Registration Closed

Thank you, everyone, for your availability and preferences! I have drafted a schedule for fall and am polishing it today. I’ll publish as soon as a get a few questions answered from a few of you. As expected, the schedule for fall is full, so the wait list is open.

More to come on an individual basis — watch your email and texts. I’ll be all up in your business today and tomorrow. Fall lessons start Monday, August 5.

Fall 2019 Availability Due July 30

It is finally time to fill out the A&P form for fall. Heck yes.

Please consider your schedules through the end of the semester and fill out the form by Tuesday, July 30. Make sure you also consider your musician’s family members’ schedules, fall sports, the fall musical, academic competitions, or whatever other pursuits might mess with a regular lesson slot. You can fill out the form separately for each musician or once for several siblings — whatever will be the clearest way to convey your actual availability.

Even if you have told me in an email or face to face, please fill out the form. The info you enter goes directly into a spreadsheet that I can sort. And filter. And nerd out on (which I will definitely do).

The fall schedule runs from August 5 through December 14, including fall break and Halloween* but excluding the holidays listed on the Key Info page.

If you took a minimum of six lessons over the summer, you’ve got a spot for fall. Even if you didn’t, you still might have a spot for fall, so fill out the form to signal your intentions. I’d love to have you if I can possibly mesh our schedules. And I will do my best.

*I usually open up an adjacent Saturday to replace Halloween lessons so my ghouls and goblins can choose to roam the streets on the 31st. Boo!

Recital 2019 Pictures

Hey, hey! Recital pictures are available here! Click and grab the pics of your musicians. Password is in your email.

Fall 2019

Fall schedule starts August 5 and goes through December 14. Lessons are offered on the regular schedule over fall break, but we will take a break for Thanksgiving. Halloween lessons can be moved to the following Saturday morning if you prefer. Because trick-or-treating is important business.

There will be various performance opportunities during the fall and into December. Lessons end mid-December and will resume after the new year.

More to come. It’ll be super excellent.

Those Summer Niii-hiiiiights (a.k.a. June and July Lessons)

Keep your spot on the fall calendar by securing a minimum number of summer lessons. That minimum number is 6, but you can have 8 if you like — all squished into the 7 lesson weeks of summer, deftly maneuvering around your vacations, camps, birthdays, river days, mountain nights, and visiting relatives.

You will have a regularly scheduled lesson slot, just like fall and spring. But unlike fall and spring, you can fully rearrange your lessons within the June/July time frame. During regular fall and spring sessions, rescheduled lessons should be within a week of the lesson that needs to move, but during summer session, our freer schedules makes fantastic arrangements possible.

Want to have all 8 lessons in June? Do it. All 6 in July? Cool. One weekly lesson just like fall and spring? We’re on. It’s up to you within the framework.

Speaking of the framework, here it is by week:

• June 3 — regular schedule (week 1)

• June 10 — regular schedule (week 2)

• June 17 — regular schedule (week 3)

• June 24 — regular schedule (week 4)

• July 1 — No lessons! I’ll be out of state at my niece’s wedding. Mazel tov!

• July 8 — regular schedule (week 5)

• July 15 — regular schedule (week 6)

• July 22 — regular schedule (week 7)

• July 29 — No lessons! This will be a fall planning week because the fall schedule starts in full swing the following week.

So plan your vacations with confidence! Invite your relatives to visit! Let the shenanigans ensue! All of this without missing out on music lessons — everybody wins.

Recital 2019

This post will be updated regularly as details develop. [last update: May 7]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! I can hardly wait for you all to hear each other.

Photography

There will be a professional photographer at each recital session, and the photos will be made available to you by about mid-June on a password-protected page on the website (or similar). With your consent, I’d like to add some of the best shots to the public pages. More to come on this soon!

Refreshments

Parents are invited to bring refreshments to their session of recital. If you’d rather be on setup or cleanup, I need that kind of help as well, so yes! If you and your spouse both plan to be on setup, claim two slots. Able-bodies kids also going to help? Cool. Just don’t claim a slot for your musician who needs to be warming up and settling down. Sign up here!

It really takes all of us to make this thing fly, so thank you!

The Basics

• The recital will be split into three sessions over two days. Perform in one. Attend as many as you like.

• Sign up for the number of minutes your performance takes. For example, if your performance takes about 3 minutes, you need 3 recital slots with your name on them.

• Parents will be asked to either bring refreshments or pitch in on setup/cleanup. Sign up here!

• Anyone who wants to come is invited to come. Does Grandma need a soft seat up front? Let me know now, and I’ll make it happen.

• Look your best! Fancy shoes, makeup, ties, jackets, jewelry, or whatever makes you feel confident and as attractive as you can be — wear that. Just make sure you can perform in your outfit.

• Performers should be inside the venue 20-25 minutes before showtime.

• Singers will warm up as a group at 15 minutes before showtime in the green room. This will be a 5-minute exercise.

• Amps, guitars, cables, or any props should be in place at least 10 minutes before showtime. Guitars should be tuned and amps should be adjusted for the room.

• Guests should be seated by a couple of minutes before showtime because we will start on time, come heck or medium water.

• Make sure nothing in your control will beep, flash, ring, or otherwise take us out of the moment. Double check this.

• In general, wait to applaud until the current performer relaxes.

• Breathe! Breathe some more!

• Ms. Lauren will perform a different aria at each recital session. Which one will you hear?

Three Shows, Two Days, Two Venues

Make sure you know which venue you’ll be playing in.

• 7:00 pm, Friday, May 17 — Addison building (7405 S Addison Ct, Aurora, CO 80016)

• 10:00 am, Saturday, May 18 — Addison building (7405 S Addison Ct, Aurora, CO 80016)

• 7:00 pm, Saturday, May 18 — Dorado building (21750 E Dorado Ave, Aurora, CO 80015)

Improvisation

Everyone who is ready and interested is welcome to take a turn at improvising during the recital. This is optional. I will play lots of choruses of a 12-bar blues (or a ii-V-I if that’s what we practiced together) on the piano, and musicians will rotate through, taking 12 or 24 measures. Singers and non-amped guitarists will need to line up at mics while pianists can line up by the piano. Hear something awesome that somebody else just did? Riff on that, cats. Riff on that.

Once you blow, stay up at the front so we can all high-five afterward and take a bow together. It’ll be cool.

On Recital Day

Upon arrival at the venue, performers should go directly to the green room (follow arrows) to sign in. This is very helpful to me, so don’t forget to mark yourself present. Tune and warm up either in the green room or in one of the many side rooms, and then place your equipment in the performance space. Singers will have a 5-minute group warmup in the green room at precisely 15 minutes to showtime (this can include you if you are singing while playing your main instrument) — so this is a good time to warm up somewhere else if you are not singing.

Food should be taken to the serving area (follow signs).

Remember that everyone in the building is rooting for you and will listen with loving and eager ears. You are good at this, and this is as fun as you are prepared. So relax. Breathe. Make music.

Recital Slots

In order to keep the three sections of the recital roughly even in duration, my brilliant plan is to have students sign up for time slots as though they are minutes. For example, if I’m planning to play one piece that is almost four minutes long, I’d need to sign up for four time slots. If I’m playing two pieces that are two minutes long and three minutes long, I’d need to sign up for five time slots.

Quick note — you can sign up for the recital only after you have signed up for a section of performance class.

Performance Class as Prerequisite

Recital performances must be preceded by a performance at one of the many performance classes provided for your scheduling/performing convenience. If your performance at performance class is less than glorious, you may sign up for a second shot at a subsequent performance class. So sign up for as early a slot as you can be ready for and get ready to rock.

At performance class, you and a few other students will perform your memorized pieces for each other. There will be bowing and applause. Parents and siblings are welcome to attend. When you are not performing, your job is to stay engaged and root for the current performer. I will give general tips to everybody at the end.

Goal: to feel nervous and still successfully make music. What will you feel like when you’re nervous? Only an actual performance can help you answer that question. You might get sweaty, giddy, irritable, sleepy, shaky, snacky, numb, hot, cold, or some other pleasant or unpleasant feeling. You might feel all of those things in rapid succession, none of them at all, or some of them in combination. And that’s okay. It’s normal, in fact.

This is your shot to still play or sing artfully in spite of whatever is happening in your guts, soul, or just that one sweaty armpit. Performance practice will help (and is a skill that is wildly applicable to the rest of your life), so when it comes time for the real recital, you will already know you can do it.

In the meantime, memorize your pieces! Go practice! Make music!

Peregrine Nights

We have been invited to perform at Peregrine Senior Living, a memory care and assisted living facility close to my home studio. Your performance will replace your lesson for the week.

Because schedules at this time of year are completely wacky, you have four options to choose from. Each evening’s events will begin at 6 pm (please arrive no later than 5:50 pm). At 7 pm, after the show, you are all cordially invited to my home for some delicious refreshments, back-patting, and maybe even a sing-along if we feel like it.

Get your creative juices flowing! What would be awesome and fun?

You may certainly collaborate with other musicians — even if they are not my students. You may perform more than once if the second piece is a collaboration of some kind. You do not need to memorize your piece(s) for Peregrine. You do not need to choose a Christmas/Hanukkah/winter/holiday/NYE piece but can do anything that is fun and interesting. Of course, you are welcome to do a themed piece if you choose. I will perform each night as well.

Choose your pieces and your night and sign up on the Scheduling page. Let’s put on a show! And then let’s party!

Availability & Preferences (A&P)

It is time to sign up for all your fall activities, including music lessons. The availability and preferences form (2018 A&P) is now available for your scheduling pleasure. If I've got everyone's scheduling info by Sunday night, July 29, I can publish a schedule a few days afterward.

Please consider fall activities that may not start right away when listing your availability. Of course, there will be contingency lessons available for some wacky week, but do your best to list times that will work on the regular.

I hope to reserve Monday and Friday afternoons for lessons in my home studio, but we'll do whatever will work best. Perhaps a weekday morning lesson would be good for your family schedule. Maybe a late evening is best for you. Feel free to tell me what you need and want schedule-wise, and I'll do my best to rock it out.

Let's make music.

Mini Gigs

Big, formal, annual recitals can make a new (or established) student shake with nerves right out of both boot and sock. Anxious shaking is hardly an easy condition in which to present music, no matter how well prepared it is. So, what's a musician to do?

What to do is to practice performing. Thus, the mini gig!

You'll need something to perform, a venue, and an audience. The piece does not need to be difficult, fancy, or memorized, but it does need to be performance-ready. Venues may vary, but many will be at my studio. The audience will be small groups of students (that's you) and likely a few parents and siblings.  

Students can sign up for the next mini gig when they have something they're ready to share. Parents are welcome. Collaborations are encouraged. Got something silly, sacred, or special? Prep it and bring it.

Perform early and often. Push yourselves while there's a guaranteed soft landing, and we'll all be delighted with the leaps and bounds of progress. Let's play.

(Edited 8/14/2020 for clarity)

Recital Info

This post will be updated as details take shape (last updated 5/11/2018).

Info Request

Please take a minute to give me some info so I can finalize act assignments and spell all the names and titles appropriately.

The Basics

• The recital will be split into two acts divided by a taco lunch intermission. Delicioso.  
• Families are invited to bring elements of a taco lunch, including sides or desserts. Sign up here!
• Yes, please invite whoever you like, and they are definitely invited to lunch. Just include them in your SignUpGenius RSVP.
• Act assignments are listed here now. Check your email for the password.
• Your call time is the time you are supposed to show up, and it is on the act assignments list. Feel free to be early.
• Performers should be dressed to kill while guests should simply be dressed.
• Photography is encouraged.
• Videography is also encouraged.
• Electronics that beep or flash will get the stink-eye or worse.
• Raucous applause is highly encouraged as appropriate.

On Recital Day

Once you arrive, performers should go directly to the green room (there will be signage showing you the way) to sign in, tune, and warm up. There will be multiple places to tune and warm up, but make sure you mark yourself present before you venture off from the main green room. If needed, do some deep breathing to relax and focus.

Remember that everyone in the building is rooting for you and will listen with loving ears.

Food should be taken to the kitchen (for fridge items) or serving area (hots and room temp items -- there will be outlets for crock pots). Upon arrival, Act I guests may take their seats while performers warm up. For Act II, guests should prepare for immediate tacos. Act II performers can choose whether to eat first or warm up first.

Location, Location, Location

• Navigate to the building: 21750 E Dorado Ave, Centennial, CO 80015 
  Please note that this is a different building than we've used before.
   
• Navigate within the building:
  • Performance area: the gym, not the chapel
  • Food: kitchen and Relief Society room (there will be signage)
  • Green room: Primary room (again, signage)
  • Warm-up rooms: see signage

Group Number

Both acts will include a sing-along. Guitarists will play Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" in the key of C while everyone else sings along. If you need to get familiar with the song or if you just like awesome things, here are a couple of legends performing it (in a different key).

I do indeed love making music with my friends. That's why this works.

Studio Week, Recital, Debrief Week, Breather

The week of May 14 is studio week. That means that all lessons during that week take place in my home studio, regardless of where we normally meet.

The purpose is to give you an opportunity to perform in a different environment before the big day.  It's like a dress rehearsal. But you don't need to get all fanced up for studio week (unless it will help you -- then by all means, get fancy). In addition, I may be able to give you a little extra time as I won't be traveling.

During the post-recital week lesson (in the normal location), we will take a good look at your progress and musical goals. We'll talk about your performance at the recital, how your preparation got you there, lessons learned, highlights, and how to continue to grow musically. It'll be a lot like a clear-eyed growth spurt. It's great.

Many music teachers count the recital as the following week's lesson, which we are doing, but we're putting it off a week so we can debrief and make plans for growth. But then we'll all finally take a well earned breather during the week of Memorial Day. No lessons May 28 - June 1.

• May 14 - 18 (studio week): all lessons at Ms. Lauren's home studio during your normal time slots
• Saturday, May 19: recital (the day of the show, y'all)
• May 21 - 25 (debrief week): feedback and goals at normal lesson locations
• May 28 - June 1 (breather week): relax

May 19 is the Spring Recital

Save the date! The spring recital will be held on Saturday, May 19, 2018, and will be broken up into acts. Musicians are only required to attend the act in which they will perform, but they are welcome to attend any additional acts they choose. Members of the same family will be in the same act. More to come on that.

All lessons during the week preceding the recital will be held at Ms. Lauren's studio. Students should be ready to rock every aspect of their performances in beautiful style at their final pre-recital lesson.

So go ahead and invite Grandma and start thinking about what you'd like to perform. Watch for updates on literature choice and memorization deadlines. In the meantime, plan to be in town and ready to perform on May 19.

Payable to the LLC

The new year will bring a new business structure for Ms. Lauren. This lady loves that.

All this means for you is that tuition needs to be payable to Lauren Bales Music LLC or simply Lauren Bales Music (rather than just Lauren Bales) so it can be handled appropriately on my end.

In even easier news, there will be a payment link in your monthly invoice. Clap your hands.

Rejected titles for this post include terrible LLC-related jokes such as "Noel/Yes-L(LC)" and something about LL Cool J that just wasn't landing. Anyway, may your new year be bigger, deffer, and phenomenally authentic.

2018 Availability Form Available

Four hours minimum, everybody. That is -- please list at least four hours of availability for lesson scheduling. Tack on an additional hour of availability for each additional student. So if you have two students in your home, list at least five hours of availability. For three students, list at least six hours (4+1+1), naturally.

The form is available now and is due by December 20. I'll draft a schedule and finalize with families December 21-23. Then, I will be out of town for a few days. Lessons resume Monday, January 8.

2018 Availability - Coming Soon!

It will be time to make plans for the new year very soon. The form to snag your spot will be available on December 1 and will be due by January 4 at the absolute latest. Watch this space.

UPDATE: Forms should be filled out by Dec 20 for best results.

2018 Pricing Available

The pricing for 2018 is finalized and posted. Take a peek on the Pricing page and give a shout if you have questions. These changes are effective for January.

In the meantime, don't forget that December is half-price because I am only offering half a month of lessons. See Key Info or this entry on the Happenings page for more details.

Approaching a New Piece (or Learning to Fly)

There are lots of ways to approach a new piece of music. Some are more effective than others, and some will never get you off the ground. Below is a practical approach for effectively learning the actual music without learning mistakes along with it. 

The first two main parts can come in either order, depending on the piece (or your mood). During both parts, hold space for musicality and include it as soon as possible.

• Mechanics: make efficient movements with good sound. For instrumentalists, it's choosing fingerings and getting the right notes in the right order. For singers, it's text and breath. Spend time on this step because a correctly constructed framework is critical.

• Rhythm: snap into the grid. Check your counting and make sure it's both clean and correct. Again, that framework needs to be just right, so don't rush this step. You can even do it apart from the melody and fingerings.

And now comes the best part: the music-making. The first two parts are necessary but not at all sufficient for making music that soars. You’ve constructed a skeleton, but now it's time to put on the flesh and the feathers by building on the informed, creative choices about style and dynamics birthed during your work on rhythm and mechanics. Create moments. Your personal touch in this step is the magic that breathes the life into the thing and gets it off the ground.

The best-prepared music will take you — and your listeners — along for a glorious ride.

Bird Rider, by Yammo Zhang

But I'm Not Going to Be a Professional Musician, You Say

So you say you're not going to be a professional musician? Cool. But you should still practice.

I am not a professional mathematician, but learning algebra helped me practice thinking logically. I am neither writer nor librarian, but studying literature at the feet of competent teachers helped me think critically, appreciate ambiguity and irony, and delight in the ways skilled writers point to the poignant or the ridiculous. And I do love the ridiculous. 

Because all of my various training has shaped how I interact with the world, I use it all the time. I can't not use it, in fact. It is part of who I am. Worthwhile pursuits have improved my well-being, my relationships, and my art. And the arts connect humanity across generations and cultures, helping people to understand and to feel understood in ways that nothing else can. This is no small feat.

It's true that most folks who do music are not professional musicians, but doing something inherently valuable for money is hardly the best reason to do it. So, if it's not too early to ask, what do you adore with a fiery passion? Music? Awesome! Something else? Also awesome! I can hardly wait to see all the things you'll do. The world needs engineers and doctors just as much as it needs artists.

No matter what else you pursue, you will never, ever, ever be sad that you are musically literate.