“Hi Keira, how old are you and how long you’ve been taking

piano lessons at TLP Music School?”

“I’m 14 years old and I take lessons here for 4 years.”

“What are you going to spend your gift certificate on?”

“Most likely on music.”

“What kind of music you like to play the most?”

“Up beat jazzy tunes.”

“Who is your favorite composer?”

“Chick Corea.”

“Would you recommend TLP Music School to your friends? And

if yes, can you tell us why?”

“Yes. Because you don’t teach just by the book but you teach

me what I really want to learn.”

“Well, good luck to you and CONGRATULATIONS!

June 2017 e-Newsletter

In this issue:

• Summer Sched-

ule & Programs

• Student Of The

Month Award

• Question Of The

Month:

What’s The Best

Way To Learn

How To Read

Music?

• Who Is This Guy?

Composers We

Should Know

• Recital Time:

Are You Ready?

• How To Win In

2017 Referral

Contest

06/01/20107

Important Dates:

• 6/10

SPRING RECITALS

• 7/3-4

Independence

Day: CLOSED

• 9/4

Labor Day:

CLOSED

• 11/23-26

Thanksgiving:

CLOSED

• 12/22 - 1/2

Christmas Break:

CLOSED

Summer Schedule & Programs

Dear Parents and Students,

As every year, TLP Music School is open during July and August providing you with uninterrupted les-

sons in our comfortable airconditioned studios. We already sent out e-memo with all the information

how the summer works. You can also find it in May issue of our e-Newsletter in case you missed it at

http://tlp-musicschool.com/e-newsletter/ or you can pick up a copy of an info-flyer while visiting our

school in the reception area. We wish you all great relaxing summer filled with beautiful weather,

sandy beaches, good food and lot of MUSIC.

Peter Klapka

1 Bryce Dr., Merrimack, NH 03054

Phone: (603) 493-9214

Website: tlp-musicschool.com

Student of the Month Award

One of our students gets rewarded each month with the “Student of the Month Award” for the hard

work, commitment and achievement in music. It is to show how much we value and appreciate the

effort of our students they put into their music studies.

Each “Student of the Month” receives:

• Official “Student of the Month Certificate”

• Really cool “Student of the Month custom made bracelet” available ONLY from TLP Music

School

• $25.00 Gift Card from Amazon.com

… and the “Student Of The Month” for June 2017 is:

Keira L. (piano)

Question Of The Month:

What is the best way to learn how to read music?

Page 2 June 2017 e-Newsletter

“Music expresses

that which cannot

be put into words

and that which

cannot remain

silent”

― Victor Hugo

First, it is very important to fully understand how the notation system works to succeed without

frustration. It is not as complicated as people think.

There are only seven notes in music alphabet A-B-C-D-E-F-G

and they repeat over and over covering the range of each instrument. If they go up, from lower to

higher sounding tones, they follow the letters of alphabet forward A-B-C-D-E-F-G. If they go down,

from higher to lower sounding tones, they follow the letters of alphabet backwards G-F-E-D-C-B-A.

Putting the notes on music staff

Notes that represent the tones are written on music staff - graph that is built from 5 lines with 4

spaces between them. They are numbered from the bottom to the top. Notes are placed either on

lines or in spaces. Lower sounding notes sit lower on the staff while higher sounding notes sit high-

er on the staff. They follow the pattern line-space-line-space etc...

Assigning Clefs

There is a wide variety of music instruments with different ranges that would not fit only on one

staff. That is why we use clefs. The clef is a sign that sits at the beginning of the music staff and

tells us how to read the notes on that particular staff. For most of the instruments we use either

treble clef or bass clef. Treble clef is for writing high notes while bass clef is for writing low notes.

How it all works

Now, let’s put it all together.

• The notes do NOT look the same. You have to see the WHOLE picture - not just the note but

also its position on the music staff. The note that is written on the first line looks certainly

VERY different from the note that is written in the third space.

• The notes that follow form a phrase - just like the letters form a word. We must see them in

these groups just like we see the words. We do not see individual letters when we read the

language either.

• First, we need to realize which way we go next - up or down.

• Second, we need to see how far is the next note from the one we currently play.

If we play the note on line and the next one is in adjacent space, it must be the next note in the

music alphabet: B-C going up or B-A going down. The same goes for space to line scenario. We call

this a STEP.

If we play the note on line and the next one is on the next line, we must skip a letter in the music

alphabet: D-F going up or D-B going down. The same goes for space to space scenario. We call this

a SKIP. Steps and skips will help you to read notes faster and easier.

Many famous melodies are made just from steps and skips. However, the notes can be further

apart and that is why we need to work on visual recognition of notes so we can recognize them the

same way we recognize the letters. One way to accomplish this is to do exercises with flashcards.

Start with notes on lines. Then learn the notes in spaces. Then mix them all together. You’ll be

reading music in no time. It’s not that hard!

You will appreciate and enjoy playing music much more if you learn how to read music well.

It should not take you more than two weeks to learn the notes in one clef and become a good

reader!

Do YOU have a ques-

tion?

Then feel free to e-mail

it to:

peter@tlp-

musicschool.com

Page 3 June 2017 e-Newsletter

Who is this guy? (Composers we should know)

Antonin DVORAK (1841 - 1904)

Considered the greatest composer that the Czech nation ever produced, Antonin Dvorak wrote a career’s worth of classical works for orchestra, symphony, and choir that survive as some of the most majestic and acclaimed works of nineteenth-century Romantic music. Dvorak’s most lasting legacy to musical history, however, is the way in which he infused his work with melodies and ele-ments from Bohemian folk tunes, Gypsy rhythms, and even African-American spirituals.

1. Music, mead and meat

Born in a small village north of Prague, Antonin Dvořák was the eldest of 14 children. His father was a professional zither player, an innkeeper and a butcher. Folk music accompanied every family occasion, and young Antonin soon joined his father in the local band – and served as an apprentice butcher.

2. The aspiring young composer

The youthful Dvořák studied organ, violin, piano and - less successfully - the German language. He played viola in the Bohemian Provisional Theatre Orchestra, performing in restaurants and at balls. In 1871, he resigned from the orchestra to concentrate on composing, scraping a living by teaching the piano.

3. Dvořák in love

In 1873 Dvořák married his wife Anna Čermáková, after courting and being turned down by her sister, Josefina. Dvořák and his wife had nine children in total – six survived infancy. After his marriage, he left the orchestra to be a church organist which guar-anteed better income, greater social status and more time to compose.

4. Dvořák's best-selling dances

In 1877, on Brahms' recommendation, the publisher Simrock commissioned Dvořák to write some Slavonic Dances for piano duet. Aimed at the lucrative domestic market, the sheet music for the eight dances sold out in one day.

5. Dvořák the trainspotter

Away from music Dvořák was a committed train spotter, spending hours at the Franz Josef railway station in Prague. It’s said he knew the timetable off by heart. And when teaching, he would always ask his pupils to describe in detail any train journeys that they had recently made.

6. Expelled from the Athenaeum Club

Dvořák was particularly popular in Britain. He visited nine times and some of his major works received their world premieres in Birmingham, London and Leeds. On one occasion, when Dvořák was in London to oversee a performance of his Piano Concerto at Crystal Palace, he was thrown out of the Athenaeum Club. He’d mistaken it for a coffee house and was immediately evicted.

7. A lucrative contract in the New World

It was the lure of an amazing fee that persuaded Dvořák to venture to New York. For a little teaching and conducting, with four month's vacation, he was promised the unimaginable salary of $15,000 - 25 times what he was paid in Prague, and worth about £500,000 in today's terms. While there, he developed a new passion for steam ships – and pigeons.

8. Symphony No.9

During his time in America, Dvořák produced three of his most famous works - the String Quartet No.12, known as the 'American', the Cello Concerto in B minor, and the 'New World' Symphony. When he premiered the symphony, critics disagreed over whether it was an all-American symphony or just more of Dvořák’s usual Bohemian fare.

9. The funeral of Antonin Dvořák

Dvořák died aged 62 from a stroke on 1 May 1904, following five weeks of illness. He left behind many unfinished works. In 1943, an American Liberty ship of the U.S. Navy was named USNS Antonín Dvořák in his honour.

RECITAL TIME - Are You Ready?

Our SPRING RECITALS are scheduled this year for Saturday, June 10. It is getting close - REALLY

CLOSE! So, practice, practice, practice...

As always there will be two different shows at 3:00 and at 7:30 PM. The tickets are sold at the door

half hour before the show time. Admission is $12.00 per person and $8.00 for children under 8 years

of age. There is no charge for students who perform.

We are working together with our students on a great show that will showcase their talent and show

you how much progress they made this year. There will be plenty of great music, memorable perfor-

mances, fun, laughter and yummy refreshments. Feel free to invite all your friends.

Don’t miss it!

Date: Saturday, June 10, 2017

Time: 3:00 and 7:30 PM

Place: VFW Post 8641, 282 Daniel Webster Hwy, Merrimack, NH 03054

You can have this beautiful Williams Rhapsody Digital Piano or Epiphone Les Paul with amazing Peavey

Envoy amp under the Christmas tree this year. All you have to do is refer six new students to our school

between June 15 and December 15 2017. That’s only one referral a month! The only condition: all your

referrals have to take at least three consecutive months of lessons with us. It is a very nice present

(over $700.00 value) for just

spreading the word around!

How to win in 2017 Referral Contest (and have one of these under your Christmas tree

this year)