QUARTER NOTES - ONLINE EDITION - WINTER 2012
Christmas Concerts Bring Joy to Batesville Families...
Pictured from left to right: Wanda Cullen: Assistant Director, Ryan Cullen: Director, Jeannette Prater: Administrative Assistant, Christina Wilke: Instructor, Cyrena Adkins: Manager, Students Maegan Braud, Lexie Rodrigue, Lilly Kelly, Daniel Jiang
Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts’ Covington and Mandeville Schools of Music held its 5 Christmas concerts on Saturday, December 10 at 10AM, 11:45AM, 1:30PM, 3:15PM, and 5PM at the Fuhrmann Auditorium, 317 N. Jefferson Ave. Covington, LA 70433.
The River Ridge School of Music & Dance held its 4 concerts on Sunday, December 18 at 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, and 6PM at the Solomon Theatre on the campus of St. Martin's Episcopal School.
Concerts featured students in piano, vocal, guitar, wind, brass, percussion, strings, the LAAPA Jazz Ensemble, Kehoe France Northshore Concert Band, and the LAAPA CHORUS.
Each year our Christmas Concerts support a South Texas Mission in Batesville, TX run by the Teresian Sisters. In this way we can all celebrate the love and joy of the Christmas Season. Our students delight in sharing their talent to help these families who have so little. Our LAAPA Family and the community in the St. Tammany and Greater New Orleans area has been so very generous in the past, and this year was certainly no exception - in fact this year we received a record number of donated toys and basic need items which filled our trucks to the top! Cash donations were also extremely generous and added up to over $1000 this year! Below is a thank you letter we recently received from the Teresian Sisters...
Dear Wanda, Ryan and parents of the Music Schools, and the entire Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany Communities,
Here we are once again, writing to you with hearts overflowing with gratitude. You have done it again! We have heard the reports from our sisters in Covington, about the tons of Christmas joy that is waiting for us when we get there on December 26! This year some of the toys have already made it to Texas, thanks to one of the sisters who came our way a few days ago with her car loaded to capacity. She was amazed at the amount of toys she left behind!
As always, your toys will make many children very happy these coming days. When I say "many" I literally mean it. The difficult economic situation in our country is even more difficult for our people. This year, Toys for Tots has not given their annual contribution of toys for the children of Batesville. Very conscious of those who will not receive any, we have expanded beyond our Catechism customers, and have been able to help many other families. You have made possible for us to reach many other families including those who line up on our bread line, both in Batesville and Uvalde. You should have seen the faces of the parents light up with joy!
The cash you sent us has helped us all through the year to come to the rescue of many families who needed help with their basic needs. Food, pampers, electric and water bills, gas emergencies, homeless and migrant shelter for the night, badly needed dentist visits, medicines...you name it! Our people know that they are not alone and deeply appreciate your help. We always tell them that we can help them thanks to your generosity. You can be assured of their grateful prayers for their benefactors.
May your compassionate and generous hearts continue to become more and more like Jesus. You are so good at helping Him do his work!
May this New Year be rich in God's blessings for you and your families. Count on our prayers and our love.
Gratefully,
Teresian Sisters
Uvalde, Texas
Congratulations to all Students, Parents, Instructors, Families and Friends for your generous support of the Mission this Christmas and for some outstanding performances! Group Photos of the event are featured below:
Covington & Mandeville Schools of Music 2011 Christmas Concerts
10:00 AM Concert 
1st Row: Robert Klazynski, Johnathan Hansen, Peyton Marcantel, Logan Rogers, Thomas Ruli, Emily Ruli, Mallory Bogle, Amanda Boe, Raeanne Boynton
2nd Row: Noah Strickland, Felipe Aceves, Alejandro Cobos, Zachary Montz, Olivia Miles, Charles Sandoz, Alexandra Jaeger, Taylor Vander, Holly Scalia, Emilie Stoltz
3rd Row: Ethan Tardy, Gilberto Cobos, Lindsey Chamberlain, Isabella Lambertson, Sarah Clifton, Quincy Laurent, Sydney Vander, Maddie Monlezun, Justin Marcantel, William Kropog, Madeline Logan, Sara Stoltz, Karleigh Greer
1st Row: Griffin Eberly, Reina Ramlawi, Yaira Espinosa, Patrick Cullen, Nina Derks, Evan Wille, Carter Neill, Pauline Claros, Garret Delony, Dixie Camille
2nd Row:- Michael Silvestri, Ariana Blagrove, Amanda Gordon, Cecilia Falkenstein, Ariel Hill
3rd Row: Landon Chambliss, Jonathan Covell, Grace Grundmann, Karlee Babbel, Stephanie Dribus, Colton Blagrove, Shane Strander, Alyssa Bush, William Dunford
1:30 PM Concert 
1st Row: Seth Grieco, Karen Lopez, Macie Breaux, Theresa Smith, Emily Araki, Zoe Zollinger, Kate Zenor, Kristy Tucker, Taylor Sims, Sarah Tullier
2nd Row: Christian McDonald, Brandon Myers, Zachary Araki, Angelina Mesa, Skylar Blake, Oliva Gray, Haley Rietschel, Luci McCaleb, Emma Pradillo, Kate Rush, Mark Broussard
3rd Row: Josh Smith Michael Lewis
3:15 PM Concert 
1st Row: John Hajjar, Ethan Lafont, Cindy Van Duyne, Rebecca Armijo, Ashley Crespo, Bailey Jennings, Phi Huynh, Shelby Stephens, Haleigh Bishop
2nd Row: Tyler Clement, James Plaisance, Hayden Waguespak, Matthew Gorbaty, Vittoria Notoroberto, Ethan Hansen, Dash Hansen, Catherine Plaisance, Vennila Satheesh
3rd Row: Matthew Fuentes, Liam McCauley, Julian Miller, Lucas Plaisance, Ian Nicoll, Patrick Hoag, Brooke Silva, Alex Chiu, Casey Osbourn, Kaitlyn Pattarozzi
5:00 PM Concert 
1st Row: Liz Moore, Stephen Gardner, Greg Rider, Katherine Mena, Kha Nguyen, Mandolin Barberito, Madeline Moore, Margaret Shephard, Isabel Rodriguez
2nd Row: Hy Nguyen, Nhi Nguyen, Sameen Hossain, Sofia Clark, Sammy Clark, Susannah Knights, McKensie McClain
3rd Row: Julian Shales, Melissa Moore, Madison Livacarri, Skylar Schoen, Kate White, Max Barberito, Michael Billiot, Brandon Richards, Shaw Corcoran, Tianna Royal, MacKayla Page, Rannie Walker, Sarah Hossain
River Ridge School of Music & Dance 2011 Christmas Concerts
12:00 PM Concert 
1st Row: Kartik Joshi, Andrew Cheung, Molly Inman, Kyle Smith, Isabella Bohorquez, Shelby Inman, Kaelin Taylor, Tracy Chen, Haley Tran, Akshita Sridhar
2nd Row: Andrea Bohorquez, Jackson Bashaw, Alex Fryer, Chanel Cheung, Gavin Landry, Alex Bao, Sanjana Subramaniam, Lilliana Marlowe, Spencer Lanosga, Anthony Lam, Callie Matyas, Ana Maria Montes, Brooks Garcia, Fiona Ching
3rd Row: Abby Webb, Lauren Dabdoub, Shelby Baham, Victoria Manguno, Nicholas Byland, Caroline Crowell, Vanessa Hanon, Botao Shan, George Tang, Marcela Saavedra, Marguerite Eppling
2:00 PM Concert 
1st Row: Scout Hughes, Matthew Baffes, Allison Tullier, Elliot Schmedtje, William Lavie, Alyssa Kerry, Degan Dansereau, Drew Kitchen, John Baumgarten, Quinn Rosenstein, Maddox Jacob Thomas, Declan Altikriti
2nd Row: Rachel Royerre, Michael Royerre, David Dillon, Madison Graf, Sakshi Sadhwani, Julia Oubre, Patrick Lyell, Bennett Rine, William Chen, Brett Steele
3rd Row: Jon Mitchell, William Brown, Evania Phillip, David Dillon, Rahul Sadhwani,
4th Row: Molly Graham, Maggie Graham, Emily Maffe, Munnawan Gill, Fahrawn G ill, Samantha Morris, Rebecca Culberson, Emily Champagne
4:00 PM Concert 
1st Row: Collin Cruz, Zelvin Collins, Emily Zeringue, Kelsey Henry, Niko Gaudin, Grace Williams, Audrey Layne Corcoran, Gabriella Cordova, Autumn Starling, Olivia Kelly, Seth Rutman, Reece Hazard, Lathaniel Green, Vania Castillo, Madison Woodruff, Lilli Johnston
2nd Row: David Price, Michael Plessala, Matthew Cruz, Emily Yalcin, Lana Lawson, Wesley Hodgson, Devin Jones, Olivia Guerra, Theodore Fang, Victoria Henry, Logan Henry
3rd Row: Tamar Hankton, Michall Willis, Armand Clark, Ryan Jones, Erick Huarcaya, Landon Lawson, Vennela Vellanki, Amanda Hale, Emmanuelle Willis, Gabrielle Willis, Will Willis
6:00 PM Concert 
1st Row: Alyssa Fortier, Lexie Rodrigue, Amaya Burrell, Fiona Marks, Ella Corsetti, Kody Nguy, Tori Patania, Daniel Jiang, Ava Falcon, Shriharan Daasan, Katherine Corcoran, Sofia Dickson
2nd Row: Annie Pham, Nikki Thorne, Konrad Marks, Parker Enright, Colin Falcon, Lilly Keel, Abigail Pratt, Aiden Edsall
3rd Row: Karlie Winn, Emily Gray, John Duong, Taylor Bonnet, Michael Pham, Yole-dy Jolly, Pearson Pratt, Maegan Braud, Tessa Anderson, Matrel Turner
4th Row: Sydney Campbell, Carolina Avila, Lucy Pham, Tony Pham, Daniel Mahne, Katie Slater, Sean Henry, Tue-Sy Pham
LAAPAFEST 2012
WILL YOU BE PARTICIPATING THIS YEAR?!
Q. What is LAAPAFEST?
A. LAAPAFEST provides students with the opportunity to perform a memorized selection in front of a panel of three judges. Students will then receive a detailed written evaluation of their performance from each judge and an overall rating of Superior (5 points), Excellent (4 points), Very Good (3 points), Good, or Fair.
Each student will be rated by the judges based on the student's individual level of experience and will not be competing with other students for ratings. Additionally, the judges will select 25 of the highest rated festival participants to perform in a special Honors Concert this coming April. There will be an equal number of students at all levels selected from each discipline (piano, voice, violin, etc.) to ensure that we have a representation of all programs in the concert. All festival participants meriting a Superior, Excellent, or Very Good Rating will be recognized at our Spring Award Ceremonies.
Q. Who is eligible to Participate in LAAPAFEST?
A. LAAPAFEST is open to all music students at all levels from beginners-advanced who have been studying within their program for at least one year as of 03/03/2012 (whether at LAAPA or with another school/teacher) and regularly receive Excellent/Very Good and/or Superior ratings from their instructor(s).
Important Dates / Locations:
- Fri. February 17, 2012 – Registration Deadline. All paperwork must be turned in to the Office!
- Sat. Mar. 3, 2012 – LAAPAFEST at Covington School of Music (held at 857 N. Collins Blvd.)
- Sat. Mar. 10, 2012 – LAAPAFEST at Mandeville School of Music Festival (held at 316 Girod St.)
- Sat. Mar. 17, 2012 – LAAPAFEST at River Ridge School of Music Festival (held at 2020 Dickory Ave.)
- Sun. April 22, 2012 – Honors Concert – 2:00 PM at Fuhrmann Auditorium
Openings are Limited! Please return the slip below with fees NO LATER THAN
FRIDAY, February 17, 2012. You will be informed of your performance time upon officially registering.
***DOWNLOAD THE LAAPAFEST PARTICIPATION FORM HERE!***
Lagniappe Lessons from Our Faculty...
From Kathleen Anderson - For voice students
·Practice breathing exercises in the bath or shower– where you can inhale warm, moist, air that will not dry out you vocal cords!
From Joshua Theriot - For all programs
· Never sacrifice playing accurately for speed!
From Terrel Stewart - For voice/wind/brass students
· Breathing exercise - tip, lie on bed or floor with a book on your stomach inhale book should go up; hold breath, then exhale slowly go down.
Remember to Practice, Practice, Practice, AND HAVE FUN DOING IT!
Letter from the Assistant Director
It always warms my heart to hear stories from all of you regarding you and/or your children who are part of the LAAPA family. I hear at least two each week and I thank God for the gift of music and dance and the wonderful staff and faculty here at LAAPA.
Many of your children and our students begin to shine so brightly once they are playing their instruments, singing, or dancing. Stories of self-esteem that skyrockets with ongoing lessons continue to confirm my belief in our mission and goals we set here at LAAPA. Children and teens (and even adults) come to us many times with doubt and anxiety not believing that they can succeed. Within a few months I see them again with heads held high, smiles on their faces, and joy in their hearts.
The world today is hurting in so many ways and we all, as well as our children, can delight in the experience of the world of music and dance. If any of you have a similar situation to share with me, I encourage you to call me (985-231-0875 x 305) as I would love to hear and share your story or stories of your children and the successes they have had and are having in their music and dance lessons.
We are so grateful to all of you for sharing your families with us. Feel free to contact me at any time as I would love to hear from you!
As always,
Wanda Cullen, Assistant Director
Student News
Katherine Corcoran sang the National Anthem at a Zephyr’s game (pictured to the right).
Emily Ruli, Taylor Sims, & Victoria Vercher auditioned and were chosen for supporting roles for the classic play of West Side Story. Opening night is March 22nd at St. Paul’s School.
Shane Strander auditioned for the Louisiana Music Educator’s Association All-State Band (alto sax).
Zach Barth auditioned for the all district honor’s choir for St. Tammany Parish. He is currently attending Mandeville High School.
Amanda Boe and Kate Gautreaux recently auditioned and was chosen in supporting roles for the play Hairspray at St. Scholastica High School.
Colton Blagrove made the Jesuit High School Golf Team, scoring a 42 which is exceptional for a sophomore!
The Nguyen Family
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Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen have three amazing children. All three of their children take lessons at the Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts! |
Welcome to Our Newest Students!
A HUGE WELCOME to the following new students who have recently joined us! We are so happy that you’ve chosen to study at LAAPA. We know you will do great things this year! Cole Acosta |
Kim Dupuy |
Sarah McConnell |
Camille Villar
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New Referral Program at LAAPA - FREE LESSONS!
Enjoying your experience at LAAPA?
Refer a Friend and get a FREE Lesson! When you refer a friend to LAAPA and they register, you will receive a certificate for a 30 minute complimentary lesson—a $50.00 value! You may schedule a lesson in any of our numerous program offerings! There’s no limit as to how many FREE lessons you can earn! We’re so glad that you’re with LAAPA and this is just our way of saying THANKS!
Teacher Feature
Joshua Theriot - Instructor of Guitar/Rock Ensemble
His passion for music remained with him throughout high school where he played baritone in the Vandebilt Catholic Regiment marching/concert band and guitar in the indoor percussion and jazz ensembles. Joshua later went on to study Music/Business Management and guitar at the prestigious Berklee College of Music where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music degree. While studying there, Joshua started his own band, Abigail’s Ghost and his own record label, Aesperus Music. He has since released two full length records and a live DVD with Abigail’s Ghost on his label. Abigail’s Ghost has sold thousands of records all over the world and Joshua is currently recording the band’s third album. He can also be found playing with 80’s tribute band, Flashback and Funk/Dance band, Souled Out. We have been lucky enough to have Joshua teaching at LAAPA for four years now. He now instructs students in guitar, bass, piano, drum, voice and directs the Rock/Pop ensembles for both our Covington and Mandeville schools! |
Faculty member Joshua Theriot has been playing music since he was 8 years old when he started as a guitarist in his dad’s Cajun French band, LA Rose. Joshua is actually one of the few remaining young people who can read, write and speak Cajun French! Word Scramble
How Many Can you Unscramble? E-mail your correct answers to us at quarternotes@laapa.com!
Contact Us:
Covington School of Music: 985-590-4545
Mandeville School of Music: 985-674-2992
River Ridge School of Music & Dance: 504-738-3050
Email student news and article submissions for our next newsletter at quarternotes@laapa.com!
