Fall 2020 Newsletter

JMS Newsletter

Fall 2020

From the director……

We here at JMS are celebrating the beginning of a new school year! In spite of such a challenging spring and summer, we are growing, thriving, and joyful to be making music with all of you. Welcome to all of you, including a number of new students and families.

Let’s catch up on some fun faculty news. Sarah Boren has a new puppy named Cheddar! She has new piano students and still has room for some harp students, so if you know anyone interested please send them her way. She has small harps for rent (these are similar in price to renting violins). She also continues to teach music theory, class piano, and music appreciation at John Wood. Stephen Javaux is now a part-time firefighter as well as full-time paramedic, and is continuing his Suzuki Cello teacher training. He will be working on book 6 this fall. Hannah Javaux will continue helping out with River Strings. She is getting married in October so her new name will be Mrs. Fournier. Stephanie Javaux will be taking more Suzuki training this year as well, studying with Terry Durbin for books 7 and 8. Since the last Javaux child officially moved out and on to grad school last week, there is an empty bedroom upstairs…..but not for long! New teacher, Analisa Bean will begin teaching violin in that space on Wednesday afternoons. We welcome her as a new violin instructor. When not teaching she is busy taking care of her little boy Silas. Alyssa Pyne will also be joining us this year, as an additional piano accompanist. Our school size has grown to the point Sarah needs help keeping up with this, especially during recital times. You can read details about our new teachers and their qualifications on our website. We are so thankful and honored to have each one of our staff come to our school with degrees, education, Suzuki training, and lots of experience.

This school year you will notice the calendar online is a little empty right now. Usually it is full of a year full of performances and activities for the school. Since it is difficult to plan far in advance you will need to keep checking that calendar for updated information. We will be planning one month at a time rather than the whole year. Things may look different than previous years, but we are determined to find ways to play together and perform for others. Dr. Suzuki developed the method of teaching during war times, to bring joy to children. Now more than ever our students need the joy, routine, and beauty of music in their lives.

So what do we do about COVID? We here at JMS have always heavily involved the parents in the learning process and that isn’t going to change. Our goal is to make every family comfortable, so please communicate with your teacher your comfort level on things. We offer hand sanitizer, clean spaces, distancing whenever possible, and more. If a student/parent is sick, please don’t come to lessons! If teachers are sick or health is questionable, they will notify you. Stay flexible and kind to everyone involved, and please don’t take advantage of Facetime/Zoom lessons for convenience. Virtual lessons are just not as good as in-person, and are more challenging for the teacher. You get the most out of lessons that are in-person (see our online lesson policy on the JMS website). That being said, we realize virtual lessons might have to be used a bit more due to quarantines, illness, etc. Please use your best judgement and do what you can to make weekly in person lessons happen.

Grateful for you all,

Stephanie Javaux

Director/Instructor, Javaux Music School