Alev has been a light to work with this year! She's excelled and improved so much with her singing. Her grasp of rhythm & pitch has greatly improved over the course of the year, and she brings a curiosity & positive attitude to every new song we work on together -- listening to the details until she can sing it exactly the way she wants to. Here she is with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" -- she sings it so beautifully & sensitively! Brilliant work, Alev! Aysu has been a pleasure to work with on singing this past year. She's come so far in pitch recognition, ear training, and the ability to recognize different vocal techniques at play in a singer's performance. We've worked on songs from in many genres, from jazz standards to electro-pop songs, and the jazz tunes seem to have a special place in her heart. So here we are performing "Dream a Little Dream of Me." She was brave enough to even try a scat-singing solo in our performance. Excellent work, Aysu!

Alex's musicianship grew a lot this year! His reading and sense of tempo have improved a ton, and his overall sense of musical flow became much more natural as we worked through the pieces in his book (Faber Gold Star Performance Level 1). Alex did a great job here playing our duet of "Eternally Music" by Nancy Faber. Chempo says 500 "bucks" for you, Alex!

The Colorful Sonatina (Duet) - Faber Gold Star Performance Level 1 Alexei is a bright, eager, and passionate young musician. He writes very sophisticated pieces that are beyond his understanding of music theory, but clearly his ear is picking up all of the subtle nuances of the various music he has been exposed to. Although he only started lessons this past year, his playing and musical understanding have improved a lot and he's on track to become a fantastic pianist and composer in the very near future!

"Au Clair De La Lune" - Claude Debussy Teacher Comments: When I met Amelia she was already a talented piano player. It has been awesome to help guide her through a couple difficult piano pieces. I say guide because I didn’t do much more than that— she gets all the credit for her hard work. This year I have been really impressed not only with her skill but also her determination and fearlessness with which she has tackled each challenging measure of this piano piece. Claire de lune is a beautiful and famous piano piece and it requires a very high level of piano ability and foundation. I think that few people would have the determination to stick with this piece and learn it all the way through as Amelia is doing. She has worked meticulously and you wouldn’t know by watching her play some of these measures just how much work goes into being able to play them with such fluidity. I am really looking forward to hearing this piece in it’s entirety Amelia. So proud of all the work you’ve done this year and I hope you are too!

"Dot Dot n Dot" by Bianca Breckenridge Teacher Comments: This is an original drum solo composed by Bianca! The right hand pattern Bianca demonstrates here is an original "clave" she came up with. This performance showcases Bianca's ability to play in multiple time signatures (a 3/4 pattern and a more traditional 4/4 funk beat), flowing across the entire drum set without skipping a beat!

"Hedwig's Theme" by John Williams TEACHER COMMENTS: Calder worked very hard not only memorizing this complicated song, but exercised wonderful creativity when it came time to record and make something new out of it. Calders talent for recording and intuition for production make me think he has a future in making his own music.

"TacoCat" by Calvin & Avery Logan TEACHER COMMENTS: Calvin loves playing drums, making beats, and exploring sound design! He's particular about his compositional choices and likes learning about different aspects of the music production process. We're sharing this beat named after his water bottle decal, TacoCat. Calvin recorded all the parts himself, starting from a live drum loop!

"The Man" by Taylor Swift TEACHER COMMENTS: Celine is a huge fan of Taylor Swift and we got the chance to learn a few of her songs this year! Celine has been working hard at incorporating her left hand, especially when playing chords with the right hand, and I think she nailed it in this song. You're The Man Celine!