Espresso, Gelato, Music!

Shari Fulton is a former student at DSM where she studied saxophone, flute, and even sang with the Student Jazz Ensemble. Unfortunately, life and work had her relocate to CA,  but her passion for music still burns! 


Shari and her husband Tom are the proud owners of Zia's, a gelato, espresso, dessert and pastry restaurant in Placerville, CA.  Aside from making great gelato in such interesting flavors as Pineapple-Passion-fruit and Cucumber-Mint, Shari finds the time to hear and book local musical talent for special evenings at the cafe. 

"We've had everything from a traditional Irish group celebrating St. Patrick's Day to classical guitarists, folk singers and of course, all sorts and sizes of jazz combos!" she says enthusiastically.

Shari is an interesting and multi-faceted lady.  The grand-daughter of Italian immigrants, she lived for four years in northern Italy and speaks the language fluently. Her passion for music is equally rivaled by a thirst for knowledge and the simple pleasures that most Italians pursue... "la bella vita" or "the beautiful life".  These interests include gelato, espresso, fine wines, wonderful food, and of course, great music!

We miss her here at DSM but wish her great success with Zia's.  Be sure to visit  Zia's Facebook page and if you're a MusickEd-er in her area, stop by for a fantastic latte or unique gelato.  Be sure to tell Shari we said ciao!

Staff Spotlight - 8PM Tuesday Evening

I strolled down the halls at DSM/MusickEd last night to get a picture for a future blog and found Jenn Escue hard at work in the middle of a voice lesson.  Actually, it was hard to tell if she was teaching as I could hear both laughter and singing as I made my way down the hall. 

Jenn is a vocalist on staff at MusickEd/DSM and always has a great time with her students.  Besides teaching at DSM, Jenn also contributes to the MusickEd Support Center, writing tips and even designing 'solfege' charts for the vocal subscribers. As of late, she has been helping to create 'veils' for the thousands of web pages protected by the MusickEd copyright.

Jenn will be completing her Master's Degree in Jazz Pedagogy this August from the University of North Texas.  "It's been a long process but it's also a lot of fun. There are a bunch of talented people at the school and in the program."

And what are her goals after completing the degree?

"I plan on completing an album of jazz standards by the Spring of 2011" she says with reserved optimism.  

We'll keep you posted as to her progress.  And if you're near our campus, stop in anytime.  Just  follow the laughing and singing to Office 203.  Jenn will be happy to say hello.

Local Reporter Visits DSM/MusickEd

Reporter James Roth paid a visit to DSM/MusickEd  today to follow up on the Toni Vogel story. You may recall Toni is one of our students with MS.  James will be doing a feature about Toni and her husband Steve and how music, DSM and MusickEd have helped her cope with her diagnosis.   

I gave James a quick tour of the school (that's he and I mugging it up in the picture),  and introduced him to Mr. Finkel where he got a preview listen to a few minutes of a bossa nova tune from the upcoming Jazz Series.  Afterward we met Toni for a little Q and A. 

She talked about her history, how her diagnosis had affected her life and how her sessions at DSM have helped her to re-connect.  Toni is passionate about sharing her story with other MS patients in hopes that music might help them as it has her.

We also talked about the Kore curriculum, the evolution of the software and some of the other fantastic students we have locally here at DSM and globally at MusickEd.com.  It didn't take very  much prompting for Toni to perform for James even though she has been studying for less than a year.  We met Steve in the recital hall where he talked about how playing music together is a dream come true.  

It was easy to see how much Steve enjoys making music with Toni and how proud he is of her progress. They played a few ditties and we said our goodbyes - actually, Toni gave James a big hug.  We'll have a link to the article as soon as it runs!

Student Spotlight - Pam Johnson

Pam Johnson, a former high school and college trumpeter, decided to resume music lessons after years of self imposed exile.


"I decided to try something challenging" she says with a laugh, "so I chose french horn. I've really  missed having music in my life".  


Pam has been studying at DSM and using the MusickEd curriculum for just over month.  She began with the Discovery Series but is anxious to start using the Kore Series this week.  "The new software looks great and seems a little easier to navigate."  


Because of her previous musical background she is already in Lesson 4. Pam's instructor, DSM and MusickEd Partner Gary Feltner says "she's doing remarkably well, especially considering the short amount of time she's been studying." 


 Way to go Pam, we're proud of you. And keep up the great work!

MusickEd Launches New Subscription Service with 1 Day Free Trial

MusickEd.com went live with a brand new subscription based website over Memorial Day weekend. The covert launch comes after a 4 year re-tooling of the entire Discovery Series.  The new Kore Series ushers in a new era from 'purchase and download' to a more immediate, 'subscribe and use' format. 


The new site gives users instant access to 20 lessons of the Kore Series and all of the support pages.  3 month or yearly subscriptions are available and there is even a 24 hour FREE TRIAL so that potential subscribers can see the wealth of information that's available.


"The free trial really lets users get a sense of the full MusickEd experience" say Bob Lawrence. "They have time to sample all of the lesson material and quizzes, hear the songs and amazing orchestrations, check in on our community and of course access all of the support pages. We feel that if they have a chance to see and use the product,  then they'll wind up subscribing."


Now the attention turns to site management with community content, videos and support material being added daily.  "We can also start a full blown marketing campaign" says Lawrence, "something we have not been able to do as of yet." 


"We'll monitor traffic over the next few weeks and tweak things as we go. It should be lots of fun to watch it all unfold!"