Information, announcements, tools, and more for Afterschool Music Program (AMP and mini-AMP) and Camp parents and students
Dear parents,
Once again, thank you for registering for our Day Camp (K-5th grade) or the Performance Workshop (6th grade and up).
Fees. Most of you paid deposits by credit card online. If we have your card on file, our system will automatically run your card for the balance of camp early Monday morning, unless you email us to request an alternate payment. If you are paying by check, please bring it with you on the first day of camp. Checks should be payable to CMC Atlanta. The total fees for Day Camp are $475 per week for full day, $375 per week for half day; discounts apply via Summer Day Camp Pass for 6 or more weeks of Day Camp attendance. The Performance Workshop is $525 per week for full day and $425 per week for half day; discounts apply after two weeks of paid attendance. Day Passes are $95 per full day, and $75 per half day for both Day Camps and the Performance Workshop.
Participation Form. We also need a completed Participation Form from all campers. This form provides emergency contact and necessary medical information. Campers cannot participate in our programs unless this form is completed. If you have more than one child, we require a unique form for each one. If your child was enrolled in AMP this Spring Term or has already attended camp with us, we do not need another Participation Form unless medical coverage, condition, or emergency contacts have changed. You can access the form on our site here.
An up-to-date version of the CMC Atlanta Participation Form must be on file for any minor student who is going to be left in CMC Atlanta care. The form is available and completed online here.
If you are a new parent, welcome and please let us know if you have any questions about the form. It takes just a few minutes to complete, so if you are a returning parent, and you aren't 100% sure the info you provided in the past is accurate, please take a moment to complete a new version online.
Dear parents and students,
Thank you for your patience as we continue to explore how to respond to the latest developments and governmental recommendations to COVID-19. We want to be thoughtful in response to the latest information and updates, and ever mindful of needs and interests in our community. Doing our part to help blunt the spike in infections is important to us, and at the same time, we don't want to overreact and shut down completely when we could provide students and families meaningful and relatively safe experiences making music with us.
In short, we will be open this coming week, but we're placing some limits on in person programs involving groups, and we are opening the option for online engagement with us. If you know what you'd like to do already, please help us plan by completing the online COVID-19 Planning Form. If you'd like to know some details about our current plans and the logic informing our decisions, please feel free to continue reading.
The most frequently asked question, "How does the transportation system work for AMP?"
In all locations where we offer the Afterschool Music Program, we operate our own shuttles, using vehicles we own and our faculty and staff employees. Our goals are, first and foremost, for the ride to be safe, second, the routes to be efficient, and third, the experience to be as enjoyable, or at least, as hassle free as possible for all our AMP students.
It's easy to take care of the logistics for your child(ren). How it works:
Every spring since 2009, CMC Atlanta students have had the exciting opportunity to sing and play on the Main Stage of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park. We're taking the stage again this year on Sunday, April 15. Please join us for the fun!
We'll be performing on the Coca-Cola Company Main Stage on Sunday, April 15, 2018. We have the stage from 11:00 am until 12:00pm. The call time for students is 10:30 am. The AMP/Core elementary age students' performance will be about 10 minutes, likely from 11:05-11:15.
The Main Stage is located on the 10th Street side of the park, to the west of the Park Tavern, near 10th and Charles Allen.
As in previous years, in 2018 we are staging singers from our Afterschool Music Program (AMP), as well as rock and jazz ensembles from our junior high and high school Performance Workshop (a program that meets Saturdays in L5P) and students from Atlanta Music High School. The AMP students will be singing a collection of popular tunes, and our rock bands and jazz combos from the Performance Workshop and Atlanta Music High will be filling out the set with familiar covers and jazz standards.
This is definitely not an event to be missed! Please help us plan for the show by signing up, and let me know if you have any questions. See you all at the Festival!
Diana
Dear parents,
One of the questions I get the most from parents is how to get their children to practice. Such a great question! There are a few things to keep in mind when asking (and you will most likely need to ask) your child to practice:
Choose your words and practice time carefully. Instead of saying it's time to practice, try saying one or more of the following:
Remember that lessons are teacher guided and while we do teach children how to practice it does take a long time for them to master the ability to practice on their own. You will have to remind them to practice for several years until they take initiative. Keep in mind what is age appropriate and even if you don't play an instrument, or read music, you can help your child by sitting in the same room with them and asking questions along the way. One of the main ideas is to create good habits, and that comes with consistency and positive reinforcement. Using words like play and show sound different than practice.
The other two questions I get about practicing from parents are how long/often should my child practice and what should they be doing when practicing? Music Center faculty write lesson notes in a notebook each week with a child-friendly list of practice activities to do. Your child should practice twice their age in minutes, so if you have a 6 year old they should be practicing 12-15 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week. 15 minutes is not that long, and if they do everything in their notebook they won't even notice the time. The point is to have a small goal for each session (as a child, I personally used the three penny game referenced in the article, Getting Kids to Practice, although sometimes it was M&Ms.....) and after a while I forgot about moving over the M&Ms when I did something correctly and just ate them at the end.
This is just a start, there are many, many other ways to get kids to practice their music. And remember, all faculty can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Please let us know if you have any questions, we are here.
It's coming... a great option for students during the Spring Break 2016
Offered @ CMC Decatur, CMC Dunwoody and CMC Little 5 Points
April 4-8, 2016 from 9 am to 4 pm (drop off starts at 8 am, pick up by 6:00 pm)
The CMC Spring Break Camp will focus on French music and culture. Students will learn tunes, melodies, stories, rhythmic poetry, and engage in French music-related art. We've designed the program to be the perfect blend of legitimate training and immersion in a rich musical tradition and good old-fashioned fun. Elementary school age students are invited to join us for a full week or come on one or more selected days via the Music School Day Pass. Activities will include lessons, classes, singing, and ensemble playing with Center faculty, guests and fellow students.
It's official! Friday, July 11 we're hosting a Student Showcase at the Variety Playhouse in Little 5 Points. The 8 pm show will feature an intergenerational line up students, faculty, alumni, alumnae, and friends performing a mix of jazz, rock and roots standards, covers and originals. This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a fun show we're producing ourselves at Atlanta's best music venue! Best of all, through participating in or coming to the Showcase young performers and audience will be supporting our outreach to under-resourced youth.
The weather forecast suggests there could be more snow and ice across metro Atlanta this week, and most schools have closed in response. We always post local Center and program closures on our web site. Please check back for updates. Our general rule of thumb is to follow the local school calendar, unless circumstances warrant otherwise.
We are tracking the history of school and related CMC Atlanta program closures this term, and we will post make up options for missed lessons and AMP days as it becomes clear how school districts will adjust their calendars in response to this winter's unusual number of winter weather related interruptions.
During the winter months local schools occasionally close due to snow, ice or cold. When schools are closed, it sometimes makes sense for us to offer a Day Camp Workshop. These workshops provide coverage for moms and dads who either want or need it. We can almost always provide this service when the main danger to student welfare is exposure to extreme cold and wind. (Moms and dads bring students by car directly to us from door-to-door, so no one is likely in jeopardy of exposure.) We are less likely to offer the service if schools are closed due to icy or snow-covered roads or widespread power outages.
When schools close, AMP and Core program lessons at the local CMC Atlanta facility are cancelled for the day. Please note: closures affect only the district for the neighborhood CMC location. For example, CMC Decatur closes when CSD close; a CSD closure does not affect programming in Little 5 Points or Dunwoody.