Conway Institute of Music Monthly - December 2019 Thank you Central Arkansas for voting us the Best for Music Lessons! Our students and their parents are what makes us great! Important Dates Winter Recital - Saturday, 12/21/19 December 23-January 1, 2020: Winter Break - NO LESSONS How To Measure Progress Did you know our Director Jim Skelton has written an Amazon #1 best selling book “The Ultimate Guide to Music Lessons”? Here’s an excerpt that can help you decide if your child is ready for music lessons. Enjoy and email us your feedback! Student success is highlighted during recitals and through achievement programs, such as our Musical Ladder System®. Be sure to communicate regularly with your teacher and listen in on the last five minutes of your child’s lesson. My school has parent portal software, and I encourage parents to utilize this resource. Log in, read the teacher’s practice notes, and consider them as an indication of your child’s progress. One of the best things a child can do is to practice their instrument at home. If they are young or new to the instrument, their practice sessions may last from five to ten minutes at first. As time goes on and the child improves, they may eventually practice for 20 or 30 minutes. Consider this: If your hobby is golf, and you get busy for two weeks and can’t play, are you going to throw your golf club in the lake and forget about it? Or are you going to resume when your schedule permits? Children deserve the same respect and level of patience that you would give yourself. There are currently 115 schools in the U.S. and Canada that utilize the Musical Ladder System® with their students. This allows for children to see breakthroughs in their progress every three months. It’s important for kids to be rewarded at certain levels so that they’re continually engaged and motivated to perform better each week. To make sure that your child is progressing in their skills, follow my three-step action plan: Ensure your child takes achievement tests every three months. Allow your child to participate in recitals every six months. Pop into the last five minutes of the lesson as often as you can. This is a helpful action plan for any parent to follow during their child’s musical journey. As a parent, you will be supportive enough if you follow these three steps. This requires faith in your teacher’s curriculum and trust in the school’s administration. If you follow these steps and discover that you aren’t happy with the results, then find a different professional to work with your child. At the end of the day, parents need to trust the process and feel good about it. Take it from someone who has been in the industry for a long time, the process is incredibly strong and can allow for the parent and child to be happy.  Parents from all backgrounds—whether it’s a small business, corporate America, or military—can value being held accountable for one’s work. We incorporate this philosophy into our curriculum. Merry Christmas Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at CIM! We hope that your Christmas is full of family and friends! Turn up the Christmas tunes and enjoy the holiday break! Here at CIM, we want everyone to have a wonderful holiday and DON'T FORGET NO LESSONS during Winter Break, December 23-January 1! We will see you back on Thursday 1/2/20! Give The Gift of Music Give the gift that will never wear out,         get broken or be too small!      Music Lessons! You can purchase a gift certificate for          a loved one by calling us at          501-450-2931! Give the gift of music this Christmas! Pet of the Month Meet Kitty Whiskers! Guitar student Gunner added another member to his family! Kitty Whiskers is his new 3 month old kitty! How sweet! One lucky winner every month will be spotlighted in our newsletter! CIM will also donate $100 to a local animal rescue organization! Stay tuned to meet our next Pet of the Month! Please email us a picture of your pet at info@conwayinstituteofmusic.com 10 Year Celebration Come and celebrate our 10th anniversary! We want to say THANK YOU to our incredible students for helping us share our love for music with our community! We want to invite all of you to our Student Appreciation Party! Where: Conway Institute of Music When: January 19, 2020 2-5pm Feel free to bring your family and friends! Let's CELEBRATE! Celebrating Student Achievement  The Musical Ladder System® The Conway Institute of Music is the only music school in the Arkansas that gives their students the opportunity to earn special color wristband bracelets (kids and teens love them!), trophies AND certificates for passing musical tests with the Musical Ladder System®. Do other schools offer trophies and certificates? A few. But none of them inspire their students with smiling faces by giving them full color, really cool “Musical Ladder System®” wristbands that they can show off to their friends. More importantly when our students have a test coming up, they practice more, their parents are proud, their teachers are proud, and everybody wins! Pictured: Piano student Noah earned his Champion trophy! Pictured: Drum student Lucy earned her Master trophy! Pictured: Drum student Mason earned his Prodigy trophy!  Pictured: Piano student Paisley earned her Songbird trophy!!  Pictured: Vocal student Gage earned his Adept trophy! Pictured: Piano student Haven earned her Rockstar trophy! Pictured: Drum & Guitar students Jake & Luke earned their Prodigy trophy! Pictured: Vocal student Adien earned her Prodigy trophy! Pictured: Drum student Luke earned his Songbird trophy! Pictured: Drum student Peyton earned his Rockstar trophy! Pictured: Vocal student Julie earned her Prima trophy! Pictured: Bass student Ethan earned his Rockstar trophy! Congratulations, everyone!! To learn more about how the system can help your child to get better grades, improved confidence, and self esteem and more, please email us at: info@conwayinstituteofmusic.com New Referral Rewards Check out some photos from our last Hogwild Pizza Party! Refer your friends today and become a part of the fun! Thank You Central Arkansas! Please welcome the 40 new students who enrolled last month! Jane F Radale G Chloe J Tucker P Katie C Colt H Ally N Madeline B Zain Y Brittany C Anna G Will S Carley M Corey B Kayden J Cody S Cara M Kyle J Jessi P Raven H Alli O Gavin E Luke T Kendall R Riley S River F Solomon C Thomas C Lucas N Roynetta M Sylvia C Amanda C Lane B William S Garrett M Austin K Taylor B Emma L Is Your Teacher Sold Out? Can't make your lesson this week? No worries! Sign up for our free 1 hour group makeup lessons! Unlimited and you can try any instrument! Many of our teachers are almost sold out and some teachers are sold out. If you need a schedule change or would like to be added to a waiting list for a particular teacher, day, or time, please contact our office staff team and they can add you to the waiting list. If you are not a student yet there is still limited lesson spots available.  To inquire about openings for December and January send an e-mail to info@conwayinstituteofmusic.com , or you can call the office at 501-450-2931 DRUMS: Evan • Tuesday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Thursday: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Monday & Wednesday: SOLD OUT Addison • Monday: FIVE SPOTS LEFT., Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Friday: TWO SPOTS LEFT Jeremy • ALL TIMES SOLD OUT Israel •  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Thursday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Friday: SOLD OUT GUITAR: Jeremy • ALL TIMES SOLD OUT Israel •  Tuesday: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Wednesday: ONE SPOT LEFT., Thursday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Monday: SOLD OUT Tyler • Monday: FOUR SPOTS LEFT, Friday: SOLD OUT , Wednesday, Thursday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Tuesday: ONE SPOT LEFT Jim • Mondays: ONE SPOT LEFT, Tuesdays & Wednesdays: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Fridays: ONE SPOT LEFT. Mike • ALL TIMES SOLD OUT Jordan • Mondays: FIVE SPOTS LEFT, Tuesdays & Wednesdays: FOUR SPOTS LEFT., Thursdays: FOUR SPOTS LEFT. Cameron • Mondays: FOUR SPOTS LEFT, Tuesdays & Wednesdays: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Thursdays: FOUR SPOTS LEFT. VOICE/PIANO: Jeremy • ALL TIMES SOLD OUT Haley •  Tuesdays & Fridays: ONE SPOT LEFT., Monday, Wednesday, Thursdays : SOLD OUT Blake • Mondays, Wednesday, Friday: SOLD OUT., Tuesday & Thursday: ONE SPOT LEFT Mark • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Wednesday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Tuesday, Friday: SOLD OUT Israel •  Tuesday, Wednesday: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Thursday: TWO SPOTS LEFT., Friday: SOLD OUT Celina • ALL TIMES SOLD OUT Rebekah • Mondays: TWO SPOTS LEFT, Tuesdays: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Wednesdays: TWO SPOTS LEFT Cameron • Mondays: FOUR SPOTS LEFT, Tuesdays & Wednesdays: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Thursdays: FOUR SPOTS LEFT. VIOLIN/VIOLA/CELLO: Lisa •  Monday: ONE SPOT LEFT., Tuesday, Friday: SOLD OUT., Wednesday: THREE SPOTS LEFT., Thursday: ONE SPOT LEFT. It's easy to take the next step: Lessons are first come, first serve  so contact us today to arrange your first lesson! (501) 450-2931 info@conwayinstituteofmusic.com 945 Carson Cove #103, Conway, Arkansas Offering quality Guitar, Vocal, Singing, Bass, Drums, Piano and Violin lessons in Conway, Greenbrier, Vilonia, Mayflower, and all of Central Arkansas.