Sunburst News - July 2025

July 1, 2025

July - Issue #95

IN THIS ISSUE:

Music Together Enrollment 🥁
Recital Recap 🎤
Video Game Music Show 🎮
Tekko 2025 🎧
All Together Now! 🎵
July Promo 👕
Photoshoot Call 📸
Free Classes 🎹
Farewell to instructor Sam! ❤️
Summer Policy ☀️
School Closure Reminder 🗓

4th of July Break - 7/4-7/6
Music Producers Meet-Up - 7/11
Video Game Music Concert - 7/12
Piano Club - 7/18
Sunburst Jams - 7/25
Drum Circle - 7/26
Songwriter Group Share - 7/27

Music Together Open Enrollment

We're enrolling for the Summer Term of Music Together! Classes will meet from July–August with spots available on weekday mornings and weekends. Our Mixed-Age classes are for children ages 0-5 and Rhythm Kids is for ages 4-5.

Enroll Here

Recital Recap

We’d like to thank all of our students and families for taking part in our summer recitals! This was one of the biggest recital seasons ever with over 200 student performers across our 2 big marathon days at HAVEN and 5 smaller sessions at the school.

Seeing and hearing our students on stage is always our favorite part of what we do and we couldn’t be more proud of the progress everyone is making. Our recitals are also the best time of year to raise money for our scholarship fund - thanks again to everyone for their contributions. Finally, a big thanks to the HAVEN crew for hosting!

Video Game Music Concert

Calling all gamers! Join us for an evening of video game music by the Thanakarn Limtham Jazz Trio, featuring Thanakarn Limtham (aka Dr. Bank) on keys, Charlie Scott on bass, and Stephen Weinstein on drums. They’ll perform an exciting selection of songs from popular video games that are just as fun to play as they are to listen to. This is a show you won’t want to miss!

Location: Sunburst School of Music

Date: Saturday, July 12th

Time: 7pm

Get Tickets

Instructor Bank Limtham to present at Tekko 2025

Sunburst piano instructor Bank Limtham will be featured as a panelist at Tekko 2025, Pittsburgh’s leading Japanese pop culture convention. His panel, “From Console to Keys: Exploring the Piano Transcriptions of Final Fantasy VII,” will feature live performances and analysis of the game’s iconic soundtrack, with a focus on piano arrangements by Shiro Hamaguchi.

A lifelong fan of Final Fantasy VII, Bank combines his passion for gaming and music in this interactive session, making it accessible for all ages. His presentation will highlight the brilliance of composer Nobuo Uematsu and inspire both gamers and music lovers.

Event Details Here

All Together Now Music Festival

Sunburst is proud to join the All Together Now! Music Festival, a city-wide benefit for Pittsburgh's immigrant community. Every ticket, t-shirt, and donation goes to the Collaborative for Immigrant Impact, a coalition of 20 local nonprofits that provide critical legal, housing, health-care, education, and food services to more than 20,000 of our immigrant neighbors.
We’ll be hosting two special nights of music on our stage:

Friday, August 8 – Sunburst Community Benefit Concert. Group program bands, soloists, and a few of your favorite teachers and admins share the spotlight for an all-ages evening of music and community.
Saturday, August 9 – Songwriter Night. The evening features Abbey Martin of our Singer-Songwriter Group Share, Jim Hawley & friends, and more!

Tickets are on sale now, as well as limited-edition festival tees. You can also read more about the festival and the impact it’s having on the official All Together Now! website. We thank you for considering coming out to the shows, or donating if you can’t attend. All Together Now!

More Info Here

Photoshoot Casting Call

We’re refreshing the Sunburst website and want real students front and center! We're looking for volunteers of all ages for a fun photo shoot on Sunday, July 27th from 1–4pm.

We're looking to capture the everyday magic that happens at our school, including students in lessons with their teachers, group classes and band rehearsals in action, Music Together classes in session, and students around our studio simply enjoying making music! All participants will receive hi-rez copies of their photos to send to grandma, print on a mug, etc.—plus our eternal gratitude!

Please reply to this email if you’d like to volunteer. We need students from ALL programs - every age and level helps show what makes our school special!

Want to know when our free classes are happening? Check out the graphic above for all the options. For more details and to sign up, click the link below. Everyone’s welcome!

Farewell to Instrutor, Sam!

After seven wonderful years of teaching at Sunburst, we would like to extend a heartfelt farewell to our voice instructor, Sam Landers, who will be leaving us at the end of July to pursue further education and relocation.

Sam has been an integral part of the Sunburst family, sharing their passion, skill, and warmth with students and fellow staff alike. Over the years, Sam has helped countless students find their voice—literally and figuratively—fostering confidence, artistry, and a deep love of music in every lesson. While we are incredibly proud of Sam’s next chapter, their presence at Sunburst will be deeply missed. We are so grateful for the impact they've made in our community, and we know they will continue to inspire and uplift wherever they go.

Please join us in wishing Sam all the best in this exciting new journey!

Summer Policy

We understand that summer schedules can be unpredictable, and that’s why we’re excited to offer you even more flexibility with your lessons. In addition to our usual makeup allowance, you can now cancel up to 4 lessons between June and August and receive a tuition credit! Just let the front desk know you'd like to use a summer cancelation, and they will adjust your account accordingly.

This new policy allows you to balance your summer activities while continuing to make progress in your musical journey. Reach out to our team if you have any questions about scheduling or cancellations, and we’ll be happy to help.

Thanks for reading!

Let us know if you have any questions, comments, etc. Thanks as always for being a part of the Sunburst Community!

Best Wishes,

–Sunburst Team

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Sunburst News - August 2025

August 1, 2025

August- Issue #96

5 Reasons to Start Playing in a Band

July 30, 2025

As summer break comes to a close, we’re gearing up for the next term of the Sunburst Band Program and would love to see some new faces this fall. Playing in a band is one of the best ways to progress as a musician, so we put together a list of five reasons why we encourage our students to seek out opportunities to play in groups—whether it's starting a band or jamming with a couple of friends. Progress Your rhythm, timing, and listening skills improve quickly when you start playing in a band or group setting. While private lessons and solo practice are essential pieces of the puzzle, playing with others introduces new variables—like tempo changes, dynamics, and coordination—that challenge you to stay in sync with your bandmates and adapt to each other. We’ve seen so many students level up after just a couple months in the Sunburst Band Program–the progress happens fast! Friends and Connections We love watching our students and their families become friends and our band program has been a natural starting point for many of those relationships. Some of our current bands have stayed together for years, and it's awesome to see them hang out outside of lessons and support each other at shows. Plus, one of the best ways to get gigs is through connections with other musicians! Motivation Playing in a band is super motivating because you're part of a group working toward an exciting shared goal. Whether you're learning a new song, building a set list, or getting ready for a show, the process becomes more exciting and rewarding when you're making music you love with people you enjoy being around. That shared energy turns practice into something much more fun and meaningful. Performing Performing can be nerve-wracking, but it gets easier the more you do it, and being on stage with your friends makes it less scary. We love seeing how our students' stage presence and confidence grow with each performance—it’s one of our favorite parts of being teachers! As we mentioned, shows are a great place to make connections with musicians who you’d like to collaborate with in the future. Simply put, playing more shows leads to playing more shows. Creative Outlet Music is a powerful tool for expression, and it’s important to have outlets for that at any age! Life is very fast paced for many of us, and it can be tough to pause and do the things you enjoy. Band practice can be a consistent anchor in your week—something you can rely on for connection, processing, and creating with your bandmates. As corny as it sounds, playing music is good for your spirit! If you’d like to know more about the Sunburst Band Program, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for more information. We also recommend talking with your private lessons instructor so that they’re aware and can help you prepare.