Hawk Music Academy: End-Spring / Start-Fall 2023 Newsletter

Welcome Back!

End-Spring / Start-Fall 2023

In this Issue:

Letter from the Hawks
Summer camp photos
Upcoming deadlines & events
Make-up policy
Spring Recital Awards
Graduated seniors
Toddler Tunes
Student news
Faculty news
Join our orchestras!

Dear Hawk Music Academy Families, Faculty and Staff,

We hope you all had a great summer! Ours started with a trip to Colorado to see Dawn's family. Her parents live on open land and have a storage container home. Their off-grid living inspired her to search out alternative home solutions, so she signed up for a cob building workshop near Greenville, Tennessee, where they learned how to build a house out of natural materials - wood, earth, gravel and water. This spurred on a search for land and animals, which led to our newest family member, Lucille (aka Lucy), the bunny. We will be getting another in about a month, who we will name Linus. If you don't get that joke, listen to Linus & Lucy here! Our summer ended with a trip to Florida to visit Eric's family, which included a visit to Disney World to celebrate Lilu's 3rd birthday.

The summer was also full with the most music camps we have ever had at Hawk Music Academy! See pictures below!

We wish you all a great academic year and look forward to seeing and hearing you at our events!

The Hawks,

Dawn (Dr. Dawn/Dr. D), Eric (Doc Hawk) and Lilu

The five pups: Luna, Wall-E, Aggie, Toby and Pippin

Lucy, the bunny

Lilu, cooling off at the cob workshop. She loved playing in the mud and helping us mix the cob.

Lucy, our 3-month old Holland Lop bunny.

2023 Summer Camps

Thank you to our wonderful teachers, Doc Hawk, Martha Carroll, Ian Florence, Ingrid Rosen, and Sally Walsh, who organized, participated in, and taught these camps!

Music Explorers Camp

Ukulele Camp

All-But-Classical Camp

Chamber & Composition Camp

Upcoming Deadlines & Events

Sep. 8 - Sign up for in-person participation in Fall Recitals on Oct. 8 & 15 (Online participants submit videos by Oct. 15) *Sign up will open by 9am this Friday!
Sep. 9 - Sign up for Performance Classes on Sep. 16 & 17
Nov. 4 - Sign up for Performance Classes on Nov. 11 & 12
Dec. 8 - Sign up for Movie Night on Dec. 15
Dec. 19 - Youtube Winter Recital video submission deadline

For more information and details, click on the "2023-2024 Events" link

on the Student Login page.

Student Login

Updates to our 2023-2024 calendar

Dr. Heston McCranie's Violin/Viola/Cello Masterclass will be on Saturday, February 3, 2024 from 4:00-7:00pm.

The Spring Awards Recitals will be held on two dates only: Saturdays, May 18 and 25, with the Honors Recital as the last concert on the 25th. The location has also been changed to Greater Heights Church in Cumming.

View/Print the Updated 2023-2024 Calendar

2023-2024 Lessons Breakdown

Make-Up Policy Reminder

*For more details, see the Policies & Registration forms on the Student Login page.

Attendance is expected weekly August through May, with the exception of Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, and Spring Break. ONLY ONE MAKEUP per semester is allowed for students who give their instructor 24-hour notice or reasonable notification depending on the circumstance (sudden illness, for example). Make-ups will not be carried over from one semester to the next. No show/no notification lessons will not be made up and will not receive a lesson credit.

Make-Up Policy FAQs

Spring Recital Awards

Congratulations to all students for participating in our

Spring Awards Recitals on May 6 and 7!

Here are the 2022-2023 Highest Achievers!

*New for 2023-2024: The Highest Achiever Award will only be awarded to students who have not missed their weekly practice goals. We have also added a "High" Achiever Award for students who only miss their practice goal up to twice per semester.

Lia Apraez

Shreya Aravind

Ivana Albin

Reese Bakir

Aashna Bavera

Josephine Casto

Tolley Casto

Hannah Chanthaphonh

Isabelle Chelladorai

Joshua Chelladorai

Christopher Chen

Ashley Cornell

John Dawson

Eustace Dcosta

Aryaman Dhar

Ayati Dubey

Jessica Ganji

Aishani Gupta

Devin Haynes

Aadhya Harish

Deannah Jacob

Priya Jani

James Jia

Anzar Khan

Raeesa Khan

Emma Kraus

Sahana Ganesh Krishna

Rebecca Gimenez

Anika Gopishyam

Abigail Lacy

Scott Lee

Aashya Madadi

Bodhee Menon

Aaditya Mohankumar

Diya Mohankumar

Shriya Mulimani

Lexy Myers

Doncia Nigesh

Myra Nilangekar

Greer Olson

Rahi Patel

Savi Patel

Soni Patel

Chinmay Prashanth

Kirtana Prashanth

Rachel Rhem

Aradhya Rohit

Vanya Sethia

Kavish Shah

Daivik Singh

Atharva Somyajula

Aarika Srivastava

Ayaan Srivastava

Sharini Sundaravaradan

Anastassia St. Joseph

Surabhi Upadhya

Aiva Vegeleviciute

Arturas Vegelevicius

Anika Vemula

Elaine Wang

Congratulations to our 2022-2023 Perfect Attendance students!

Aashna Bavera

Aryan Bavera

Anika Bethi

Advik Bulusu

Anna Julia Cavalcante

Christopher Chen

Ashley Cornell

John Dawson

Emma Daye

Abigail Ekokobe

Toji Her

Niyathi Gorti

Aishani Gupta

Priya Jani

Siddharth Reddy Kamireddy

Abigail Lacy

Vaishnavi Maringanti

Doncia Nigesh

Darshan Pravinth

Diya Pravinth

Roxanne Rothenburger

Ayaansh Sahai

Gaia Santosh

Daivik Singh

Surabhi Upadhya

Shalini Vivek

Nikhil Yeturi

Tim Yuan

Good luck to our graduated seniors!

Class of 2023

A note from Dr. Dawn -

I often get asked, "How do music lessons help with college admissions?" There are numerous studies that verify how music lessons and exposure help develop the brain. Without going into those details, music lessons also help students with discipline and focus. They learn goal setting, time management, how to be more organized, performing in public...The list goes on and on for these lifelong skills that help guide them for their future paths. Additionally, involvement in music lessons and events, like festivals and examinations, are big resume boosters for college applications, to show a student is more well-rounded.

We are very proud of the students listed below who got accepted into these prestigious schools!

Ayush Banerjee, graduated from Alpharetta High School. He will attend Georgia Tech as an Electrical Engineering major. He has been a piano student of Dr. Dawn Hawk for the past six years. Under her guidance, he completed all of the Level 10 Royal Conservatory of Music exams in Piano, History, and Harmony with Honors. He performed well in many piano competitions, from the GMTA auditions, to the Federation Festivals where he participated in both Piano Solo and Theory events. Besides playing the piano, he is a programmer and enjoys making robots. He has been a swimmer on his school's state varsity team and a competitive chess player for many years.

"I have to thank Ms. Dawn for allowing me to channel my creativity and discipline through piano, and I have implemented these skills and lessons in other parts of my life."

Jessica Ganji, graduated from South Forsyth High School. She will attend Georgia Tech's Study Abroad program in France, to kick off her college career. She plans to pursue a music degree to be a piano teacher :) She has been taking piano lessons since the 2nd grade and switched to Dr. Dawn Hawk in the 7th grade. She has been actively involved in the Federation Festival, where she has received awards in composition and also earned a 45 point cup in piano solo - a trophy that takes 9 years to earn! She has also participated in the GMTA auditions and has performed in Hawk Music Academy's Concerto Concert for several years. Some of her favorite hobbies are trying new restaurants and watching movies in bed. Fun fact - Jessica was Lilu's first babysitter. We will miss her dearly!

Meghna Iyer, Meghna Iyer graduated from Brookwood High School. She will be attending the Georgia Institute of Technology in the fall, majoring in Biology, with the hopes of eventually becoming a pediatrician. She started taking Suzuki piano and violin lessons at the age of four and has been taking private piano lessons with Dr. Dawn D. Hawk since the age of six. She has participated in the Federation Festivals, NFMTA Fall Festivals, and recitals throughout her time as part of Hawk Music Academy. She has also been learning an Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam, since the age of seven. She has been a part of her school’s orchestra, playing the violin. In her spare time, she works as a virtual office assistant for Hawk Music Academy.

Meghna and "Ms. Dawn" in 2011 at a UGA recital.

Saahil Gaonkar - in his words!

Hey everyone! My name is Saahil Gaonkar, I am a graduating senior from Alliance Academy for Innovation, and I am attending the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) as an Aerospace Engineering (AE) major this coming Fall 2023. Some fun facts about me and my piano career is that I have been a pianist for 13 years, and a composer for 7 years. Piano has been a rather amazing passion of mine, and being able to create songs has expanded my creativity like none other. I am set to completing the 10th level of the RCM exams this late May (Practical) and August (Harmony). Through Mrs. Dawn, whom I've been a student for since 5th/6th grade (2015-2016), I have gone from learning from her via Piano Alpharetta to shifting to the Hawk Music Academy. Some accomplishments of mine are that I've achieved Superiors in both Fall & Federation Festivals since 2015(?), I'm a member of multiple honor societies, and I've created and finalized compositions of my own, ready to be published. I do want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, to Mrs. Dawn. She's always been so understanding, forgiving, and supportive of me and my practice, and throughout this journey, she's always been there for me. I am eternally grateful for her, and I am going to deeply miss her when I go off to college. Hopefully, I can come back as a teacher for HMA, but only time, and my final exam grades, will tell :).

Update: Saahil completed his Level 10 Royal Conservatory of Music exams by finishing the Harmony exam a few weeks ago!

Here is his amazing impromptu performance of an original composition right after he took his exam! Saahil also had some composition lessons from Dr. S. Eric Hawk during his time at HMA.

Priya Jani graduated from Lambert High School. She is an Indian classical dancer, knitter, and avid reader, whose favorite book is All the Light We Cannot See. She has been learning piano for more than ten years and has been with Ms. Dawn since the 6th grade. Priya would like to thank Ms. Dawn and her parents for their tireless support. She will be attending the University of Georgia in the fall for Pre-Medicine and is looking forward to this new chapter of her life!

Alex Shoulders graduated from Chattahoochee High School, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for Chemical-Biological Engineering this fall. He started piano lessons with Dr. S. Eric Hawk 6 years ago, but advanced so quickly that he soon moved to Dr. Dawn D. Hawk. Under her tutelage, he completed the Royal Conservatory of Music Exams through Level 9 in his junior year and decided to take his senior year off of piano exams and just play for fun! Alex has participated in numerous GMTA auditions, performed in several Hawk Music Academy Concerto Concerts, and also received both 30 point cups for piano solo and theory for the Federation Festival - a six year accomplishment! He has also been to the Science Olympiad state tournament and has played violin in his high school orchestra where he had the opportunity to play in the Fulton County Honor Orchestra.

Arnav "Arny" Somaraju graduated from Lambert High School and will be attending the University of Georgia in the fall as a pre-med major with a minor in viola performance. This year, he was named a National Merit Scholar and was admitted into the Honors College at UGA. He first met Dr. Eric Hawk at Fulton Science Academy in the 6th grade, where Doc Hawk handed him his first viola in orchestra class. He has been taking private viola lessons with Doc Hawk for four years and has also participated in the Symphony Orchestra of North Georgia (SONG). In his spare time, Arny loves video games and specialty coffee.

Toddler Tunes

Like our private lessons, our Toddler Tunes program is open year-round! Toddler Tunes is open to ages 18 months through early 4 year olds. The goal of our TT program is to set up each student for a successful transition into traditional private lessons, which are typically for ages 4 through adults.