Subject: 🎻 November news from MCMA 🎶

Studio Updates

November 2025

photo by Pete Kalajian

November is here, and with it the opportunity to express our gratitude for our wonderful students and families, amazing faculty, dedicated staff & board and, surrounding it all, this incomparable community that makes Midcoast Music Academy possible. We are thankful for you!

Read on to learn about our student of the month, this year's Annual Appeal, some excellent opportunities for our youngest students, an exciting Songwriting Workshop and enjoy photos from our recent Student Open Mic!

MEET OUR STUDENT OF THE MONTH!

photo by Wyatt McConnell

Meet our November Student of the Month! Isabelle has been studying with Tom Luther since September of 2024. Tom has this to say about his student:

“Isa has been studying piano and composition with me for about a year and a half. She is a thoughtful, ambitious, and dedicated student. She also has a tremendous knack for self-reflection in terms of her artistic practice, her social life, and her place in the world. It’s this thoughtfulness that has contributed to her growing resilience and development as a musician.

She has a unique understanding of the connections between art and life. As she was working on composing a new piece she described how the different compositional elements related to her own experience in specific detail.

Her strongest asset as an artist and student is her growing willingness to take the necessary steps in the process of getting better. This is a hard thing for a lot of us, and Isa is no exception. She has been learning how to balance her ambition with realism and has shown a developing patience with the process of learning and with herself as she improves her skills.

I’m really proud of the work that she has done and thrilled to be a part of her journey.”

2025-26 ANNUAL APPEAL

Spread Music, Spread Joy!

As a nonprofit organization, fundraising is essential to our work. Donations from friends like you allow us to keep lesson prices affordable, provide tuition assistance to every dedicated student who needs it, expand our offerings, and pay our instructors & staff a living wage for their phenomenal instruction.Your donation of any amount will help us support our students and continue our important work.

$70= help a student begin their journey

$190= one full Music Together sponsorship

$475= one full summer camp sponsorship

$665= full semester of half hour lessons

$1,330= full semester of hour-long lessons

$2,660= create a named scholarship

$5,000= name a lesson studio

To learn more and make a tax-deductible donation, click the "donate" button!

donate

EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSES

Music Together® Winter Session

Registration is now open!

Join Alyssa or Amelia for one of our classic 10-week sessions. These mixed-age classes are designed for children aged birth-5 and the grownups who love them. They are the perfect way to start your child's musical journey. Register early to reserve your spot!

This session join us:

Tuesdays at 9:30am in Belfast
Thursdays at 4:15pm in Belfast
Fridays at 9:30am in Rockport

Music Exploration Session II

This small-group class is for 5-7 year-olds who love music, are ready for a challenge and want to have fun while they learn about rhythm, melody, harmony and explore lots of different instruments. Music Exploration is all about hands-on musical action, and each session will cater to the interests of the group.

Classes meet Mondays from 3:15-3:45pm or Fridays 10:45-11:15am (perfect for homeschoolers).

SONGWRITING WORKSHOP

Perhaps the Perfect Holiday Gift!

Join us at MCMA for a special 3-part workshop: SONGWRITING: A Start to Never Finished Course, taught by Spencer Albee

Take a deep dive in to the songwriting process with Spencer Albee (AS FAST AS, The Walrus, Rustic Overtones), a Maine songwriter and producer who has worked with artists ranging from David Bowie to The Ghost of Paul Revere. Over three sessions we will discuss the fundamentals of songwriting, and continue to push the camera on more and more details as the sessions progress.

Spencer will take you from fundamentals to completion (of a sort) over three progressive class sessions on Saturdays January 31, February 7 and February 14th. Open to all aspiring songwriters aged 14 and up.

For a full course description and to register, click the link below!

songwriting workshop

STUDENT OPEN MIC

Thank you once again to our friends at the Villager Cafe and the Midcoast Villager for partnering with us to create a magical Student Open Mic night this month! Keep an eye out for more music events at the cafe soon.

Click below to see the full photo album!

open mic pics

COMMUNITY NEWS