Private Teaching Schedule for Summer 2010 through Spring 2011

Summer Session 2010
June: 2- 21 and August: 2 -26
No lessons during July.
Advance payment for entire session (7 lessons) $105.00. Just about a 10% discount! Payment due at first lesson of the session.

June 26 – July 1 2010
National Guitar Workshop McLean, VA

July 11-16 2010
National Guitar Workshop Chicago, IL

Fall 2010 Session
Monday August 30 through Thursday December 16
No lessons on the following dates: September 6 (Labor Day) and November 24 – 25 (Thanksgiving weekend)
Advance payment for entire session (15 lessons) only $220.00. More than a 10% discount! Payment due at first lesson of the session.
Recital Date and Location TBD

Winter/Spring 2011 Session
Monday January 3 through Thursday May 26
No lessons on the following dates: March 21 – 24 (OU Spring Break week)
Advance payment for entire session (20 lessons) only $295.00. More than a 10% discount! Payment due at first lesson of the session.
Recital Date and Location TBD

This info will remain available at: http://www.johnhorneguitar.com/student-resources/

I was recently interviewed for The Guitar Hero series on Jemsite.com, a website devoted mostly to Ibanez guitar enthusiasts. The Guitar Hero series features interviews with guitarists and musicians who may not have star status but are guitar heroes in their own right. You can read the interview here: Guitar Hero Series – John Horne
Continue reading 'New Interview at Jemsite.com'

I’m a big fan of Athens Children’s Chorus!

Luke Abaffy for The Post

Teaching 45 music classes, working with about 600 children and directing a chorus of nearly 40 singers is all in a week’s work for the director of the Athens Children’s Chorus.

Melanie Horne has been directing the chorus for 11 years and is also an affiliate faculty member of the Ohio University School of Music.

“I love seeing the ‘aha’ moment,” Horne said. “When a child makes a connection, like finding their head voice, for the first time.”

Horne’s work with the children throughout the year will be displayed at 7 tonight in the Robert Glidden Recital Hall during the chorus’ final performance of the year. The concert is free and open to the public. The chorus will be accompanied by OU graduate student and clarinetist Brian McLemore, pianist Sara Golden and Assistant Director of the chorus Katie McGonagle.

Although Horne said she has always loved singing, she didn’t have her first opportunity to work with a children’s chorus until her senior year at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

“I had an amazing choral director in college, and found that I was most passionate about teaching younger children, even though I enjoy – and have taught – choral music at lots of levels,” Horne said.

Horne also teaches general music at East and West Elementary Schools in Athens, and said it’s hard to keep track of her schedule.

“I have a very active, busy day job,” Horne said. “But I always gain energy by working with the chorus. They’re such great kids.”

McGonagle, a senior music education major said she really likes directing the kids too.

“They’re all really cute, and so full of energy,” McGonagle said.

Sometimes that energy gets out of hand, said Golden, a graduate student studying music education. This happens around the same time each month.

“The most interesting thing is to come around the full moon,” Golden said. “The kids’ energy is crazy then.”

Horne said she hasn’t noticed a specific time when the children are less attentive, but rather has learned to always be ready for surprises when working with kids.

“I never know exactly what to expect,” Horne said. “It’s part of the fun of my job.”

Members of the chorus range in age from seven to 14, and have performed with the Singing Men of Ohio, Women’s Chorale and the OU Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel.

“I love watching the group go from kids who don’t know each other to a connected group who support each other and sing beautifully together,” Horne said.

Photos courtesy of Roger Evans.