Newsletters
Fall Newsletter 2025
Dear Parents & Students August 2025
Welcome Back to returning & new students!! We have a busy fall semester ahead of us and I’m looking forward to jumping right into some exciting new musical adventures.
The Fall Semester will begin on Aug. 25th. Please be aware that the Jewish holidays will create a long break beginning in the middle of September. Once that time has passed, we will have regular lessons for the duration of the semester.
Our Fall Semester has several performing opportunities, concerts to attend, and an opportunity to meet a very special musician! Each of these different events will have some wonderful listening and performing opportunities as well as chances for the studio to interact with professional musicians outside of the scope of the keyboard.
Our semester theme will be “Beneath the Melody: How Bass Lines Create Musical Magic”. We will be focusing on the importance of our left hand and learning how and why the bass line is the magic that drives the music.
The semester will begin with a musicianship class on Sunday, Sept. 14th. Everyone will have a chance to play a piece while the rest of us work on our musicianship skills. We will guess the time signatures, dynamics, and articulations and of course, discuss those bass lines!!!
On October 19th, we will have an incredible opportunity to meet privately with an amazing viola da gamba player named Stephen Moran. Stephen will be playing a very special program entitled Chelys (the ancient Greek lyre of Apollo) where he will bring to life unaccompanied works for the viol by Sainte-Colombe le Fils, Marin Marais, and Johannes Schenck, concluding with Moran's own transcription of J. S. Bach's Violin Partita No. 1, BWV 1002. This program explores the vast range of capabilities and potential of the solo viol, as well as its repertories in the first decades of the 18th century.
You may be wondering how a solo gamba player could be so important for pianists. The gamba, like the cello, gets to play both the melody and bass rolled up into one line. This is a wonderful segue for pianists to discuss and hear exactly how powerful and expressive a medium the bass line really is. Stephen will demonstrate these concepts for us in a private audience. I hope everyone will be able to attend this very special opportunity.
There will be a concert following our time with Steven at Lower Merion Synagogue (123 Old Lancaster Road, next-door to Bala Cynwyd Library). This free concert begins at 2pm. As of now, our class with Steven will begin at 1:00pm but it is possible that time may shift by a few minutes, so stay tuned for details as the date approaches.
Our “Repertoire List” program and culminating concert at Rosette Senior Living last semester was again such a HUGE success that we will continue with new lists for each student in preparation for a memorable concert on Sunday, November 16th at 3:00pm.
Our Winter Recital will take place on Sunday, December 14th, at 10:00am. This will be preceded by a dress rehearsal on Sunday, December 7th at 10am. Please mark your calendars for these important dates and times. I look forward to seeing friends and family at our recital! I know you will be all eager to see how much these talented musicians have grown.
Please be sure to return your signed tuition contracts along with the Media Release Form. This form can also be found under the “Newsletter & Forms” tab on my website: www.gilyahodos.com. You can conveniently download, sign and reupload the form directly to the website or you may email it to me. Either way, I will need both the form and the tuition contract signed and returned by the 1st lesson.
Finally, I want to let you know that while lesson fees have not increased in the past two years, they will be going up January 1st, 2026. Sixty minutes will be $110, forty-five minutes will be $90 and thirty minutes will be $65.
I am committing to in-person lessons throughout the semester, barring unforeseen circumstances. I would ask that you please be very mindful of sending your children to my home if you or they have come in contact with someone who is ill. I am caring for my elderly father and need to be mindful of his health needs. I can switch to a zoom lesson with only a few minutes notice, so please err on the side of caution.
1. Students must wash hands PRIOR to arriving for their lessons.
2. Students will be given hand sanitizer when they arrive. This is NOT a substitute for hand washing!
3. Piano keys will be sanitized in between each lesson.
I know we will have exciting, music-filled learning experience this semester! I have lots of different learning modalities that will help us explore our musical world and I am eager to dive into our musical explorations together!!
All the best,
Gilya