SoundStage July Newsletter - Raffle Winner

NEWSLETTER

JULY 2011

Greetings!

Welcome to our monthly newsletter. It's purpose is to keep SoundStage families up to date on all that is happening at our school. Be sure to read it every month as there will be special features of interest including student and teacher of the month as well as important dates and events to remember. In addition, each month we will hold a raffle with a free prize given to a current student. The Newsletter will also include other special features like money saving coupons, color photos and articles of interest. If you are not receiving the email version, let us know by calling 267 682 0965 or view it on our website at www.soundstagemusic.com.

Student of the Month

Cameron Brown

Cameron has been making music with Mickey Leone since he was born! Along with his big sister Emily and little brother Graeme, he adored the "Makin' Music" classes Mickey taught through his toddler years. When he was four, he asked for and received a guitar for Christmas (inspired by Mickey's!) because he wanted to take lessons with - who else - Mickey! Since Cameron showed musical acuity, Mickey agreed to take him on as a student.

Shortly after starting lessons, Cameron was diagnosed with a brain tumor and endured three surgeries and radiation treatments. Cameron kept up with his lessons as best he could, and even met and got his guitar signed by Wynonna Judd as she is a spokesperson for Hope Lodge, the "home-away-from-home" where Cameron and his family stayed while he received radiation treatments in Boston, MA, in the summer of 2006.

In addition to the guitar, Cameron loves to sing. His parents met as members of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, so he was predestined! He has been a soprano in the Keystone State Boychoir since age seven, and this past fall and spring auditioned for and was selected to sing in two operas with the Opera Company of Philadelphia - Otello and Tosca - performing both at the Academy of Music.

Cameron is a rising seventh-grader at Chestnut Hill Academy (CHA) in Chestnut Hill, where he lives with his mom, dad, sister, and brother. He sings in CHA's boychoir, and loves to play soccer, basketball, and baseball.

Mickey Leone has been a positive influence on Cameron's musical life since his birth, and Cameron now thoroughly enjoys his time at SoundStage School of Music. He loves jamming with Mickey and appreciates Mickey's encouragement on everything from discerning his musical style to writing his own music. Cameron has taken advantage over the years of the wonderful offerings at SoundStage such as the Rock Band Camp and as a member of an Ensemble.

Most of all, Cameron enjoys playing The
SoundStage electric guitar, and looks forward to receiving one as a gift for his 13th birthday as promised by his mom and dad!

Win a
Free SoundStage Tee Shirt

Are you studying at SoundStage In July? If you are you qualify to win a Free SoundStage tee shirt. It is a $25.00 value. We have various colors and sizes in our inventory to choose from . Respond via email to: mickeyleone@yahoo.com. In the subject line write "Tee shirt contest". Be the 14th email response and you are the winner.

Wi-Fi Coming Soon to SoundStage

As a convenience to our students and families SoundStage will be installing wireless Internet service to our studios and waiting area. This will enable everyone to access the Internet from their laptops and other electronic devices while they are at SoundStage. Service is expected to be in place by September 1st.

SOUNDSTAGE BUILDING
A NEW DRUM ROOM

SoundStage is in the process of building a new drum room to enhance your experience at our school. Construction has begun on a space in the rear of the building. The room has been designed to be as soundproof as possible while still accomodating two full drum sets. The nature of the drums is that they are simply louder than most of the other instruments that we offer at SoundStage. In the past we have done everything that we could to keep the lesson rooms quiet. One trick that we borrowed from professional sound studios is to muffle the drums by putting packing peanuts inside. This keeps the resonance down without affecting the feel of the sticks on the heads. We have recently considered going with electronic drums to control the sound leakage. However, after consulting with our drum teachers we decided to stick with acoustic drums and to build a room that will minimize the sound leakage.

Mickey and Geoff did the design and are doing the construction themselves. They did lots or research and talked to local experts before beginning. Advice was sought from Rick Buader of Bauder Audio Systems a sound reenforcement company in Willow Grove and also from Larry Levin from Forge Recording Studios in Oreland.

The room is being built with a double wall design. That is to say,two seperate partitions with a 3 inch air barrier between them. Each partition is filled with fiberglass insulation and then covered with one inch rigid insulation board and two sheets of 1/2 inch drywall. The ceiling will also be heavily insulated. A special solid core door with weather stripping and an air tight threshold is being installed. The project will be finished by September First.

Raffle Winner for Free Prize

David Scott

This month's Raffle Winner is David Scott - Chosen at random from all students who have been studying continuously for the last 12 months. He wins a SoundStage Tee shirt, a $25.00 value, in a size and color chosen from our current inventory. Congratulations David. Contact your teacher or one of the directors to collect you prize.

Mickey Leone Co- Director of SoundStage Producing Original Musical Cast Album

Mickey Leone Co- Director of SoundStage is finishing up a CD recording of the songs from his original Musical Theater Production called "Week Between the Holidays" . This full length musical play was staged last fall as part of the Philly Fringe Festival. The concept was an original one by Leone who also co-wrote the script along with Tom Kerrigan. Leone wrote all the songs and lyrics.

The show had 24 original songs and a cast of 7, plus a band of 5 musicians. As soon as the run was over the team immediately began a studio recording of all the songs. According to Leone, " the studio recording is a project unto itself. First we recorded the piano tracks then the bass and drums. The singers then recorded their parts alone or in small groups.The Christmas Sprit quartet, a sort of Greek chorus worked together under the guidance of musical director Ed Conrad. The synthesizer was laid down for color and orchestration after all the vocal tracks were recorded".

The project was accomplished at BNO Studios in Ambler, Pa . Co-Produced and engineered by Jay Mitlas. Copies of the finished recording will be available in September in the SoundStage waiting area.

What families are saying about SoundStage

We've been a SoundStage Music family since February of 2007 and have had very positive experiences. The teachers are patient, interested, flexible, talented and committed to their students. The seasonal concerts are great confidence-builders, allowing kids at any level to perform for an appreciative audience. The price is right and the location is convenient. We just recently enrolled our younger son for his first keyboard lesson. He loves it! McFadden Family, Oreland.

Welcome New Students to SoundStage

Sydney Smith (Julie)

Jeff Mencken (Sara)

Meredith Bleemer (Sara)

Alex Carrozza (Pete)

Jacob Catania (Pete)

Veronica Rammon (Monique)

Courtney McCullough (Amy)

Danny Melnick (Jamal)

Thomas Davies (Carol)

Nick Shields (Carol)

Sophia Forchetti (Julie)