Student Spotlight:
Maggie & Thomas D.
1. How long have you taken music lessons?
Thomas: About 15 months
Maggie: 1 year
2. What instrument(s) do you play?
Thomas: Piano
Maggie: Piano at Brighter Minds, Viola (school orchestra), and Voice (in the all girls choir, Partners in Praise)
3. Who are your favorite musical artists?
Thomas: I like the songs I learn at school, so all different artists. I also movie and video game soundtracks, like Encanto and Planet Coaster
Maggie: Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer Tobias Lija
4. What are your short and long term goals with music?
Thomas: I want to keep learning more on piano and pick another instrument to learn in middle school.
Maggie: Long term, I'd like to play music in a professional orchestra. Short term, I'd like to learn how to improvise on the piano.
5. What is your favorite part about taking music lessons?
Thomas: Learning new music and lessons are fun!
Maggie: I get time to play on the piano and learn more about music.
6. What are your hobbies?
Thomas: video games, reading, arts and crafts, making stop motion movies, and sewing
Maggie: Writing stories, drawing, fishing, archery, and reading
7. What are some of your favorite foods?
Thomas: pasta, pizza, Olive Garden!
Maggie: pizza!, apple pie
8. What is the coolest thing you've learned in your lessons recently?
Thomas: I'm working on a song to play in my school talent show.
Maggie: Instead of playing the melody, I've learned to play chords to add the harmonization
9. Do you have any performances coming up or have you had a performance recently?
Thomas: The winter concert on Feb 6 and my school talent show in the spring
Maggie: The winter concert on Feb 6
10. Why should other people play music?
Thomas: Because it's fun and your music can help other people have a good time.
Maggie: Music brings out creative sides of people. It's fun to just let your fingers move and it gives you a sense of freedom.
“I love that both kids have grown in confidence in their playing and have pushed themselves to work with their teachers to learn new songs and build their skills. I love when they practice at home and I can hear them playing specific songs as well as experimenting with their own sounds. ”
We love making music with your family each week! Thomas and Maggie come to their lessons ready to learn and are making steady progress.
Maggie is learning a piece that she picked out based on a video game music, and she is figuring out the chords to go along and how to make it fancy using different combinations of rhythm, chord inversions, dynamics and range on the piano. It is so much fun working through the different musical possibilities with her. She is willing to try something new.
I love how Thomas has taken the initiative to prepare music for a holiday sing-a-long at Grandma’s, and how he wants to share multiple songs for the recital and play piano while friends sing along at his school’s talent show. Keep up the great music making!
We would like to thank Maggie & Thomas’ family for referring their friends to Brighter Minds Music.
~ Emily Ireland, Owner, Director