The Ripple Effect

Ashley McGlothren • September 18, 2019

Before I start this, let me first state that this is not written for a particular family. I really don’t have anyone in mind. It is simply a post from years of experience in this industry.

I feel like we are living in a time when many parents are wanting to always make sure their child is pushed. Every year, I’m confronted with people asking for their child to bump up a level or to another age bracket. I’ve had people ask for their three year old to play guitar or their six year old to dance with the 8-11 year old age group. Almost always my answer is the same – no, we keep all students in their correct age group and we do not start private music lessons until they are six.

If I allowed students to bump up, a ripple effect would occur. Let’s play out this scenario. I let a student who just turned 7 into my 8-11 dance class. Next, my 11 year old’s parents will feel the age span is too big and will request to go up to the 12 and up group. Then, my 16 year old student will want to know why she is dancing with an 11 year old! Craziness! The same thing would happen in our art department too.

In music, we have three reasons for not starting them in private lessons until they are six. They need to be a beginner reader to learn lyrics or read the curriculum. For piano and guitar, we are wanting their fine motor skills to be more developed. You need a certain amount of finger strength to make the guitar chords. Lastly, they will need to be able to focus for a 30 minute lesson. We certainly do not want to waste anyone’s money when we can’t get their student to listen.

However, we do have ways to push students that are excelling. Every July, we have our dance competition auditions. These students are broken into groups based on their ability and age. These students train at least twice per week and attend conventions and master classes with amazingly talented teachers and choreographers throughout the nation. In music, we have a class called Rhythm & Notes for our 4 and 5 year olds. Here they learn notes on a staff, rhythm, and how to sing with live accompaniment. It gives them a jump on the game before they can enter their own private lessons. In art, we can schedule private lessons with our instructors. This way students can focus on one area they are wanting to spend more time on.

To conclude all of this, I believe as parents we need to teach our children some valuable lessons. There will be times in classes that they will be the best. In those times, they should be a leader and model for the younger students how they should behave and work in the class. There will be other times that they are the youngest or less skilled. During those time, they should soak up everything they can from their teachers and more advanced students. Both seasons are teaching them lifelong lessons.

I hope your time at Soar is rewarding. If you would ever like to talk about the classes your student is in or how they can be pushed individually, I’m always happy to schedule an appointment!

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Walk By Faith

By Ashley McGlothren • March 7, 2026

Year 11 Theme!!!

How Registration Works

By Ashley McGlothren • March 2, 2026

We have been having a great 10 th year! I cannot believe it is almost registration for summer and fall! Here is how our registration works: - Current students will receive registration forms in the middle of this month. Turn it in and during the week of Easter, our office manager will contact you to schedule your registration appointment. - New families can call or email us ( shannon@soarcreativearts.com ) beginning March 30 th to request a registration appointment. We will get your name, phone number, and some information on the student. We will also call these families during Easter week to schedule the registration appointment. -Registration appointments begin April 14 th . We schedule these by how long the family has been at Soar. These appointments are 20 minutes and we focus on the family to make sure we get them registered for any summer or fall classes they are wanting to take. -We open up online registration on April 22 nd for anyone that didn’t schedule a registration appointment. -At the appointment, be prepared to tell us what class (including the day and time you are choosing) they are enrolling in. You will need to pay any that apply: summer classes, registration fee for fall, and/or fall art material fee. We can’t hold anyone’s spot without payment. - You can view our summer classes at https://www.soarcreativearts.com/summer-2026 -Our fall dance, tumbling, and art classes are also listed on the website. Recommendation – Classes fill up quickly. I would not wait to register for fall as we can’t guarantee there will be openings. The only exception is those auditioning for competition. They don’t need to do a registration appointment unless they are taking summer classes or fall art. We are looking forward to year 11!!!