Personal Notes Music

Personal Notes Music

Personal Notes Music

Lois Owsley, Castle Rock Music Teacher at Personal Notes Music

Lois Owsley

A Castle Rock music teacher

Violin • Viola • Cello • Bass

Music Theory • Piano

Get started with music lessons in three easy steps!

1 • 2 • 3

Step 1

Choose your instrument

Violin

Violin

Violin is the smallest and highest pitched of the orchestral stringed instruments. Smaller sizes are available for younger and smaller students.

You could play this your first year!

You could play this your second year!

Viola

Viola

The viola is bigger and has a more mellow tone than a violin. The viola shares the three lower strings of the violin and has a lower C string. Smaller sizes are available for younger and smaller students. The technique is similar to playing the violin. The viola has a special alto clef so reading notes is quite different than any other instrument.

You could play this your first year!

You could play this your second year!

Cello

Cello

The cello looks like a violin and viola but is so big it is played sitting down. It has a lower and deeper sound and the cellist reads notes on the bass staff. The strings are the same as the viola but an octave lower.

You could play this your first year!

You could play this your second year!

String Bass

String Bass

The bass is the largest and lowest pitched of the four orchestral stringed instruments. The player stands to play and reads the bass clef notes.

You could play this your first year!

You could play this your second year!

Piano Keyboard

Piano

There are grand pianos, upright pianos (spinets, consoles and studios) and digital pianos and typically have 88 keys. Digital pianos or keyboards can and often have less than 88 keys. It helps to know piano as a secondary instrument when playing a stringed instrument.

You could play this your first year!

You could play this your second year!

No matter which instrument you choose, you will have opportunities to perform for and with others, sight read, play by ear, transpose, learn music history & theory, and develop techniques to be skilled to play professionally or just for fun!

Need to rent an instrument? My list of recommended vendors is here!

Step 2

Select the best lesson option for you

Cello student

Private In-Person

In my private in-person lessons, I welcome you to my in-home music studio for an hour of engaging and enjoyable personalized instruction with an optional music theory lab component tailored to your skill level.

Private Virtual

In my private virtual lessons, I make my personalized music instruction available via a variety of virtual meeting platforms to prioritize your safety and scheduling convenience. Choose an engaging 1/2 hour or 1 hour lesson.

Violin student

Self-Paced Online

This self-paced membership option is perfect for beginning music students, especially those who would like to explore an instrument on a budget before beginning more advanced private lessons.

I work with beginner students through advanced students, and I love to help you reach your musical goals!
 
A special note to my advanced students or my motivated beginners:
Are you striving to get in the highest level orchestra? Or All-City? Or All-State!?! Mastering the audition including personalized recordings, individual lessons (both online and in person) and provide you with the tools to succeed! It’s far more than learning the scales and excerpts for the audition — but we will do those too! Enroll now to get started!

Step 3

Register as a student

Have questions? Contact me!

Bonus Step!

Get to know your teacher

Castle Rock Violin Teacher Lois Owsley

Hello, I'm Mrs. Owsley!

(pronounced owz-lee)

I attended a live violin performance for the first time in third grade. From that moment on, violin music resonated with my soul. Up through high school, music lessons and performances were a natural part of my life. It was only fitting that I pursued a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Colorado State University and later earned a Master of Arts in music education from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Professional development did not stop with my master’s degree. As a life-long learner, I participated in many MTAC, MENC, SCSBOA, and ASTA conferences. In 2007, I took several courses at California State University Long Beach to learn about the many changes in music education. So much has been gleaned from the  Dalcroze workshops and private cello lessons with Professor Barbara Thiem at Colorado State University, and Leila Viss in Centennial, Colorado. One of my favorite opportunities has been to engage in the week-long workshops hosted by Birch Bay String Orchestra Teachers in Ferndale, Washington. 

For over forty years, I have played in symphony orchestras and other musical events as well as taught hundreds of wonderful students on stringed instruments and piano.  Personal Notes Music  began in a little Louisiana town while I was also performing with the Lake Charles, Alexandria, and Natchitoches orchestras. Everywhere we moved, I opened my studio.  So, PNMS has former students from Louisiana; Bountiful, Utah; California (Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, Monterey, Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Lakewood) and now Colorado (Fort Collins, Loveland, Denver, and Castle Rock).  

As a professional musician, I have long-term memberships in MENC (Music Educators National Conference which is now the National Association for Music Education), the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC), and am currently a member of MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) associating with a local Colorado group. 

I have had many opportunities to perform in Colorado including with the Poudre Valley Hospital Orchestra, the Loveland Symphony, The Lone Tree Symphony, The Denver Pops, and the praise team at church. I have also participated in seasonal community and church events, and played for weddings and at Stonegate Rehab Center in Parker and Bonaventure Senior Living in Castle Rock.

I love to perform...

I have fun teaching...

and I can’t wait to meet you!

Play Video about Lois Owsley Music Education Interview

A recent interview with me on music education…enjoy!

Stay in touch...

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Consider donating...

Please consider donating in support of my efforts to provide music on my YouTube channel, and to scholarship students who otherwise couldn’t afford lessons.

Looking for beginning violin lessons?

I’d love to be your teacher! But I also want to let you know about a course I’ve created that allows you to learn at your own pace for a fraction of the cost of private lessons.

The course covers 44 fun and lively fiddle tunes, and right now I’m running a special…

Subscribe before November 15
to get 2 months free!

Subscribe before November 15 to get 2 months free!

Lois Owsley, Castle Rock Music Teacher at Personal Notes Music