Monthly Newsletters - January 2023

Ring in the New Year with Music, Dance, and Drama!

Dear Students and Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a Happy Holiday season with lots of time to rest and visit your loved ones. It’s been a bit too quiet here at the school over the break, and we’re so excited to have you all back to share another exciting year filled with music, dance, acting, and the performing arts!

 

Congratulations to all students and faculty for 17 amazing productions this past December! This was most certainly a record December in terms of number of concerts/performances/events! I don’t know how we all did it, but it was truly fun and exciting! From students performing on stage for the first time to our veteran professionals, everyone really stepped up their game and did a great job! For those of you who performed for the first time – we hope you had a positive learning experience and most importantly had fun up there! Each time you perform, you gain a little more experience and confidence, so we hope to see you again this coming Spring for LAAPAFEST, our Spring Virtual Recital, and this June for our Summer Recital and Award Ceremonies.

 

Videos of the recitals are now in production and should be completed by mid-January. You will receive your recital video at the email address you provided when signing up for the recital, so please be on the lookout!

Finally, I would like to congratulate Ms. Elle, Ms. Rachel and all students, faculty, and staff who were involved in our original musical The Night Before New Year's. Our faculty spent hours upon hours of preparation and work over several months to create this unique experience for our students,and honestly we all had a ton of fun doing it. Even with the limited amount of time we were allotted, we are so excited about how this production turned out!

 

While our live concerts are a lot of work for everyone involved, multiply that times 10 or even 20 and you have yourself an original musical! I’d like to thank especially the parents for their patience the days of rehearsals, getting students to and from numerous practices, and just giving your children a really exciting opportunity. Being able to create something like this for our students was truly rewarding for all of us! We will be sharing a video of the performance on our YouTube channel at , so be sure to subscribe to our channel!

 

Finally, if you haven’t yet met us or may be tuning in to our monthly newsletter for the very first time, “Hello there and welcome to LAAPA! I’m Ryan – your Academy Director!” In case it isn’t obvious from everything we have going on, we really love what we do and have a passion for teaching music, dance, and the performing arts to kids, teens, and adults in the Greater New Orleans area. Whether you’re a brand-new beginner or already have some experience, the New Year is a fantastic time to get started in Music Lessons, Dance & Acting Classes at any of our 3 campuses in Covington, Harahan, and Mandeville! Make 2023 the year YOU learn to PLAY, DANCE, OR SING and let’s have a great start to 2023! Check the back/botton of this newsletter for a special offer to help you get started!

 

Happy New Year,

Ryan Cullen, Executive Director

Discover Your Talent in 2023 - Learn to PLAY-DANCE-SING-ACT!

At LAAPA, we offer the most comprehensive Music & Dance Program in the Greater New Orleans area with three campuses located in Covington, Harahan, and Mandeville. For over 40 years, we’ve provided lessons to tens of thousands of students in Piano, Guitar, Voice, Violin, Drums, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Tap, Brass, Woodwind, Bands, Preschool Music, and more!

Covington: 985-590-4545
Mandeville: 985-674-2992
River Ridge: 504-738-3050

Enroll Today!

Student News

Congratulations to Covington School of Music flute student Alexis Mowery for making it into her school’s Honor Band!

She'd like to give a shout out to her teacher, KC, for helping her achieve this!

Send Us Your News!

We love getting your news, success stories and comments. If you'd like to share your news with us, please e-mail at studentnews@laapa.com. Please note that we publish our newsletters monthly, and if you don't see your submission in this edition, it will be published as soon as space is available! Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/laapaface, youtube.com/laapatube, and now on Twitter at @laapatweets.

Recording Studio

Our recording studio is located at the Mandeville campus and features a 32 track ProTools system, 4k video cameras, premium mics and equipment. Click the button below to learn more, schedule a studio tour or Book Your Session today!

Learn More!

 

Happy January Birthdays!

We'd like to wish the following Students a very Happy Birthday this Month!

Abigail D. (15) , Aaron R. (12) , Abbey C. (9) , Abby S. (5) , Aiden E. (15) , Alessandro C. (10) , Alfunzo M. , Allyson F. , Amelia S. (15) , Amia A. (6) , Andrew B. , Anna L. (10) , Annabelle R. (12) , Annie C. (11) , Anthony P. (14) , Antonella R. (7) , Archer A. (4) , Ariel S. (3) , Armani O. (4) , Artemis L. (8) , Benjamin A. (11) , Bentley C. (10) , Betty D. , Bill S. , Bryce W. (6) , Cannon R. (9) , Catie P. (17) , Cayden D. (12) , Cecilia V. (16) , Charles S. (18) , Chase K. (11) , Chris B. , Claire B. , Claire W. (9) , Corinne B. (10) , Dale L. (12) , Dara F. (7) , Dilan P. (8) , Dylan H. (7) , Elanah P. (5) , Elizabeth D. (12) , Ella E. (8) , Ella Parker T. (3) , Emery B. (5) , Emma B. (16) , Emma J. (17) , Emma L. (9) , Emma Claire B. (15) , Erica C. , Eros A. (15) , Estelle L. (9) , Galilee S. (9) , Genesis T. (2) , Genevieve N. (13) , Georgia T. (7) , Germany R. (13) , Grace B. (8) , Grace L. (20) , Hanna J. (9) , Harrison A. (5) , Hazel O. (3) , Heather W. (6) , Holly S. (15) , Isabelle M. (4) , Jack F. (12) , Jacob B. (8) , Jacob M. (11) , Jayden E. (11) , Jayden H. (12) , Joanna S. , Jolie T. (8) , Jorden S. (13) , Joseph M. (18) , Kali K. (2) , Kayla N. (19) , Kelsey F. (11) , Lanna S. (11) , Lesly S. (15) , Lindsey A. (9) , Lucy B. (14) , Lucy D. (11) , Luke V. (9) , Madison M. (17) , Margot R. (2) , Masen P. (6) , Matheus L. (19) , Matthew B. (14) , Michael M. , Nelson E. (6) , Nevaeh A. (11) , Noah N. (7) , Noah S. , Nova D. (5) , Paisleigh J. (7) , Patrick C. (16) , Rayne W. (7) , Rene L. (10) , Roman H. (10) , Ronnie V. , Rosa Maria L. , Ruey D. (6) , Sarah L. , Serenity H. (7) , Sophia D. (15) , Sophia P. (18) , Sophia T. (14) , Ty O. (13) , Valeria S. (7)

Video of the Month - "Party of the Year" from The Night Before New Year's

Lyric Hamilton and the entire cast and crew of "The Night Before New Year's" hope you'll be attending an amazing Party of the Year tonight!

 

We hope you enjoy Scene 1B of our original musical - written and directed by Mrs. Rachel Theriot and Elle Jones, with music and lyrics by Daniel Jones, Olivia Gonzalez, and Kilian Afzalirad and choreography by Kendra Wills & Elle Jones.

 

Important Dates

Take a moment to review the following upcoming dates:

New Artwork by Michaela Howell

We are very fortunate to work with local artist Michaela Howell. Many of her paintings and art are on display at all three of our school campuses!

Michaela recently brought in new artwork that can be viewed at both of our Northshore campuses. The beautiful piece above is available for purchase at our Mandeville location for $850

Interested in purchasing art from Michaela? Inquire at the front desk!

With down home country humble beginnings Michaela has always been very resourceful. She cuts, sands, primes, paints, and in some cases stains her abstract versions of the wooden instruments, creating very hands-on works of art. This resourcefulness has “Played” out very nicely in her most current work. Though the recycling of varying musical instrument components including guitar strings, violin knobs, music sheets featuring the instrument showcased, Michaela portrays a ‘current’ sense of style combined with a very vivid color pallet, creating a symphony for the senses!

View More!

Students Spotlight - Jace King

This month’s Student Spotlight showcases River Ridge School of Music & Dance student Jace King. Jace takes piano with Ms. Claire. Jace recently starred as Theo St. Cloud, captain of the football team, in LAAPA’s original musical “The Night Before New Year’s”.

Outside of LAAPA, Jace likes to draw and paint, almost as much as he enjoys singing and songwriting! Jace enjoys a wide variety of music, but prefers R&B and Hip-Hop. Jace has many favorite artists, but when prompted to pick a top favorite, picked Michael Jackson! His favorite band is Deftones. In the future, Jace wants to be a musical recording artist, performer, and actor.

Jace likes taking lessons at LAAPA because he gets to learn music theory. He loves the fact that LAAPA is open to teaching different musical instruments which can influence younger children and older people. Thanks to music lessons. Jace has learned to improve his performance skills and how to feel the music.

When asked if he had any further comments, he said: “Just remember the name, Jace Elias King”.

Thanks for being a part of the LAAPA family, Jace! We love having you!

A HUGE welcome to our newest students who began lessons or added programs in January!

We are so happy that you’ve chosen to study at LAAPA. We know you will do great things this year!