Swan Festival was a Success!
Thank you to all the current students and future students/parents who visited us at our booth at the Swan Festival. It was great to see everyone out enjoying the fine (hot!) summer weather and great food (yum, yum). Daddy-O and Blues Alley were awesome headline bands that rocked the crowds and kept them dancing. RC, leader of both bands, teaches music lessons here at Onset Village Music on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It's an outstanding opportunity to learn more about music from someone who is a professional performer as well as having been a instructor for many years.**
Wasn't it fun to be able to try out the xylophone, snare drum, violin, and guitar? Parents took pictures of their kids rocking out on the guitar and taking a turn tap, tap, tapping out a rhythm on the drum. The most requested instrument to try was the violin. Faces lit up as the string instrument made a sound and smiles followed. Music! What a fun day!
**In fact, most of our instructors are professional musicians who actively gig in the area. Check the links on this website to see where your teacher is performing in the near future.**
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Band Instrument Rental
School band instrument rental season is coming up in August and September. Parents: you will be receiving information from the schools about school instrument rental evenings. The school department invites a school band instrument rental company to visit the school and demonstrate various band instruments. However, you are not obligated to rent the instrument from that particular company. You can shop around, compare prices and service, and rent your student's instrument from the vendor of your choice.
Onset Village Music offers band instrument rentals through Veritas Instrument Rental Incorporated. By the second week of August, the shipment of band instruments available to rent will be arriving in the store. If your child knows what instrument they are going to pursue in the fall, come in to check out our prices. As well as having the lowest rental rates in the area, we also have staff available who can tell you about the instrument and what to expect as the student starts to play. You will be more confident about your rental options and your student will be really excited about playing music as the new school year kicks off.
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There are a number of ways to receive communication from the studio and for us to receive feedback from our students, parents and supporters. You can email us: onsetvillagemusic@yahoo.com. We check this every day and answer all e mails regularly.
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Band Instrument Tips:
For students who already play a band instrument: we have reeds, oil, cleaning rods, grease and mouthpieces in stock. We also recommend using pad savers inside clarinets and flutes. This saves the pads (hence, the name pad saver) from wear caused by moisture. Also, be aware that clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces can be washed out using warm water and a little (tiny) bit of dish soap. Sometimes instruments are brought into the store to be serviced and the mouthpieces have a month's worth of the school lunch menu in them (yuck). To keep mouthpieces cleaner, rinse your mouth with water before playing. This gets stray food particles down the drain and keeps the entire instrument cleaner. Remove the reeds from the mouthpieces as well when you have finished playing. Store them in the holder that they came in. If a reed is even a tiny bit chipped, it should be discarded. The instrument is very difficult to play with a chipped reed.
Every band student should have (really MUST have) a music stand. In order to get the most out of practice time, the music book needs to be on a stand - not on the bed, propped against the window sill or on the kitchen table. Proper posture while playing an instrument is essential. Folding music stands are available in black or nickel finish and cost only $16.95. A worthwhile investment for every student.
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