My name is Sheila Sovis. I am excited about this Music Stars website. I have a bachelors degree in music education from Eastern Michigan University. I have been teaching music from twenty five years. I have my own music business Sheila's Music Studio, in Twinsburg, Ohio. I enjoy teaching students of all ages(4-adult). Some students come to my home for lessons, others I travel to their home. I have music recitals twice a year. This gives the students a chance to showcase their musical talent. i accompany some students with the piano, or play duets with them on different instruments at the recital. My recitals are held at my church in the fellowship hall. The location is ideal because there are big round tables that a lot of people can sit at. There are rectangular tables for the coffee, punch and cookies that we have during the break half way through. I always love preparing the students for the recital. Working on technique and artistry, pitch, dynamic levels of the song to refine it so there performance is the best possible. I love the rewarding feeling I get when the student does well. I enjoy giving students stickers or certificates when they do well at their lesson. Challenging a student is rewarding also. The student achieves more skills then they thought they would. I enjoy helping students with rhythm(counting) problems, and problems with notes. I use worksheets or word puzzles to help them learn their notes. I like to use exercises in their book to learn new technique about their instruments. I ask them questions when they are playing the song to test their knowledge. These questions can be about chords, rest, musical form, flats, sharps, dynamic levels and many others. I work at a restaurant ten to twelve hours a week to bring in extra income. I love practicing my instruments to keep my skills up. I play solos at the recitals too. The other things I like to help students prepare for are concerts and competitions. Solo and Ensemble  is one of the big competitions a lot of students are in. I help them prepare there scales and solos for the competition. The scales are practiced legato stacatto in thirds, and combination of legato and stacatto. Sometimes the band directors have playing test for different sections of the songs they are playing for a concert. I help the student prepare these very well so they get a good grade. During holiday times I like to give students little treats like candy. They practice hard and deserve a treat. I like to write(compose) music when I get a chance in their spare time.