Your last Newsletter! (for now!)
The Buzz 
What’s POPpin at St. Francis?
Last week of POP out of the Box
I simply cannot believe it is already our last week of POP out of the Box. I hope that your students have enjoyed these classes, workshops, and performances, and that they’ve learned something new, met a new Teaching Artist, made a new friend, or all of the above!. It has been such a joy for me to peek in on classes and see so many familiar faces (and to get to know some new ones!) Your students resiliency during this time, and their commitment to their musical activities/education is nothing short of amazing, and it has given me renewed hope for what we can create together as we continue to navigate this challenging time.
End of year JUBILEE – Friday!
WHEN?
Friday, 5:00 pm
WHERE?
You must register at this page beforehand!
WHAT?
A virtual celebration to bring together our community in appreciation and reflection on our past year as we hope for brighter days ahead. ALL ARE WELCOME! Join POP staff, Teaching Artists, and Guest Artist Tommy Mesa for a spectacular virtual performance, as we conclude our POP out of the Box series together.
#POPlayback – we want to hear from you!
PROMPT:
Submit your entry HERE
POP FAMILY PORTAL STILL OPEN
The Family Portal will remain open/accessible for any families wishing to utilize the 100+ instructional videos created by POP TA’s for at-home practice. While we encourage you to continue to use this excellent resource, students and families should shift their focus to the new online classes through ‘Pop out of the Box’.
How to access the Portal & POP Resources:
- Go to www.playonphilly.org (bookmark this site if you haven’t already!)
- Click on ‘POP Family’ (right side of the screen, next to ‘About’, ‘Programs’, ‘How we work’, etc)
- Type in password: popfamily
- Click on ‘RESOURCES’ (right side of the screen)
- This will take you to the bottom of the page – find the button that says ‘CLICK HERE’
- After clicking the button, a new page should open on your browser with a Google Drive Folder called ‘Family Resources’. I recommend bookmarking this page on your device(s).
- Here you will see the different resources labeled accordingly.
- NOTE: the Practice Videos are organized by level and instrument. The Music Theory videos are not always instrument specific, and can apply to more than one instrument family.
Teacher Feature
Meet our fabulous Teaching Artists!
Each week we will shine a spotlight one of the
18 teachers on our St. Francis team.
We are so lucky to have each and every one of them here at POP!
Niki Purdy
Niki Purdy grew up in Iowa City, Iowa where she started playing bass in her school orchestra in the fourth grade. After several family moves, first to Chicago and then to a suburb of Philadelphia, Niki moved into the city to study Music Education at Temple University and fell in love with the Philadelphia, where she has been ever since. Niki studied bass at Temple with John Hood of the Philadelphia Orchestra and loves orchestral playing herself. She is the principal bass player of the Newark Symphony Orchestra and serves on the orchestra’s board as Chair of the Education and Outreach committee. She teaches locally and all throughout Northern Delaware privately, and in West Philadelphia at Play on, Philly! at St. Francis de Sales. Niki has been teaching bass at St. Francis for more than five years. In her time at POP she also teaches/ has taught general music, string orchestra, theory, community ensemble, and cello studio. She feels lucky to be a part of the St. Francis and Play on, Philly communities where she has had the pleasure to work with some of the most fabulous kids on the planet and loves her students very much
Stay safe, stay hopeful, stay STRONG!
-Ms. Allie
