We had a great time getting ready for the Mother’s Day Concert!
video highlights coming soon–to sign up for lessons or learn more about international Make Music Day on 6/21/26 click here.
https://doranmusicstudio.setmore.com
5/5/25
This week I am meditating on love and of course I love all my students and my daughters who have helped me at Doran Music Studio. This is a guest post from Grace Victoria Doran who describes the benefits she got from our studio!
Here is a list of things I have learned through Doran Music Studio:
1. How to play piano, this has helped my musical career so much. Piano is one of the most staple musical instruments, if you can play piano well, you can play any instrument well.
2. How to sing, I have been taught how to sing, for as long as I remember. Singing is such a useful skill to have because of the portability and the convenience it has. It is also such a wonderful way to serve in a church!
3. How to read music, reading music is essential to knowing how to play an instrument. Dr. Doran has taught me how to read music and it is a skill that I will cherish, it opens so many worlds of possibilities.
4. How to write music, similar to reading music, writing is also so essential, to play music well you must listen well, read well, and write well. Writing music is so helpful especially if you want to make edits, or arrangements of specific pieces or hymns you enjoy.
5. How to use musescore, musescore is a popular app used for writing and arranging music. Editing and arranging music is an amazing skill to have, and it’s a popular entry level job opportunity. Being proficient in musescore has increased my confidence about editing and arranging music.
6. How to teach students, teaching students is something that comes with the profession of music. Most musicians who go to music school end up teaching. Having prior experience of communicating the ideas, and expectations of a music lesson to a student is extremely important.
7. How to appear professional, in today’s world, everyone is very relaxed, but at Doran Music Studio the importance of being professional is taught. It is important to dress well, act well, have your work done and maintain a collaborative attitude, this is even more important in the age of AI, it allows you to earn trust and serve others well.
8. How to get gigs, gigs are another main income of musicians, a musician will play a number of gigs a year, depending on networking and the city’s population. Networking is the main skill to getting gigs around a city. At Doran Music Studio, Dr. Nicole teaches how to appear professional and make connections that provide monetary gain in the future.
9. How to play chamber music, chamber music is wonderful. Chamber music is an amazing way to network and perform concerts in a city. It doesn’t take as many people as an orchestra, but it sounds just as beautiful. Dr. Doran teaches us how to properly form a chamber group and support it so it grows.
10. How to track money, and expenses, oftentimes musicians don’t track the money they are making, however at DMS, tracking this on google sheets can lead to interesting discoveries such as what gigs pay best, when students drop or sign up, how many compositions are sold. It is helpful to have statistics for your own studio. Dr. Doran has taught us how to track this effectively, so we keep learning about our studio and how it relates to the community we serve.
Thanks Grace and everyone who has been part of this work–I am anxious that we expand and bless more students like this!
https://doranmusicstudio.setmore.com/nicole
4/27/26 Self Control and memorizing music: Self Control is a fruit of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:23. We are called to practice these fruits of the spirit, and we will bear more fruit, as we become more and more mature as christians. How does memorizing music make an individual more self controlled?
The definition of being self controlled is the ability to manage or regulate one’s emotions, impulses, and behaviors to resist temptation and achieve long-term goals.
Some of the key aspects of self control are delayed gratification, managing emotions, impulse control, maintaining focus, and physical discipline.
In memorizing music, one absolutely has to focus, they have to focus on the music whilst they are playing, and make up tricks so they can remember the music on stage. It is almost the epitome of maintaining focus, instead of flitting from one thing to the next.
Another aspect of memorizing music that correlates to self-control is delayed gratification. If someone plays through a piece of music, with the sheet music, they will feel gratification by being able to play the whole thing, but if they commit to memorizing it. They will have to delay that instant gratification, because it will take more time and patience to memorize the entire thing.
Additionally the physical aspect, of getting up and playing an instrument or singing is a physical discipline. It takes work to play music well, and that is a key aspect of self control.
A continuing work:
I have memorized and made music for Psalms 1-65. I have memorized all the words of the Psalms, but only some get put to beautiful, classical music within a month’s time. This method ensures I grow as a Christian and a Musician, leaving something of a souvenir for other worshippers on this path or musicians who want to explore different styles of music.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089887537607
This is a link to my facebook community for my new work. I write and teach melodious sacred music for people who know the basics, love the classics, and want pure encouragement. I serve musicians, listeners, students, and families who feel overlooked or discouraged by today’s culture and long for beauty, seriousness, and growth rooted in tradition and faith. Through composing, teaching, and thoughtful community-building, I help develop real skill, confidence, and joy so their creative light can be taken seriously and shared. I am working on ways to refresh you this April!
The text of the Psalms can get across so many ways-there are metrical psalms, art songs, word paintings, and ways to memorize or celebrate with a one verse for meditation. Ben Franklin wrote that in the Whitfield Revival, Philadelphia. “One could not walk through the town in the evening without hearing Psalms being sung by different families on every street.” https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=1278
Rita, Kevin and Jason have helped me for this post. She is willing to help review on issues of Biblical Theology and her professor at RTS was suggested for a language helper. I let out a plea of facebook, and Rita responded! Through Blue Letter Bible and Claude AI I am able to get a great sense for things like in Psalm 66 verse 2 when it says sing: it means Pi. make music in praise of God (י׳), only in poetry (Arabic زَمَرَ pipe, play on a reed; Aramaic rfmz, זַמֵּר and derivatives; Ethiopic ዘመረ፡ in derived conjugations; on an original meaning hum, murmur, compare HupZKM iii. For something in a solid, focused and scholarly form Rita suggested this:
Gordon Wenham: Reclaiming the Psalms
This teaching adds depth and breadth to my Musician’s Reflection on YouTube
https://youtu.be/VlceWiE9Lew?si=-mFX89c5dfIT_pFq
My colleague at UTC, Kevin Ford, placed an inspiration from long ago in my mailbox. Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, a piece of music that intrigued me and helped me make the obvious conclusion that the framework of Classical Music never moves too far from ideas and themes in the Old and New Testaments, even after 2,025 years. I am really amazed at the good that can come from my dreamy project that started in Cincinnati on a bus, memorizing Psalm 103 on my way to work the night shift to afford living expenses at the Conservatory.
Where are you in your journey of Praying and Praising with the Psalms? I’d love to hear from you!
Doran Music Studio · 2026 Apprenticeship
Do you want to share and
develop your musical gifts?
Applications open now — six apprenticeships available — deadline June 1, 2026
“Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
Every garden begins with a seed pressed into soil that cannot yet see the sun. The gardener does not wait for proof of the bloom before she plants. She tends, she waters, she trusts — and in time, the gift breaks through. Your musical gifts are exactly like that: real, alive, and waiting for the right conditions to flourish.
At Doran Music Studio, we believe musical gifts are not accidents. They are given on purpose, for a purpose — to be cultivated, offered back in worship, and shared with the world. That is why, this summer, we are opening six apprenticeship spots for musicians who are ready to dream out loud and grow.
The seed of your musical dream already exists. What it needs is sunlight, good soil — and someone who has walked the garden path before you.
A Garden of Musical Possibility
In any garden worth tending, you do not see the whole harvest on the day you plant. You see the possibility, the intention, the quiet certainty that something living is already at work. Faith, as Hebrews tells us, is exactly that — being fully sure of what is hoped for, fully certain of what cannot yet be seen. This is the posture of every true musician: practicing passages that aren’t yet polished, composing melodies that aren’t yet complete, believing in the gift even before the performance.
This apprenticeship is an invitation to plant your dreams in good ground.
What Is the Doran Music Studio Apprenticeship?
Dr. Nicole Doran is offering six musicians the opportunity to receive a free one-on-one mini lesson — in composition, performance practice, ear training, or music marketing — tailored to your goals and your season of growth. Think of it as trowel and soil for the specific seed you’re carrying right now.
But there’s more. Accepted apprentices will also be invited to submit a performance video that will become part of our International Make Music Day video montage, premiering on June 21, 2026 — a worldwide celebration of music in all its forms. Your playing, your voice, your gift: offered to a global audience on one of music’s most joyful days of the year.
Why Apply? The Case for Planting Now
Gardens do not wait for perfect conditions. They grow in the season they’re given. Here are the truths that gardeners — and musicians — learn over time:
The soil is ready. You don’t need to be finished to begin. Apprenticeships are for the growing season, not the harvest show. Wherever you are in your musical journey — early student, intermediate explorer, or seasoned performer seeking fresh direction — there is a place for you here.
Cultivation requires community. No great garden grows in isolation. Dr. Doran has walked the path of classical performance, composition, and faith-integrated music making for decades. The apprenticeship is a chance to learn from someone who has tended this particular ground for years — and who will tend it alongside you.
Fruit is meant to be shared. The Make Music Day montage is not just a deadline — it is a harvest table. Your performance video becomes part of something larger than a single lesson: a global, joyful offering of music on June 21. That is the garden coming into bloom.
What You’ll Receive
🎹
Free Mini Lesson
One-on-one time with Dr. Nicole Doran in composition, performance practice, ear training, or music marketing
🌍
Global Stage
Your performance video featured in the International Make Music Day montage on June 21, 2026
🌱
Personal Growth Plan
Guidance shaped around your dreams and goals — not a generic curriculum
✝️
Faith-Rooted Context
Teaching grounded in the belief that musical gifts are sacred — given to be stewarded and shared
How to Apply
It could not be simpler. Visit doranmusicstudio.com and fill out the Studio Apprentice form. Tell us about your dreams. Tell us where you are in your musical journey. Tell us what you hope for — even the things that feel too tender or too big to say out loud. That is exactly the kind of faith-filled honesty this apprenticeship is designed to receive.
Share your goals. Share your questions. Share the seed you’ve been carrying. Dr. Doran will read every application personally, and the first six accepted apprentices will be welcomed into a summer of intentional, joyful musical growth.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to show up and plant.
Application Deadline
June 1, 2026
Performance videos due in time for the Make Music Day premiere · June 21, 2026
Only 6 Apprenticeships Available
A Word for the Uncertain Gardener
Perhaps you’ve been carrying a musical dream for years, and something — time, doubt, circumstance — has kept you from planting it. Perhaps you think you need to be further along, more accomplished, more certain of where you’re headed before you reach out your hand and say, I want to grow.
Faith, the writer of Hebrews reminds us, does not wait for certainty of sight. It acts in certainty of hope. The garden does not demand that you already know the harvest before you kneel in the soil. It only asks that you show up, with your seed, and trust the season.
This summer, we are making room for six musicians who are willing to do exactly that. The application is free. The mini lesson is free. The welcome is genuine. And the stage on June 21 — that vast, international, joyful day when musicians the world over raise their voices and instruments together — is waiting for you.
Apply by June 1. Hone your gifts. Share in the joy.
“Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.”Hebrews 11:1
Visit doranmusicstudio.com · Fill out the Studio Apprentice form · Deadline June 1, 2026 Doran Music Studio
Chattanooga, Tennessee · doranmusicstudio.com
Piano · Vocals. Acoustic Guitar. Bassoon · Composition · Sacred Music · Faith-integrated teaching for the whole musician
April Dreams…
more updates soon on what’s growing at Doran Music Studio!
“Seasons slip away, to Labor Day-many hopes and dreams to work and grow, many prayers said and answers slow…Hope alive for things unseen, close at hand a distant dream. . .
April Dreams: theme 1
Doran Music Studio 