Change Is In the Air

It has been a hot October so far! I’m dying to feel a little bit of fall and start wearing long sleeves and boots. I’m holding onto a glimmer of hope that a cold front will drop down this week.

 Just like the weather, Soar is making a few changes also. The first I want to talk about is a new instructor, Mr. Caleb Dykes. Mr. Caleb will be coming on in the spring to teach banjo, guitar, and piano. He will have class openings on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. He is worship leader at Taylor Creek Baptist Church in Kentwood. He is also finishing his degree studying music and worship at New Orleans Theological Seminary. I encourage you to look at our Facebook videos of him playing banjo and leading worship. All of our current music teachers are staying with us for the spring and are keeping their same time schedule.

 The next change will affect our vocalists for the spring. One of our goals at Soar is to always look for ways to improve all of our departments. As we love each of our vocalists performing a solo piece for the fall December recital, we felt we could grow our vocalists more by teaching them how to sing with a group in the spring. Students enrolled in voice lessons for the spring will continue to have their 30- minute private lessons, but those wanting to participate in our recital at the Columbia Theatre will also have 5 group classes per semester. The dates and times of the group classes will be given when the student registers. Each group will perform two pieces at the Columbia recital. The group class will be led by their normal instructor.

 In the past, we have charged a $15 material fee to voice students. In order to compensate our instructors for these group classes, vocal students will now pay a $40 material/group class fee at the beginning of the spring semester. By conducting our classes like this for the spring only, students will get a chance to learn how to sing their parts (soprano, alto, etc.) within a group. Some of our more advanced students may be asked to do solo sections within the piece. Most group classes will occur on Saturday afternoons. We are looking forward to growing our vocalist in this new way. They will still have their solos in the fall. Piano and guitar classes will continue as normal for the spring.

 The last change is that we are adding two new art sections. Our Creativity 2 class and our Drawing 1 class were at capacity this semester. Miss Jessee will continue to lead teach those two classes. However, we will offer a second section of each of those classes on Thursdays in the spring. These Thursday classes will be taught by Miss Marley, who has assisted all of the art classes this semester.

 Please view our newsletter at www.soarcreativearts.com/newsletter regarding dates of registration. The website has been updated with the new Thursday art times. Thank you for always praying for us as we go through new changes!