The Witching Hour

September through October

The Witching Hour is the studio’s Halloween group performance. This event is only open to returning students because it comes so soon in the school year.

The Witching Hour is named for a time when people are at their most powerful. When students come together for group event performances, they as musicians are at their most powerful, their most magical.

Facebook Album 2022

One Halloween season, each of the students and Miss Tess wrote a poem about when they saw themselves at their most powerful. Here is an excerpt from their words for The Witching Hour:

I am a keeper of the flame
Remember your teacher’s teacher’s name
The hours we share are transitory
And when they’ve passed through a crematory
I’ll live in you as a story

You don’t need no contraption
Neither any super action
Just remember that all is in you
With which you can do awesome voodoo
Empower, encourage, imbue

I feel most accomplished
When a project has finished
Finishing takes a lot of grit
And it makes me want to quit
In the end, I benefit

I love to schedule lots of playdates
We’ll be kings and queens until it is late
Mayans with pyramids made of gold
Dinosaurs and woolly mammoths of old
All my stories are not yet told

You can be strong in many ways
By sitting at home and reading all day
By straying outside your comfort zone
That is a strength all of its own
Or sitting upon a throne

Inside me my power can ebb and flow
In the moment the sun sets, my power will grow
During mid-fall in a room with my friends
The crisp air around us in the atmosphere bends
magic inside us transcends

During the pandemic, Miss Tess and her henchman hubby Sean delivered Halloween treat boxes with supplies to help students decorate their own piano areas. The presence and magic of live music was absolute as students opened portals to share their celebratory songs.