For the health and safety of students and staff, please sanitize your hands when entering the studio and wear a mask or stay at home if you are under the weather. We can switch to Zoom or send a video lesson if you are sick. | |
With the wet, snowy weather upon us, please remember to remove soiled footwear and leave it at the front door. Thank you for helping to keep our studio as clean as possible during the mucky seasons! | |
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS
January
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Monday, January 16 - Saturday, January 28: During our Parent Week(s) we invite you to join your child for the last 10 minutes of their lesson so we can talk about goals for the upcoming year.
- WeJam start dates:
- Teens - Saturday, January 21
- Adults - Thursday, January 26
- Vocal Chorus start dates:
- Thursday, January 19
- Saturday, January 21
- Musical Maestros for Little Ones:
- Tuesday, January 17
- Thursday, January 19
- Saturday, January 21
- Musical Maestros for Preschoolers:
- Thursday, January 19
- Saturday, January 21
February
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Wednesday, February 1: Registration begins for the Sherwood Park Music Festival.
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Friday, February 3 (at noon): Last day to apply for the Iris Evans Scholarship for the Performing Arts (through the Sherwood Park Music Festival).
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Saturday, February18 - Monday, February 20: Crescendo will be closed for Family Day weekend. Regular classes resume on Tuesday, February 21.
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Wednesday, February 22: Last day to register for the Sherwood Park Music Festival. But we need your details by early February to help you with the registration process.
March
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Monday, March 27 - Friday, March 31: Crescendo will be closed for Spring Break. Regular classes resume on Saturday, April 1.
April
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Friday, April 7 - Sunday, April 9: Crescendo will be closed for the Easter Long Weekend. Regular classes resume on Monday, April 10.
Click here to see the full year calendar
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Meaghan Harvey
Meaghan Harvey performs with teacher, Taylor Price, at Crescendo's Christmas Recital 2022. Enjoy this fun performance!
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New Year Activity
Here's a fun activity to do at the beginning of the new year and it also makes a great keepsake!
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HOW
TO
PREVENT
VOCAL
S T R A I N
“There is one thing I should say, and it’s important: Young Broadway singers and anybody who is an orator of any kind – lawyers who have to speak in court or pastors or anyone who has a lot of stress on their vocal cords: You should do the maintenance. You should do whatever it takes to feel fresh and good.”
– Julie Andrews, Actress & Singer
Each time you use your voice, you place strain on your body. This is something you should take into consideration before giving a lengthy speech or singing. It is highly recommended that you properly and completely warm up your voice before any performance or singing! At Crescendo Music Studios, at least five minutes of every voice lesson will include a thorough vocal warm-up. Not only is this a great way to exercise and stretch your voice to become a better vocalist, but it will help to protect you from vocal harm. Remember, when practicing at home you should also be warming up!
Why We Should Warm Up Our Bodies:
Did you know…our vocal cords aren’t the only part of our body that gets a workout when we sing? The intense vibration that comes from singing has an impact on many other parts of the body. This is one of the reasons why our bodies need to be warmed up and prepared before we can begin singing. When we warm up the diaphragm and intercostal muscles (the many different muscle groups that run between the ribs), we can avoid injury AND we can improve our projection and power by supporting the breath. Proper breath support does include muscle support!
A Few Body Warm-Ups To Try:
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Try bending and stretching to your toes, doing gentle twists of your torso and finding a neutral position that feels comfortable and supported. It is important to find our “neutral position” for proper support. Try some quality yoga exercises on YouTube — these can be a wonderful way to both relax AND warm up! Here's a good one by Vox Yoga.
- Activate your facial muscles! Practice making big faces and then small faces, stretched faces and squishy faces.
- Try smiling big then frowning, lifting eyebrows and relaxing. Try making a really loud gum chewing sound and massaging the jaw muscle with the palm of your hand (nice and flat). It may feel a little silly but it does help you to prepare ALL your muscles for vocal and facial expression!
- Activate your lungs and RELAX your face muscles. Try breathing deeply for 4 beats, then hissing out for 8 beats. Move to 8 in and 16 out, then 16 in and 32 out, and so on.
- Try breathing slowly through your nose while lifting your arms out at your sides, and then hissing out slowly while lowering your arms.
- Try reaching as far in the air as you can while “climbing a ladder” like a monkey, left then right, then left, then right.
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Crescendo students performing at RavenWood 2022! | |
RavenWood Music Festival 2023
The Festival is back to 2 days!
Friday, June 23 and Saturday, June 24, 2023
If you would like to volunteer, please email [email protected]
Check out RavenWood's website for more information.
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The Encore Music Foundation is focused on providing collaborative music education and experiences for underprivileged youth, and we're excited to be partnering with the owners of Origin Road in this endeavour.
The name "Encore" comes from our vision to help youth in our community:
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ENgage with their passion for music!
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COllaborate together to create music and opportunities.
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REalize their artistic and personal potential through music.
Interested in learning more about Encore Music Foundation? Please click the button below to visit our website. We would love to hear from you!
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Follow us on Social Media - We're Really Very Social! | |
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