Cherry Creek North
Now Embodied Sound Studio Combines Piano Lessons And Mindful Meditation
Expert: Matthew Kline is a well-respected piano teacher and mindfulness training and meditation expert.
Matthew Kline’s reputation precedes itself. Kline is known around the country as a world class piano teacher who also focuses on mindfulness training and meditation. By bringing his expertise in building communities through outstanding musicianship, Matthew Kline founded Music Lab Dallas in 2016, now known as Now Embodied Sound Studio.
Now Embodied Sound Studio is located in Workshops in the heart of Glendale. He occupied the space in September after moving from Texas. “I’m really impressed by Glendale,” said Kline, owner of Now Embodied Sound Studio. “It’s this beautiful hub in the middle of a larger metropolitan area. This particular location [Workshops] is perfect. I fell in love with this location because of its proximity to everything. It’s so easy to access students of all ages and types. I love being in a multicultural and experimental environment.”
“I’m set up with a larger space [at Workshops] so I can accommodate a few people at a time to experience the calming and relaxing presence of sound as a tool to restore the body into a place of relaxation. This puts the body in a place where it needs to be to heal itself.”
Kline taught piano lessons and piano pedagogy for 15 years at Southern Methodist University (SMU). He honed his skills during his 15 years as Senior Lecturer in Piano Pedagogy, and Executive Director of the Piano Preparatory Department at SMU. But his experience started at an early age.
At age seven, Kline began studying piano with his mother. At age 16 he studied with David Pocock at Western Michigan University, thus undertaking a more formal study.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hope College with majors in piano performance and psychology. While at Hope College, Matthew studied piano with Joan Conway, Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and Charles Aschbrenner.
In 1997 Matthew began his Master of Music degree at Southern Methodist University where he studied piano under Alfred Mouledous and Piano Pedagogy under Dr. Sam Holland, the current dean of the Meadows School of the Arts.
Upon completing his Master of Music degree, Mr. Kline returned to Western Michigan University where he completed his Master of Social Work degree. As a Social Worker, Matthew built communities and served as an advocate in hospice care, public school systems, and distributing emergency financial assistance through government agencies.
Kline’s pursuit of excellence has earned him a reputation around the U.S. as an outstanding music educator who strives to meet the personal and musical needs of his students.
“Mr. Kline has a wonderful way of engaging our young son to spark his interest in piano, music, patterns, and rhythm,” said Nicole Kamprath. “Mr. Kline’s methods have taught our son the fundamentals of piano, but also provided a wider knowledge and enjoyment of music.”
Glendale Business: Now Embodied Sound Studio is located at Workshops in Glendale.
His students consistently receive marks of First Class with Honors in the Music Development Program Examinations, while select pupils have even been chosen to perform in the Van Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, as well as the Chicago International Competition for Outstanding Amateur Pianists.
Despite the value of these successes and achievements, Kline’s satisfaction comes from bringing people together through rhythm, motion, and joy. And that is part of the reason he left higher education and started his own company. “I’m really happy to be spreading my own wings away from higher education,” said Kline. “I love what it does and what it offers but it’s really nice to be free and structuring my own world.”
One of the first orders of business for Kline after moving to Denver was to join the Glendale Chamber. “I joined the chamber because it is really important to get my name out in the community,” said Kline. “Also, I love being a part of a community with people who are engaged in the community itself. Who have businesses that serve the community and the population. To me, it’s all about building community. It’s exciting to be part of it.”
That community feel is what drives Kline to take Embodied Sound Studio to the next level. Embodied Sound Studio has what Kline calls three silos of activities: 1. World class piano lessons for students from age 6 to 96; 2. Mindfulness; and 3. Individual sessions that allow people to share what’s in their heart.
Develop The Self Through The Joy Of Playing Piano
The art of studying piano is an art of understanding the self then using that understanding to express universal truths and deepening the connection with the world. Students of piano become skilled at the language of Rhythm, Harmony, and Melody.
“Our son has been studying under Matthew for four years,” said Ling Shiao. “He is a great pianist and a dynamic, engaging, experienced teacher who is committed to his student’s excellence. He makes lessons both interesting and fun for his students using a variety of techniques. He may have a student get up and dance to learn particular rhythms or have the student sing the melody so they can literally feel the music flowing through their body. He’s at once strict and patient, disciplined and flexible, tailoring his lessons to each student’s personality and needs. Our son can go this far on piano and take great pride in it only because of Matthew’s outstanding teaching and remarkable musicianship.”
Play With Others
Making music and performing with others is not limited to those who have studied for many years and have achieved skill and mastery. Anyone can connect with others through the interlocking rhythms and tones present in a community-based rhythm event. This class is intended to build community through listening, interaction and musical exploration. No experience needed.
Enhance Your Presence
Enhance your ability to focus, relax and remain present. A Somatic Sound Bath is a unique and powerful 90-minute experience, combining restorative yoga asana, vocal toning, and sound bath. Sounds produced by singing bowls, the voice, along with other instruments become tools for weaving a tapestry that yokes the mind to the body and individual to the collective. The therapeutic sound practitioner creates an immersive soundscape that deepens relaxation and fosters awareness.
Now Embodied Sound Studio charges $100 per hour for services rendered. They are located at Workshops at 4340 E. Kentucky Avenue, Suite 352A in Glendale. Visit www.nowembodied.com for more information.
Denver Academy Opens Second SmartLab
Left to right: Denver Academy parents and supporters Michael and Elizabeth King and Campos EPC SmartLab donor Marco Campos at the Grand Opening.
Campos EPC Representatives check out student projects at the DA Middle School Campos EPC SmartLab Grand Opening.
Denver Academy (DA), an independent school serving diverse learners in grades 1-12, recently celebrated the grand opening of the second SmartLab (Science, Math, Art, Robotics, and Technology) at the school provided through a donation from the Campos EPC Foundation.
The DA Middle School Campos EPC SmartLab was completed in the fall of 2020 and serves students in grades 7-8. It utilizes learning materials and a curriculum developed by Creative Learning Systems (CLS) that includes hands-on exploration of mechanics and structures, computer graphics, photo editing, 3D modeling, sound engineering, scientific data and analysis, digital communications, alternative and renewable energy, robotics and control technology, circuitry, film creation and editing, and software engineering.
While the lab opened for DA Middle School students a year ago, the official grand opening of the space was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and took place on Sept. 9, 2021. Representatives from Campos EPC were in attendance, including Founder and Managing Principal of Campos EPC Marco Campos. Attendees were able to view and test some of the projects students have been working on in the lab.
Campos EPC Representatives attend the Grand Opening of DA’s Middle School Campos EPC SmartLab on Sept. 9, 2021.
Denver Academy Head of School Mark Twarogowski attended and spoke about the importance of the Campos EPC SmartLab for the school’s students.
“We are so grateful to Campos EPC for their continued generous support, providing more than $300,000 for our two Denver Academy Campos EPC SmartLabs,” said Mark Twarogowski. “Together, in partnership with Creative Learning Systems, the labs provide the opportunity to immerse our younger students into the world of scientific exploration and discovery in a whole new way.”
Denver Academy Head of School Mark Twarogowski, left, and Creative Learning Systems Regional Sales Manager Jeanne Timmons, at Grand Opening of Denver Academy’s Middle School Campos EPC SmartLab on September 9, 2021.
With the support of Campos EPC Foundation, the first SmartLab at Denver Academy opened in the Elementary/6th Grade Building for students in grades 1-6 in 2019. The school’s youngest students continue to benefit from instruction in the lab through which they’ve learned computer coding, problem-solving, and project management.
Based on the lab’s success, Denver Academy and Campos EPC again partnered with Creative Learning Systems to bring an additional lab to the DA Middle School.
“To be able to continue our partnership with Denver Academy to provide a SmartLab for middle schoolers is so exciting! I can’t wait to see what these bright minds continue to discover,” said Marco Campos, the founder and managing principal of Campos EPC. “Campos EPC is about more than just energy infrastructure; we want to build a better future for our communities and our kids.”
“With STEM occupations growing twice as fast as all others in the US[i], it’s critical that educators provide learners with hands-on, student-led, project-based learning opportunities,” said Creative Learning Systems CEO Ashley Mathis. “For 50 years, Denver Academy has had an exemplary record of providing students with a holistic academic experience. Creative Learning Systems is excited to support its mission of transforming lives and empowering young people by providing customized learning spaces that facilitate experiential, personalized, and collaborative experiences.”
Alpine Bank Awards Three Nonprofits $1,876 In Honor Of Colorado Day
Volunteer Hours: During the month of July, in advance of Colorado Day, Alpine Bank’s nearly 800 employees engaged in 1,050 volunteer hours. Alpine Bank’s corporate, compensated volunteer program supports 19,200+ hours of community volunteer time each year. Employees can take 24 hours of annual paid volunteer time to help with causes that are as different as each individual, within a program that has grown organically.
Recipient: End of the Trail Rescue is an Olathe nonprofit offering abused and neglected horses a second chance to be cared for, nurtured, and valued. The JP Pritchard Foundation of Durango helps young people in need, with an emphasis on vocational training, counseling, medical services, rehabilitation, and education. The Snowmass Chapel is a dynamic community of faith, serving residents and visitors to Snowmass.
Like the Colorado River, Alpine Bank was born and raised in Colorado. Colorado Day, the state’s anniversary of joining the union in 1876, is now officially recognized annually, on August 1. To celebrate in 2021, Alpine Bank leadership created a celebratory sweepstakes to reward volunteerism and the vital work of community nonprofits in the state. Participants were asked to nominate their favorite nonprofit on the Alpine Bank Facebook page, making it eligible to win a grant of $1,876. In addition, the bank promoted volunteerism both internally with its employees, and externally with its customers.
From nearly 900 nominees, three community nonprofits were selected by random drawing and each was awarded $1,876. They include the End of the Trail Rescue, the JP Pritchard Foundation, and the Snowmass Chapel.
“Supporting our community is foundational to Alpine Bank’s mission,” says Glen Jammaron, president of Alpine Bank. “Our enthusiasm for supporting the causes, charities, and organizations in Colorado is clearly matched by our customers, who engaged in this first-time sweepstakes with so many nominations of nonprofits they’re passionate about.”
The nearly 800 employees of Alpine Bank engaged in a total of 1,050 volunteer hours in August. The bank supports more than 19,000 hours of community hours a year by enabling employees to take up to 24 hours of paid time to volunteer for the groups and causes they support.
An employee-owned organization with $5.6 billion in assets headquartered in Glenwood Springs, Alpine Bank operates locations across Colorado and serves a total of more than 160,000 customers. For more information, visit www.alpinebank.com.
Cherry Creek North And Glendale Hotels Snap Back; Downtown Hotels Suffer
by Glen Richardson
Upstream: Just a half mile up Cherry Creek from Cherry Creek North, in the city of Glendale, there is also a hotel boom occurring, including at CitySet a hotel/dining complex anchored by two hotels (Residence Inn and Hilton Garden Inn) separated by a dining plaza featuring over a half dozen restaurants and eateries.
After Metro Denver suffered the greatest loss in hotel occupancy levels since the Great Depression, there’s been a surprising upsurge in Cherry Creek North and Glendale. Despite the addition of four hotels since 2016 in Cherry Creek North, luxury lodging in the 16-block mixed-use district reports growth in occupancy, length of stay, and types of visitors. Glendale, in turn, expects a return to pre-pandemic occupancy levels as soon as the end of the year.
However, in downtown Denver with more than 50,000 first-class hotel rooms, the loss of convention and meeting business continues to drag down occupancy. Hotels downtown are forecast to average just 48.8% occupancy this year, up from 39.2% in 2020. Average daily room rates are expected to be up just slightly (0.7%). Visitors are looking for more amenities, rather than conference rooms and convention spaces. Cherry Creek’s JW Marriott, for example, is outperforming many downtown hotels.
With the rise in travel, hotels downtown can’t hire back the number of employees needed to meet the demand. Tony Dunn, General Manager of the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, told 9News Denver, “We thought it would be a problem for two-three months and it has become a 12-13-month problem.” Nevertheless, the Mile High City continues to renovate hotels while adding new hotels, including a half-dozen expected to open by year’s end. Another six to eight are expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
Some, however, fear that downtown Denver has become stigmatized as an unsafe area with homelessness, uncleanliness, graffiti, and rising crime rates becoming impossible to ignore.
New Hotel Mecca
Travel Hot Spot: The walkable, tree-lined blocks in Cherry Creek North have helped the district hotel business snap back. The JW Marriott and the district’s newer hotels report growth in occupancy, length of stay, plus new types of visitors.
For more than a decade, the recently remodeled 196 guestroom JW Marriott on Clayton Lane was the only hotel in Cherry Creek North. Then in August of 2016 the Halcyon — a luxury boutique space with 154 rooms-suites opened. Since then, three more hotels opened their doors. They are the 170-room Moxy on Josephine St. in 2017, the 201-room Jacquard on Milwaukee in 2018, plus the Clayton — a Member Club & Hotel — that opened this year. The additions have transformed the district from a place to visit to a place to stay.
Now, within 16 blocks, tourists, travelers, and sightseers can choose from five hotels offering a combined three rooftop pools plus several speakeasy-style bars. Each offers exceptional dining focused on providing unique experiences for their guests.
Hidden Hip Spots: Several Cherry Creek hotels have speakeasy-style bars, including the B&GC, a clandestine drinking spot in the Halcyon revived from ruins of a former post office.
Just a half mile away up Cherry Creek the 0.6 square mile City of Glendale has also been increasing hotel space. In 2012, CitySet, a hotel dining complex at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Cherry Creek Drive South, was completed with over one-half dozen restaurants and anchored by two hotels — 210 room Hilton Garden Inn and the 125 room Residence Suites Cherry Creek. The small city surrounded by Denver has a total of seven hotels with an aggregate of 1,026 rooms. Glendale Deputy City Manager Chuck Line stated that while revenues from hotels in Glendale were down 53% in August, compared to 2019 by August of this year, it had climbed up to being down only 17% compared to 2019.
Swing In Visitors
RugbyTown: Glendale markets itself as RugbyTown USA and features Infinity Park a stadium that holds international test matches attracting fans and players from across the globe that stay in Glendale’s seven hotels accommodating over a thousand rooms.
Since reopening their doors, the district’s hotels have seen a shift in the type of visitor to Cherry Creek North. For one, hotel leisure travel has increased from 50% to about 75%. They now fill many of the rooms that group and business travel once did.
Moreover, the average length of stay increased from about 1.5 nights to two. In addition, front desks are welcoming many guests who have never before chosen to book a room outside of downtown Denver.
“Adding hotels has been huge for the identity of Cherry Creek North,” says Candace Duran, Sales-Marketing Director at the Halcyon. “It’s so inspiring to be part of the maturation of the district. They make it easier to stay past 5 p.m., which keeps more people in the neighborhood and supporting area businesses.”
International Destination: Glendale’s Hampton Inn, along with other hotels in the village, are an international destination as rugby players from around the world stay here for international rugby test matches and other rugby tournaments.
Glendale’s hotel occupancy has been greatly enhanced with the addition of the world renown rugby stadium complex named Infinity Park. The governing body of rugby union in the United States, USA Rugby, has moved to Glendale, and national teams from across the world are now playing international test matches in the stadium, along with games featuring Glendale’s own highly acclaimed team with top flight national players known as the American Raptors. The Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce COO Jeff Allen noted, “As a result of having national rugby championships and international test matches, our hotels are often filled with many international visitors on any given weekend. It has given Glendale a cosmopolitan feel that it certainly never had before.”
Shift From Downtown
“People historically came to Denver for the iconic attractions, shows, and sporting events, but began looking for something new when everything shut down,” explains Sean McNamara, JW Marriott’s Sales-Marketing Director. “Cherry Creek North provided the safety of being outdoors while also being known as a shopping, art, and dining destination.”
Charting Downtown Decline: Chart by the Downtown Denver Partnership compares downtown activity today compared to pre-pandemic levels.
District hotels also found that offering discount rates and unique package deals throughout the pandemic opened up new possibilities for value-conscious travelers looking to book an exceptional last-minute staycation. Deals included gift cards or complimentary passes to the district’s walkable dining, spa, fitness, and shopping options.
“We saw so many guests who had never stayed in Cherry Creek North before,” says the Jacquard’s Melissa Bush, Sales-Marketing Director. “People could suddenly get a luxury hotel experience at a price point that worked for them.”
Quick Recovery
Splish, Splash: Three Cherry Creek hotels feature rooftop pools to attract guests including this one at the Halcyon. Visitors are looking for more amenities, rather than conference rooms and convention spaces.
Now, rooms and occupancy rates in Cherry Creek North are nearing pre-pandemic levels, which is especially encouraging compared to hotel recovery nationally. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report projects U.S. hotel occupancy this year to increase to 57.1%, with average daily room rates gaining 8%.
In Cherry Creek North, Duran reported that the Halcyon has exceeded financial goals for several months in a row, while JW Marriott’s McNamara saw steady and continued increases in both occupancy and average daily rate from June to November of 2020, with growth continuing this year.
Nick LeMasters, CEO of the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District, believes the neighborhood “has emerged as a premier travel destination for people from near and far.” He adds that with five hotels, a high concentration and variety of restaurants and boutiques, and walkability of the area, “ It makes sense that people come to visit and end up staying.”
Glendale’s Allen emphasizes that, “The corridor along Cherry Creek streams from Glendale through Cherry Creek North, and now has enough hotel venues and dinner, sporting, and entertainment outlets to favorably compete with anybody in Colorado. These are very exciting times for this area.”
