STUDENT SHOWCASE VIDEO SERIES

Music from www.bensound.com

This moving performance by Bella Hoover was filmed for an audition a long time ago. I wanted to share it as part of the Student Showcase Series to celebrate Bella's 17th birthday and because she is so talented and everyone needs to hear her! Filmed at Soap Floats Recording Studio in Covington, Kentucky by Adam Ingram Perry

Background music from www.bensound.com Original animated video by Anira. In August 2008, a user in Nico Nico Douga uploaded a video of a storyboard based on the remixed music, asking for anyone to animate it. Several animation videos started appearing, with relatively few successes. Between October 2008 and October 2009, a collaborative group led by Anira (あにら) created a shadow-art (black and white) animation video based on the storyboard, which was released on Nico Nico on 27 October 2009. For more about the history of "Bad Apple" check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QY4ekac1_Q

Music from www.bensound.com

An update on the Student Showcase Series with some encouraging words from my wonderful student, William. Grief is such a difficult thing to navigate. My heart hurts. Thank you to everyone for your prayers, support, and patience. Music from www.bensound.com

We’re taking it to Myrtle Beach for Episode 10 of the Student Showcase Series! (This is also for BMACO’s annual recital.) This is Addyson’s second Student Showcase performance. She chose the song and together, we arranged this cool duet. Learning to listen to others and harmonize is such an important skill as a musician, and she nailed it!! -JG Beach by MBB | https://soundcloud.com/mbbofficial Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Here is Episode 9 of the Student Showcase Series! This video is also part of Bowman Music and Creative Outlet's Annual Recital (virtual this year!) Charlotte Lucas is my newest student. She just started taking voice lessons in January. She is the only student who has expressed interest in singing country. We chose this song for her performance to showcase her unique sound! I hope you enjoy! -JG

Here is Episode 8 of the Student Showcase Series! This video is also part of Bowman Music and Creative Outlet's Annual Recital (virtual this year!) Andrew Herman has been taking violin lessons with me for about 2.5 years but he has been a student at Bowman much longer than that, as you will see from his performance! Andrew is very hard-working and ambitious, and we are moving right along in our Suzuki studies! Andrew has his own business, Perspective Media House. He is a very talented videographer! Enjoy! -JG

Enjoy the 7th episode of the Student Showcase Series! This video is also part of Bowman Music and Creative Outlet's Annual Recital (virtual in 2021!) Emma Hibbitts has been studying voice with me for a little over two years. She has been taking lessons at BMACO since 2014! When I began working with Emma, she was already in the process of learning beginner college level music in a foreign language (by one of my favorite composers, Schubert!) I knew we were going to have fun together! She is always open to pushing herself out of her comfort zone musically. We've studied several classical pieces in our time together and our next adventure is to explore pop singing technique! Hello Adele! :) Emma and I have had many chats about career paths and long term goals. Emma's goal is to be a lawyer and she wants music to continue to be a part of her life. She has shown me her strong work ethic and her character through our musical studies and I have no doubt that she will go far in life and be successful! I was thrilled when Emma agreed to sing this duet with me. She immediately fell in love with the piece. We discussed the text and what the authors may have been going through. It is definitely dark, so we decided to go a little goth for this performance. :)

I'm pleased to present Sophie Watanabe, the sixth student in the Student Showcase Series! This is also for Bowman Music and Creative Outlet's Annual Recital. Sophie takes voice lessons with me on FaceTime every Friday evening. Since we don't meet in person, she recorded and filmed this beautiful, moving performance by herself. I still wanted share some information and brag on her at the beginning of this video, so watch and enjoy. :) For more information about my private music instruction, visit www.jessicagraffmusic.com

William Jordan with a very important announcement for Bowman Music and Creative Outlet friends and family.

I'm excited to present the first Student Showcase video of 2021! This is also part of Bowman Music and Creative Outlet's Annual Recital (virtual this year!) Julia Baker has been taking piano lessons with me for two years. She started as a beginner and she has grown so much! I noticed right away that she is a natural when it comes to performing. She truly feels music in her spirit and she picks up on new things very quickly. She also plays violin! Julia and I did virtual lessons each week during the Covid-19 lockdown last year. When Julia and her family moved down to my hometown of Lexington, KY, we decided to continue lessons virtually! She comes up to Northern Kentucky occasionally and we meet for in-person lessons when she is in town. She is so sweet, funny, and talented! Julia came up with all the ideas you see here, from my first appearance as a tree to a stand up comedy routine featuring Gravy. Julia, like many of my virtual students, loves my chubby kitty since he likes to play piano. It's so sweet that she wanted to include him. :) Thank you to Julia's mom, Samantha, for holding up the green screen!! And thank you to both mom and dad for being so supportive in Julia's musical endeavors! For more information on my private music instruction, visit www.jessicagraffmusic.com. -JG

Here's another great Christmas themed episode of my Student Showcase Series, featuring Chance Clevenger on violin. Chance started studying violin with me almost one year ago at my home studio. From day one, he has always had many questions for me, not only about violin playing, but about my music career and experiences. He is super self-motivated and always sets new goals for himself, which I love to help him achieve! Chance told me he wanted to learn "O Come, All Ye Faithful" and play at his church, St. Luke Lutheran, several months ago and he has worked so hard. He jumped right in without fear and was able to learn notes in a new finger pattern very quickly!  I also have Chance to thank for encouraging me to get back to my cello practice! I haven't made much time for it this year, and Chance really wanted me to play along on the cello, so here we are! I love when my students inspire me! :) I also want to give a shout out to Chance's parents, Joe and Michelle, who are absolutely amazing as well. They are so encouraging and supportive of Chance and they allow me to keep doing what I love to do as a career. I am blessed to have this family in my life! I hope you enjoy this beautiful Christmas tune. Chance is a very special student and I know he is going to go far with music. I see that spark in him that I had as a kid and it's an honor to work with him each week.  For more information on my private music instruction, visit www.jessicagraffmusic.com. -JG

'Tis the season! In Episode 3 of the Student Showcase Series, we celebrate Christmas and the end of a crazy year! :) Jessa Drees has been studying violin with me at Bowman Music and Creative Outlet in Burlington, Kentucky for almost two years. She has always impressed me with her ability to learn Suzuki repertoire super fast!  She and her mom came to me recently expressing her interest in exploring other musical paths, and we started voice lessons about one month ago. Jessa knew right away that she wanted to perform "Christmas C'mon" by Lindsey Stirling and Becky G for the Student Showcase Series. Little did I know, she had some work planned for me to do as well! She asked me to play Lindsey Stirling's violin part for this performance. I really enjoyed the challenge of learning a new piece so quickly! Jessa created all the ideas you see here - script, set design, choreography, and the COVID Christmas tree, complete with masks and toilet paper. It is such an amazing thing to watch students like Jessa get into the creative flow. This is what life is all about, my friends! Per Jessa's request, I added some bloopers to the end. You can tell we had a ton of fun! BIG thank you to Laura and Joe Dress for their support! They brought Jessa over on a Saturday and not only hung out for several hours, but actually got involved in the process as videographer and music director!! What a team we have! For more information on my private music instruction, visit www.jessicagraffmusic.com.

Hi friends! I'm back with another episode in my Student Showcase Series! What better way to celebrate the spooky season with a violin version of The Addams Family Theme?! Addyson Griggs has been studying violin with me for over a year. She became fascinated with the violin and told her parents that she wanted to learn, and they soon found me and asked me to be her teacher! They have been amazing supporters of her in this musical journey. Addyson plays in orchestra at her elementary school through Immanuel School of Music in Lakeside Park, KY and takes weekly private lessons with me at Bowman Music and Creative Outlet in Burlington, KY. She has always shown an interest in composing songs and learning to play fun tunes, and she has a playful, creative spirit! When I asked her if she would like to participate in my showcase, I knew the answer would be yes. She amazed me with her determination to learn The Addams Family Theme and record this video in just two weeks! I love that this showcase has given my students the opportunity to experience the satisfaction of performing a completed piece since concerts and recitals are not currently possible with the pandemic. I’ve realized that this actually gives them so much more! While creating these videos my students can explore many different aspects of performing arts: planning costumes, writing dialogue, creating choreography and blocking, set design, and most importantly, they have a space to just be themselves! I hope to instill in these kids (and my adult students!) the beauty of creating art simply for the sake of creating it. But of course, they would appreciate the likes and subscribes. :) For more information about my private music instruction, visit www.jessicagraffmusic.com -JG