Mirabilis News

Guitar Tip of the Month: Stretch!

Mechanically speaking, your fingers are bones moved by muscles and tendons.  When you sleep your muscles relax and reset and your body restores and rebuilds muscle tissue.  When you wake the muscles need to be stretched to increase the blood flow and get the whole system working again efficiently.

Stretching exercises may seem to take some extra time, but in fact, if they are done properly they actually save time by reducing the amount of warm-up required.

If you’ve studied with me for a while you know the stretches that I recommend.  If you need a reminder just let me know.

If you’re new to study and you’ve not learned stretches I can show you at your next lesson.

Our 8-week Summer Session will begin on Friday, June 11th and run through Friday, August 6.  We will be in our new location (see below).

As always, I will do my best to accommodate adjustments to the lesson schedule as needed for camps and vacations.

COST: $220 for 30-min lessons                     $420 for 1-hour lessons

Payments can be made in-full or in two monthly amounts.
The lesson schedule will remain the same unless a change is requested.

The week of July 12 we will have master classes at the new outdoor stage.  Details below.

As you all know, beginning this Summer Session we will be located on the Schreiner University campus in the Rock House (#13 on the campus map). The Rock House is an older building incorporated into the newly constructed Trailhead area at the back of the campus. As it’s name implies, it is easy to identify for it’s orange rock exterior.

DIRECTIONS: The simplest way to get there is to enter the main Schreiner University gate at 2100 Memorial Blvd in Kerrville.  After you enter, take the main road (Acorn Blvd) to the left and follow it to the back of campus.  Just past West Parking (Lot C) you will see the Trailhead Stage on the left.  Go past the lot until you see the sign for the Trailhead.  Turn left there (Westminster St.) and take it all the way to the Trailhead parking area.

PARKING: We’re still working out the parking for the studio.  For the moment the easiest parking will be the Trailhead cul-de-sac right in front of the studio.  The gate to the Trailhead area will be open from dawn to dusk.  If ever you find the gate to the Trailhead closed, there is a small gravel lot outside the gate and you can walk to the Rock House from there. Until we get everything worked out, please do not park on the gravel area in front of the Rock House.

THE STUDIO: The front door to the Rock House will be our usual entrance.  Our Mirabilis Studio is located in the back room on the right.  The main room in front will be for the SU SongKeepers group, but you are free to go through this space to the studio room.  If the front room looks occupied you can come around to the back door which enters directly into the studio.

As always parents of young students are encouraged to attend the lessons if they can (at least periodically).  Our “parent’s” easy chair has made the trek to the new space.  We do have a bathroom attached to our room again and actually the room up is similar to our previous place.  Also there is a large public restroom across the street from the Rock House.

As mentioned last month the Kerrville River Trail is right at our building.  Parents can explore the trail past the cemetery toward the river or follow the 20-minute path around the campus.  There’s a nice sand volleyball court nearby and plenty of space for young siblings to play near the stage area.  The Frisbee Golf course is right there too.

Lessons at Schreiner will begin there with the start of the Summer Session on Friday, June 11th.

Campus Map

River Trail Map

MASTER CLASSES

We finally get to return to Master Classes.  If you started lessons after March 2020, this will be a new experience.  Periodically we gather for group lessons called Master Classes.  The purpose of the master classes is to give students a comfortable and friendly environment to practice playing for others.  We take turns playing  individually and then we talk about performing.  Sometimes there are group activities and other times we study music theory or history or another interesting topic.  Sometimes we play music together as an ensemble.  It’s a great chance to meet other students and play music together—important for guitarists who are usually playing solo.

For the Summer Session we will have master classes the week of July 12.  Master classes are 55 minutes for younger players and 2-hours for the adult group and serve as your lesson for the week. Master classes generally work with students of a similar age.  Some students who are more advanced for their age may moved to an older group at the instructor’s discretion.

Additionally, the master class week serves as a make-up lesson week.  This is especially helpful during the summer with all of the vacations and camps.

Master Classes will meet on the Trailhead stage:

Monday, July 12
4:00 – 4:55  Elementary
5:00 – 5:55  Middle School
6:00 – 7:00  High School

Tuesday, July 13
6:00 – 8:00 Adult

GUITARS FOR SALE

And don’t forget we have some students selling some great guitars.

CALENDAR
SUMMER SESSION
June 11 – Regular Lessons
June 14 – 18   Regular Lessons
June 21 – 25   Regular Lesson
June 28 – July 1   Regular Lessons

July 5 – July 9   Regular Lessons
July 12 – July 16   MASTER CLASS WEEK
July 19 – July 23   Regular Lessons
July 26 – July 30   Regular Lessons

Aug 2 – Aug 6   Regular Lessons