Newsletter :: August 2012 214-436-4058 music@friscoschoolofmusic.com Ready To Get Started? In this issue *Rock Star Singers *Directors Corner: Ouch! My Hand Hurts When I Play the Guitar. Welcome Our New Students Who Enrolled in July Tripp Houle Alexandria Zollicoffer Jaden Johnson Taylor Dynes Alyssa Difiore Avery Bishop Charles Plana Ty Herring Derek Norsworthy Rob Tompkins Landry Zeeck Ryan Gautier Alexa Adams Aditi Hangel Jacob Sadler Lauren Evants Addison Thomson Julian Thomson Parker Freeburg Anousha Yedlapalli Carmen Carry Chloe Johnson Darsh Poddar Ariel Garcia Duncan Trimmell Jaiden Forsythe Noah Forsythe Steven Huff Avantika Sahoo Sophie Jeon Quinlan Franke Didi Anwan Grace Hubbard Vrinda Dhutia Drake Davis Duke Brinkley Christian Han Ike Anwan Josh & Caleb Nutt Madison Jenkins Ella Jeon Ethan Mayo Prudhvik Konduru Tiffany Mogusu Michael Camargo Samaria Clemens Yasmin Martin Diego Teran Cordelia Cias Daniel Roche Everly O'Daniel Radeyah Zaman Reese Reaves Madeliene Baird Valeria Verdaguer Taylor Doggett Blaine Rothrock Neha Veera Ashleigh Allen Faith Bivens Juliet Schonoff Logan Riesling Valeria Verdaguer Elena Cristello Ellie Kioi Jillean Scott Matthew Carson Nikki Hansen Remington Casauova Sabrina Lerner Sofia Cristello Vanessa Lerner Samantha Brandt Peyton Collins Aditi Hangal McKenzie Goodman Ava Shelton Casilyn Scott Daniel Sullivan Darsh Poddar Kennedy Clark Lauryn Scott Logan Cotten Tyler Sullivan Logan Scott Alex Tollefson Micaela Laudauro Samantha Brandt Valeria Verdaguer Samantha Brandt Thank you for being part of our School! The Frisco School of Music Team Rock Star Singers: Rock the House! News and Events Copyright 2012 Frisco School of Music Texas Music Teachers Association Frisco School of Music      ·      9255 Preston Road · Frisco, TX 75033      ·      214-436-4058 Ouch! My Hand Hurts When I Play the Guitar! - Part One My good friend Marty Fort who owns a music studio in South Carolina wrote this important two-part article for all guitar students and parents. Here is part one... There are a lot of misconceptions about taking guitar lessons. One of the biggest is that you have to ‘toughen’ up your fingers and fight through the pain as a beginner. Unfortunately that’s a very popular opinion, but also one that I believe is totally untrue.   The easiest way to stop a student from learning how to play the guitar (or any instrument) is to allow them to play with pain.   In this two part series, I’m going to give you six sources of hand pain for guitar players and how to alleviate that pain.   Reason #1. The guitar is not set up properly and the action is too high.   Action is the distance from the fingerboard to the string. If your strings are high off of your fingerboard, then you have high action. Playing a guitar with high action requires you to press down much harder. The simplest fix is to either buy a guitar that has low action to begin with, or to get your action lowered by a technician.   Almost 99% of the guitars sold at big box retailers have action that is unplayable. Yes you can get a deal at $79.00, but you will have to put another $50.00 into the guitar to get the action lowered.   If you’ve said to yourself “my hand hurts when I play” or if your child has said “it hurts when I play” you need to look at the action of your guitar first. Reason #2. Children using steel strings instead of nylon.   This is a very common problem. Steel strings are hard on adult hands and especially tough on children’s hands. As I stated earlier, most people make their first guitar purchase at a big box retailer and get something cheap to start out with. All of these guitars come with very cheap steel strings on them. What children really need (and some but not all adults if the pain is severe enough) is nylon strings. These strings have the same texture as fishing line and the touch is very soft. It will not make marks on their fingers and it will reduce their finger pain almost by 100%. If you’d like to see an example of a guitar like this, be sure to check out the Lucida LG510. Tune in next month for part two of this series when I discuss more reasons (and solutions) for hand pain, so that we can get you on the right track! And as always, be sure to consult your Columbia Arts Academy teacher with any questions about how to alleviate hand pain for any instrument.   Tune in for Part 2 of this article in our September Newsletter! We've had so much fun in summer camp this year!   Just ask our ROCK STAR SINGERS... Singers in our Rock Star Singers Camp from the week of July 16 ROCK OUT at their Friday performance.   Our Rock Stars performed songs by One Direction, Victoria Justice, China Ann McClain, and more!   Call today to register!  214.436.4058 Where Is My Teacher Playing? Congratulations to Shirley Miedrick and her student Elizabeth Wendt! Elizabeth just got accepted to The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to major in Vocal Studies! She studied piano and voice with Shirley at FSM, and also attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts. Bravo, Elizabeth!!! Summer Camps & Private Lessons are filling fast! Sign up today: 214-436-4058 FSM Student Accepted to Prestigious Music Conservatory Home | Work For Us | Contact Us Piano and Keyboard Lessons Violin and Viola Lessons Summer Music Camps Guitar and Bass Lessons Drum and Percussion Lessons The Bands Voice and Singing Lessons Flute, Trumpet and Saxophone Lessons Performing Arts Preschool Office Open December 27 to 29 and January 2 to 5 - 11 to 2 pm Christmas Break - Lessons Resume January 7th Music Registration Hotline - Phone Calls Only - December 26, 2 to 5 pm