Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much to everyone who was able to come out to the informational meeting tonight. I am so excited to get started with the Orchestra Academy! If you weren’t able to make it, below is the informational letter that I handed out. It should answer most of your questions. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me at lisa@orchestraacademy.co. And don’t forget, if you want to join us by our first rehearsal (next Monday, October 1st), there are two steps: register on the website, and get an instrument!
Orchestra Academy
Mondays from 11:30am – 1:00pm
Turnberry Elementary
13069 E 106th Pl
Commerce City, CO 80022
www.orchestraacademy.co
lisa@orchestraacademy.co
Follow on Facebook and Instagram: @orchestraacademy
Purpose: Provide beginning orchestra teaching to students in 27J
Schedule: Every Monday from 11:30am – 1:00pm, starting October 1st, 2018
*No rehearsal on November 19th, 2018 due to Thanksgiving Week*
Tentative Concert Date: December 6th, 2018
We will also continue the orchestra academy into next semester, with another concert in the Spring of 2019.
Bi-Weekly Updates: I plan to post bi-weekly updates with videos to help your students at home. I will post one on Tuesday or Wednesday that reviews what we worked on that Monday, and another on Thursday or Friday that gives a “challenge” that kids should work on at home and be ready to perform the following Monday. I will post these on the website, on our Facebook and Instagram pages, and I will also send a mass email when they are posted. Please be sure to watch these, and most of all, have your student practice!! Home practice is a MUST since we will only be meeting once a week.
Fee: $125/per student for the Fall semester
Fee is due Monday, October 1st, 2018. Can be paid in cash, check (made payable to Lisa Badal), or sent via PayPal to lisa@orchestraacademy.co
If Fee isn’t paid by October 15th, 2018, a $20 late fee will be issued.
If Fee isn’t paid by November 1st, 2018, student can no longer attend the Orchestra Academy.
If you would like to set up a payment plan (monthly, biweekly, so on), talk to Mrs. Badal directly.
Fee includes:
- Music
- Instruction fees
- Space reservation costs
- Liability insurance costs
- Other costs (advertising, programs, etc)
Fee does NOT include:
- Instrument
- Bow
- Rosin
- Shoulder rest (violin/viola)
- Rock stop (cello/bass)
Instruments: All students will be required to provide their own instrument.
**WORD OF WARNING**
DO NOT be tricked into buying an instrument on Amazon. They seem like a good deal, and they have some good (fake!!) reviews, but the only brands that Amazon sells are extremely poor quality, are shipped unassembled (leaving you needing to pay a music store to set it up), and are often made incorrectly so as to make them unpayable. Do yourself a favor and buy or rent from a reputable music store!
Good places to rent or buy an instrument:
- Music and Arts (7250 W. 88th Ave in Arvada)
- Universal Music (1200 E 104th Ave in Thornton)
- Shar Music (sharmusic.com)
Good places to buy an instrument (no rentals that I could see):
- Rockley’s Music Center (8555 W. Colfax Ave in Lakewood)
- Flesher-Hinton Music Co (5890 W. 44th Ave in Wheat Ridge)
- Southwest Strings (swstrings.com)
**I highly recommend renting an instrument. It is a great way to be able to use a decent quality instrument at a small price. The music store will keep track of your rental purchases, and you can eventually put that money towards purchase of an instrument if you desire**
ALSO, string instruments come in all different sizes. Go to a music store to be measured!
If you have any questions, always feel free to contact me at lisa@orchestraacademy.co. I will do my best to answer your question in a timely manner. Thank you so much for your support of the arts!
Lisa Badal
Orchestra Academy Director