always be an option for anyone who would feel more comfortable continuing with virtual lessons on Zoom.
If you are NOT currently an active Opus student (new or former Opus student): Get on our waiting list.
In the initial months, there will be limited open in-person spots available since we must adhere to safety and capacity requirements. Given the recent demand for in-person lesson requests, we now have a Waiting List for new or former students who would like to be contacted as soon as an in-person spot is available in your desired instrument. Please fill out the Waiting List form and you will be contacted in the order requests are received.
Or, to secure a spot more immediately, you are welcome to start with virtual lessons so that you can secure a specific lesson time/teacher, and have priority over new students when returning for in-person lessons. View virtual lesson availability.
The health and safety of our students and staff is, as always, our number one priority so when you return we will continue to maintain social distancing, sanitary guidelines, and mandatory masks to ensure the safety of everyone involved. We want to make sure that coming back to Opus is a safe and positive experience for everyone.
We will be emailing updates on our school reopening plan on a regular basis as well as keeping our COVID-19 Reopening Update webpage up to date. We can't wait to see everyone again soon!
Free Virtual Drum Class Starting Saturdays
Drop in on our FREE weekly "Opus Rock Stars" class! We will teach you how to play the drums using your body and everyday items around the house. Make your body sound like a real drum set by tapping body parts and stomping your feet. Use household items such as kitchen utensils, pillows etc. to make drumming sounds around the house, accompanied by real tracks by rock artists such as Queen, Bruno Mars, and Imagine Dragons. The class will be taught by Mr. Francis Cassol, a professional/touring drummer and instructor of Opus Music School.
Date: Saturdays starting 4/10
Time: 9am - 9:45am
Location: Zoom (RSVP for Zoom link)
Cost: Free
Each class will end with a private concert of Mr. Francis, showing off his mega skills on the drum set. Join one class or all! It's free and all ages welcome!
March Madness - Vote in the Final Round
(This was written as of 3/22/21. The contest has now ended and voting is now closed. View results page to see who won.) Our Opus March Madness contest is still going strong! We'd like to take a moment to thank all 44 students who have entered. Each and every one of your performances came out truly fantastic and you should all be incredibly proud of yourselves. And another thank you to your friends and family for their support - we received over 1700 votes in the first round of voting alone!
As we enter the final round your votes have narrowed it down to our 3 finalists!
Top 3 Finalists:
Jonathan P. performing "Fur Elise" on Piano
Selena S. performing "The Middle" on Piano and Voice
Tristan K. performing "Kryptonite" on Drums
We'd like to congratulate the other semifinalists who made it to our 2nd round of voting!
Semifinalists:
Alexandra P.
Caleb B.
Leandro E.
We would also like to highlight the recipients who have been selected by our school's founder, Ms. Theresa, to receive the special Director's Award for their outstanding talent and promising music potential!
Director's Award Recipients:
Daniel F.
Kevin T.
Lauren K.
Mahimaa B.
Mikayla E.
Let's give a big virtual round of applause for our amazing finalists and Director's Award recipients!
The contest isn't over yet though, so don't forget to vote for your favorite performance from our Top 3 Finalists and check our Instagram on Monday 3/29 to see who will become our first ever Opus March Madness Grand Champion! Good luck everyone!
March 2021 Student of the Month!
Student Name: Mia T.
Age: 10
Instrument: Piano
Teacher's Name: Ms. Maorin
1. What do you like the most about taking music lessons at Opus Music School?
Friendly staff and great teacher.
2. What do you like the most about your teacher?
Ms.Maorin helps me improve my piano technique skills and she is very patient especially during zoom meetings.
3. What is your favorite piece to play and why?
"Russian Sailor Dance" because the tempo makes me want to dance.
4. What challenges have you faced when learning music and how did you overcome it?
Using Zoom Meetings, its harder to not having the direct interface with Ms. Maorin especially when I don't know how to play certain part of the music, but I will practice first before our session and ask Ms.Maorin to show it in her piano.
5. What is your goal with music?
To play more classical music and be able to play any songs.
6. What makes you unique? What are some of your other interests?
Because there's only one me on this planet earth 🌏 😊 I like to bike, swim, and making slimes.
Congratulations Mia! Keep up all the hard work!
Congrats Opus Students Chloe and Kaden!
Let's all give a huge round of applause to two of Mr. Tim's spectacular double bass students, Kaden and Chloe W.! This dynamic brother and sister duo recently received some much deserved recognition for their hard work and excellence in bass playing.
Chloe was accepted into the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) Middle School Honors Orchestra and Kaden was accepted into the SCSBOA High School Honors Symphonic Orchestra! Both students had to prepare an audition to show off their skills which included playing an excerpt selected by the SCSBOA as well as playing through some selected scales.
Congratulations to both of these amazing students, all of us here at Opus are so proud of you! We know you both will continue to wow us with your musical accomplishments!
Do you have a musical achievement you want to share? Let us know for the chance to be featured in future newsletters/social media posts!
Anna T. Ellie L.
Bethany G. Emmy R.
Christopher E. Ian O.
Elise C. Marcello M.
Elton C. Riona L.
Savannah G.
As we pass the 1-year anniversary of moving to exclusively online lessons, I am happy to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as more people in LA County become eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Now that LA County opened up their distribution plans to those who work in the education sector as of March 1st, we have started the efforts at Opus Music School to vaccinate our staff and are making plans for the reopening of our school.
While it seemed that time slowed down when the pandemic first appeared, the last few months seemingly went by at an incredibly fast rate. We have experienced several momentous events over the past year: an unprecedented world pandemic, the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, the riot at the US Capital building, and most recently, a mass shooting targeting Asian-Americans in Atlanta.
Being a Chinese-Korean-American female, I cannot help but feel great sadness for the attacks and violence that have been rising towards towards Asian-Americans in the last several months. In addition, I relate and identify with the frustration that many Asian-Americans across our nation have been feeling.
Asians have been known as the "model minority." Historically we've been known to stay quiet and not make any trouble. Others may see us as passive or submissive, so an easy target to bully. Then, due to COVID, many people have been suffering. Some people want someone to blame and take their anger out on. This has made Asians a target and has led to hate crimes across the nation.
There is a movement recently starting where Asians are not being silent anymore. In fact, I debated whether I should make a statement here. But if I remained silent, that would only further worsen the cause. So I want to encourage you to learn more about the #stopasianhate movement and open up the dialogue about anti-racism in general. Reading this message is a great step, so thank you for reading my personal message.
I am proud that Opus Music School is an Asian-American owned business made up of a widely diverse student base and staff. Within our Opus community, we have never looked at race, only the desire and love for music. Since our founding, we have strived for the inclusion of all types of people no matter the background. We see our community as fellow music lovers, and music has been the universal language that has connected us all and transcended any of our differences. So I want to thank you for being a part of Opus, and allowing us to be a part of you and your family's lives.
In light of all that has occurred in the past year, we will be affixing a permanent wall quote that will be displayed at Opus Music School:
"Music crosses all bridges, borders, and cultures to connect us all."
Racism didn't occur overnight and it won't go away overnight either. But in our interactions with each other, we can practice being present for each other and exude compassion, empathy, awareness and non-judgment, and be a good example to our children. Change can occur, little by little. The Opus community and the community of Hacienda Heights have made us feel so welcome. We are grateful for your continuing support of this Asian-American owned business.
Sincerely,
Ms. Theresa Cheng