www.msmta.org A bi-monthly publication of the Maryland State Music Teachers Association July 2009

Affiliated with Music Teachers National Association

Maryland State Music Teachers Association

From the President…By the time you receive this newsletter, we will be well into the backside of summer, and fall will be too close! Today I am off to Mechanicsville to complete the purchase of a second horse. I bought my first horse in January. No, I’m not starting a farm, although it seems that it could happen. This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and with the hectic life and children just never did. I recently attended a high school graduation, and the speaker remarked about being happy, and that success was nice, but happiness on our walk through life was most important. He’s right. So do something nice for yourselves. We all work hard and what we do dearly touches the lives of others. So be just a little bit selfish and make sure you take care of yourselves.

I’d like to thank Claudette Horwitz, Junko Takahashi, Richard Hartzell and Kathy Stansbury for all of their hard work and dedication. These four people don’t seem to have the word “no” in their vocabulary. They nag me to death, but that’s why they’re great.

It’s wonderful to be in such a great organization. Here’s to a restful remainder of the summer as we look forward to the coming year!

Our last Board meeting for the academic year was held in June. Items of note are as follows:

-- Directory should be camera-ready by August 1 and sent out to the members by September 1.

-- Cookbooks still need recipes. This is still half-baked!

-- We have a new Advertising policy for advertisements placed in this newsletter. Please read the details in this issue.

-- Theory transfer students must pay a $5.00 transfer fee to change centers. Details in this issue.

-- Our commissioned composer for 2010-2011 is our own Li-Ly Chang. Congratulations, Li-ly!!

-- Claudette Horwitz was selected with a unanimous vote as our next MTNA Foundation Fellow. Congratulations, Claudette.

Web Site informationThis is a reminder to use the website for updated information. As soon as the dates are confirmed for any event, they will be posted. As soon as any details for next year are ready, they will be posted. Stay tuned . . .

neWS from the board Winifred hySon’S GenerouS donation

Winifred continues to support our E.R. Davis Competition which enables the participants to receive a much larger cash prize. We are grateful to Winifred for supporting this event. Thanks so much, Winifred.

State Piano Solo feStivalOur Festival was held on May 23 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Over 900 students and 130 teachers participated. The day ran very smoothly. Thanks to all of the teachers who made this happen. And special thanks to my husband, John, for his dedication to me and to the organization. Computers (and computer-people!) make this large event easy (well, almost) to run. See you all again next year.

ConferenCe 2010 Planning is underway for our 2010 Conference which will be held on January 9-10 at the University of Maryland Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Our presenters include Nelita True, Brian Ganz, Melody Bober and Ingrid Clarfield. We will post details on the website in the fall. It looks to be a very good conference, so make plans now!

mSmta neWS

PresidentCarol Wolfe-Ralph6102 Gallery StreetBowie, MD 20720301-464-0146

VP CertifiCationDonna C. White21815 Three Notch Rd Ste ELexington Park, MD 20653

VP MeMbershiPAnnie Hou13927 Rockingham RoadGermantown, MD 20874

VP finanCeClaudette Horwitz5004 Barkwood PlaceRockville, MD 20853

VP PubliCationsJunko Takahashi10503 Redosier CourtBethesda, MD 20814-2211

VP student aCtiVitiesRichard L. Hartzell1817 Arcola AvenueSilver Spring, MD 20902

reCording seCretaryKathryn P. Stansbery16130 Patapsco Overlook CtMt. Airy, MD 21771

CorresPonding seCretaryLori Davis2848 Ride RoadWaldorf, MD 20603

historianKathryn P. Stansbery16130 Patapsco Overlook CtMt. Airy, MD 21771

MeMber-at-largeDouglas Guiles10359 Cullen TerraceColumbia, MD 21044

iMMediate Past PresidentJoselyn Cross Makowski

loCal assoCiation Presidents

anne arundel MtaMarcia Slentz-Whalen

Mta greater baltiMoreBetsy Stocksdale

Mta bowieBonnie Lynn Pausic

Carroll County MtaMichele Avrick

Mta Charles CountyKaren Mihalko

greater ColuMbia MtaElaine Newhall

eastern shore MtaRaymond Hobbs

f r ederiCk County MtaLaurel Carroll

howard County MtaKristina Suter

greater laurel MtaDeborah White-Bondhus

MontgoMery County MtaLori McCarthy

PrinCe georges MtaAnn Matteson

Mta southern MarylandDonna White

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mSmta announCeS neW offiCerS for 2009-2011

The slate of officers proposed by the nominating committee has been passed by our membership and is in effect as of July 1, 2009

President: Carol Wolfe-Ralph (2nd term)VP Certification: Donna White (2nd term)VP Membership: Annie Hou (1st term)VP Finance: Claudette Horwitz (2nd term)VP Publication: Junko Takahashi (1st term)VP Student Activities: Richard Hartzell (2nd Term)Recording Secretary: Kathryn Stansbery (2nd term)Corresponding Secretary: Lori Davis (1st term)Historian: Kathryn Stansbery (2nd term) Member-at-Large: Douglas Guiles (1st term)

MSMTA would like to thank all the outgoing officers for their service and dedication, and we would like to congratulate our new officers.

Nominating Committee Junko Takahashi, chair

Ann Matteson, Patricia Blanchard, Donna White and Joselyn Makowski,

committee members

mSmta Keyboard muSiCianShiPKeyboard Musicianship is in the process of adding Level 11 for all modules. If you are planning to enter some students in the 2009-2010 academic season, please email Luba Turkevich at turkevich@gmail.com for additional details.

Luba Turkevich, Chair

mSmta neWSletter GuidelineS for announCementS and advertiSinG

The board of MSMTA has voted on new guidelines for our newsletter. This issue was brought up due to increased numbers of announcements unrelated to MSMTA business. Please go over carefully:

Any event announcement requiring a fee for admission will be considered an advertisement and will incur a fee for insertion (see the price list in the advertising section).

For the benefit of members, the following events may be listed as announcements. However, listings will be limited to names, event dates and contact information. If the organization prefers to list more information, it may submit to our advertisement section.

• Workshopsandrecitalswithoutafee• AnyfreeperformancewithanMSMTAmemberperforming• Amember’spublishedwork,provideditdoesnotincludesellinginformation

Junko Takahashi, VP of Publication

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STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRS

adVertising

Claudette Horwitz

bylaws/ParliaMentarian

David Holmes

CertifiCation

Donna C White

College faCulty

Matt Edwards

CoMMunity outreaCh and eduCation

Deborah White-Bondhus

CoMPosition CoMMissioning

Li-Ly Chang

ConferenCe

Carol Wolfe-RalphJunko Takahashi

finanCe

Claudette Horwitz

fund raising

TBA

indePendent MusiC teaChers

Helen Smith Tarchalski

loCal and student assoCiations

Kathy Stansbery

Mtna foundation

Michele Hobart Rohan

MsMta foundation/fundraising

TBA

MeMbershiP

Annie Hou

MultiMedia

Ina Nacev Allen

noMinating

Richard Hartzell

PubliCations

Junko Takahashi

PubliCity

Joselyn Cross Makowski

student aCtiVities

Richard Hartzell

talent resourCe

Jeffery Beaudry

teChnology

Helen Smith Tarchalski

neW PoliCy enaCted for theory teStinG ProGram

The Board of the Maryland State Music Teachers has voted to enact a new policy affecting the transfer of students in the Theory Testing Program. The number of transfers has grown substantially over the past several years and has placed an additional financial burden on the organization. It has also caused unnecessary difficulties for some of the theory center chairs.

Therefore, effective September 1st, 2009, all students requesting a transfer from their originally registered Local Association testing center to a different center will pay a transfer fee of $5.00.

Teachers may still register their students in any of the fifteen centers throughout the state, regardless of their studio address, without additional charge.

A new form will be included in the Student Activities Handbook, and on the MSMTA web site www.msmta.org. This form, along with the teacher’s check for $5.00 per student made payable to MSMTA, must be sent to the Theory Registrar, Claudette Horwitz, and must be postmarked no later than the Monday before the requested transfer center’s test date. The transfer will not be accepted unless this form and the appropriate payment are received.

The Theory Committee

Student aCtivitieSmSmta theory rePort

This year, we had 1,589 students registered from 142 teachers. The tests were held at 15 different centers throughout Maryland. Many thanks to everyone who was involved in producing successful events:

Test Writers: Claudette Horwitz, Carol Wolfe-Ralph, Pat Graham and Alla Merport Local Chairs: Sarah Crandall, Gail Trafelet, Karen Mihalko, Janet Swaney, Janet Berg, Karen Skelly, Erin Runkles, Jeffery Beaudry, Pat Graham, Alla Merport, Christopher Hall, Ann Matteson, Marina Ovtcharenko, Ellen Sakai and Mary Stevens Geneva Jones for taking care of trophies and all the teachers who were at the centers monitoring and grading.

Special thanks to Claudette Horwitz for spending countless hours working out many aspects of this program. Congratulations to the 95 students who received the Theory Award (5 levels) and two students, Ivan Lau and Kelly Wu (students of Tzi-Ming Yang), for the Distinguished Theory Award (10 levels). We have already finished writing some of the tests for next year and hope to see many students participate again.

Junko Takahashi, Theory Coordinator

Continued on Page 4

SPrinG Solo StrinGS feStival The Spring Solo Strings Festival took place at the University of Maryland School of Music on May 24th. The co-chairs were Cecylia Barczyk and Jean Provine. This year for the first time MSMTA and ASTA MD DC jointly ran the Festival allowing teachers from either organization to enter pupils. Thirty five teachers entered a total of around 160 pupils of violin, viola, cello and guitar. The first place winners and participating teachers are listed below. Judges of violin and viola were:

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Continued from Page 3Student aCtivitieS

Claudia Chudacoff, Gerald Fischbach, Chelsey Green, Jeffery Howard, Doree Huneven, Kelly Hsu, Yakov Shapiro, Judy Silverman, Lya Stern, and Eleanor Woods. Cello Judges were Robert Battey, Stephen Czarkowski and Laurien Laufman. The guitar judge was Spencer Fellows. Next year’s Festival will hopefully include double bass students and more guitarists.

Violin/Viola

1st place winnersJacqueline BetzRyan Yunjae ChoAnn ChoiGodfrey Furchtgott Minyoung HwangZoe Kempf-HarrisZachary JudsonHelen JungTanya KiryutinYuka KubotaJuwon LeeCalvin LiuHeather LiuAndrew Hao-jun LuSung HongJana LuEmma Sophie Moore Kenneth NaitoNoelle NaitoRosalie Nathans Hayoung ParkShreya RangarajanVeronica WhelanMonica Won Sharona YenAndrew YungSherri Zhang

Cello

1st place winnersNicole ChoiJessica HuKevin Jiang Ryan LiuJakob SandersLaura SongTakayuki Wakabayashi

Guitar

1st place winnersZachary Weinstein

teaChers, Violin/Viola

Klara BerkovichChien-Tai ChenMia ChoiYunjung ChoiYoonmee ChongElizabeth FaidleyGerald FischbachZina GendelHae Soon HahnJae HanKelly HsuDoree HunevenJeff IssoksonOlga KhroulevitchYi-Hsin LinJanet Melnicoff-BrownJean ProvineKathleen ScarboroughAdrian SemoJennifer ShannonYakov ShapiroJudy SilvermanLya SternChristian TremblayXue WangEleanor WoodsNatalia Yampolsky

teaChers, Cello

Alison Bazala-KimBarbara BrownAnnie ChuanLaurien LaufmanDuck Hee O’DonnellMartha VanceMiron Yampolsky

teaChers, Guitar

Vladimir Fridmon

Jean Provine, Chair

Keyboard muSiCianShiP 2008-09 rePort

The Keyboard Musicianship Program had an enrollment of 815 students from the studios of 72 teachers from thirteen chapters. With the exception of a few, all students played to receive the Gold Seal Certificate (4, 5, or 6 modules).

The Keyboard Musicianship Committee is grateful to the dedicated chairpersons for arranging testing locations, selecting the volunteer judges and monitors, scheduling mailing, record keeping etc. Many teachers contributed freely of their valuable time to make this a successful program.

I congratulate and thank the following teachers who chaired the thirteen chapters and with their hard work and expertise made this program so successful:

Joanna Greenwood, Jeannine Case, Carol Gauthier, Mary G. Wolf, Kim Roberts, Olga Kuperstein, Janice Wood, Bonnie Kellert, Hui-Yen Chang, Mary Stevens, Christopher Hall, Betsy Green and Constance Fischel.

I would also like to thank Bonnie Kellert and Mary Ann Parker for their invaluable contribution.

During the 2008-09 academic year, 104 trophies were awarded in the categories of ADVANCED HONORS, INTERMEDIATE HONORS, FIVE YEAR HONORS and the KEYBOARD MUSICIANSHIP AWARD.

The Advanced trophies were awarded to the following: David Yun (Hui-Yen Chang), Courtney Crandell (Carol Wolfe-Ralph), Joy Mateo and Nicole Pierre (Olga Kuperstein), Jacklyn Wong (Patricia Blanchard), Samantha Able (Jeannine Case), Alex C. Chen and Katrina T. Oteyza (Gary Dinn), Lea Simmons (Edwina Hunter).

Congratulations to all teachers and their hard working students. For more information about the trophies and how the student may qualify, please consult the MSMTA Student Activities Packet.

Luba Turkevich, Chair

Chamber muSiC feStivalThe 2009 MSMTA Chamber Music Festival was held on March 29, 2009. For the second straight year, the Spencerville Seventh Day Adventist Church was the beautiful venue. This year’s distinguished judge was Larry Williams, horn faculty at the Peabody Conservatory and Preparatory.

Many thanks to the participating teachers: Svetlana Aliyeva, Deborah Brown, Annie Chuan, Margo Guillory, Bonnie Kellert, Irina Lande, Grace McFarlane, Marcia Slentz-Whalen, and Marilyn Stoughton.

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Piano enSemble feStival rePort

Continued on Page 6

Continued from Page 4Student aCtivitieS

Luba Turkevich, Chen-Li Tzeng, Svetlana Volkova, Helen Weems, Jeanne Wernly, Deborah White-Bondhus, Carol Wolfe-Ralph, Jia-Yue Yang, Tzi-Ming Yang.

Thank you to the participating teachers for help with judging, monitoring, office work, ribbon-stuffing, envelope-stuffing. I appreciate some teachers working extra recitals, due to the greater number of recitals requiring help as compared to the number of teachers entered. Special thanks also to Christopher Hall for offering to help above and beyond the call of duty and for providing extra bench help and other support and ideas. Without the participating teachers’ help, we could not hold this event. Thank you to all of you for your care and contributions to this festival.

Many thanks also go to President Carol Wolfe-Ralph and Student Activities Chair and VP Richard Hartzell for making arrangements for our use of UMCP and for their hard work tackling venue and other issues that popped up all the way up to the day of the event. We are very lucky to continue to have the use of the wonderful Clarice Smith venue thanks to their efforts, and their guidance and support to me is also much appreciated. A heap of thanks also goes to Claudette Horwitz for her always efficient and fabulous help and innumerable hours with all things financial and as a font of in-depth knowledge I can always count on for generous assistance with my questions about this and other related MSMTA activities. Muchas gracias to our Webmaster, too, John Ralph, for his efficient help with all website postings.

I would like to give particular acknowledgment to Co-Chair Hui-Yen Chang, who played a huge role in putting together this festival and without whom it would not have come together so smoothly. Hui-Yen’s contributions and sage advice throughout the whole planning and preparation process were invaluable to me, and, in addition, she completely handled all facility setup and hospitality arrangements, which allowed me more time to focus on data and scheduling and other issues. In addition to Hui-Yen’s superior assistance collaborating on advance planning for the office and facility and many other things along the way, Hui-Yen and her family came bright and early on the day of our event to arrange all of the recital rooms and the office and locate benches and tables and put up signs in the halls and in the office and then worked late at the end of the day to take everything back down. On top of that, Hui-Yen made all arrangements to provide for our delicious breakfast and lunch and related supplies, which her family also assisted with lugging in and out. After handling all of the setup of the rooms and signs, Hui-Yen then played a major role in helping manage the office paperwork throughout the entire day. For her countless hours of fantastic help to me and commitment to putting together this event in the best way possible for the students and teachers, I am extremely grateful.

Pre-hiGh sChool DiVision:

1st Place

Rachel Starling piano; Manesha Ramanathan, piano (Deborah Brown, teacher)

2nd Place

Angela Persing, violin; Jessica Guillory, viola; Theresa Guillory, cello; Olivia Persing, piano (Margo Guillory, teacher)

hiGh sChool DiVision:

1st Place (Tied)

Emily Chen, piano; Matthew Daley, piano (Bonnie Kellert and Grace McFarlane, teachers)

Bransa Trio – Sarah Hess, piano; Brian Kim, violin; Ann Yeh, cello (Irina Lande, teacher)

2nd Place

Grace Chen, piano; Daniel Imas, piano (Svetlana Aliyeva, teacher)

3rd Place

Elizabeth Embser, piano; Celaya Kirchner, violin; Solon Snider, cello (Marcia Slentz-Whalen, teacher)

Daniel Lau, Chair

The annual MSMTA Piano Ensemble Festival was held on March 15 at the University of Maryland in College Park and once again harmonious collaboration was evident everywhere, from the 313 enthusiastic performing ensemble teams to the 45 dedicated teacher participants who came together to help make this a fun and successful event. Tuneful teamwork was displayed in 37 recitals held throughout the day, and 645 team members ranging in age from 6 to 18 synchronized spiritedly and melded melodiously in 258 duet, 13 trio, 39 duo, and 3 quartet teams. An array of interesting repertoire was presented, and there were many award-winning performances, attesting to the superior instruction by our MSMTA teachers.

The esteemed participating educators of these many fine teams were: Svetlana Aliyeva, Maja Blagojevic, Patricia Blanchard, Faye Bonner, Deborah Brown, Jeannine Case, Hui-Yen Chang, Li-Ly Chang, Sima Elkis, Douglas Guiles, Christopher Hall, Claudette Horwitz, Philip Hosford, Edwina Hunter, Conchita Jan, Cherie Jeng, Lois Jones, Bonnie Kellert, Bok Hwa Kim, Donna Koh, Carole Kriewaldt, Teresa Kung, David Kuperstein, Olga Kuperstein, Chia-Hsuan Lee, Mei-Yu Lin, Hsien-Ann Meng, Alla Merport, Dmitri Nazarenko, Yevgeniya Oleshkevich, Hyun Park, Jamie Pasho, Nancy Riley, Ellen Sakai, Kristina Suter, Helen Smith Tarchalski,

Continued on Page 7

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It is evident in the dedication and camaraderie shown by all teachers who helped out that everyone was in accord about making this a concordant learning experience for the students. I hope you and your students found the day fun and worthwhile. Thank you to everyone involved for your collaborative spirit on another harmonious Piano Ensemble Festival!

Jamie Mitchell, Chair

StrinGS PluS enSemble feStivalThe Mondzac Performing Arts Center at Landon School in Bethesda was alive with the sounds of chamber music Sunday, March 15, 2009. Participating in MSMTA’s Strings Plus Ensemble Festival were 163 talented young violinists, violists, cellists and pianists. Duets, trios, quartets, quintets and octets performed compositions including works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Villa-Lobos. Participants ranged in age from 6 – 18.

Fifteen teachers participated in the festival and sent a total of 50 groups. These teachers were Richard Chang, Chien-Tai Chen, Mia Choi, Annie Chuan, Lynn Fleming, Kelly Hsu, Duck Hee O’Donnell, Jean Provine, Kathleen Scarborough, Jennifer Shannon, Catherine Stewart, Xue Wang, Natalia Yampolsky. We look forward to more teachers and students taking the opportunity to experience chamber music next year.

Thanks to all those people who helped make this event successful. The festival wouldn’t happen without you!

Judges: Andrew Hesse, Shelley Mathews, Jessica Sammis.

Monitors: Richard Chang, Lynn Fleming, Kathleen Scarborough, Jennifer Shannon, Xue Wang

Clerical assistants: Kelly Hsu, Annie Chuan

A special thank you is in order for Earl Jackson and the Landon School for making it possible to use their wonderful facility. Of course, kudos to the students and their teachers who participated in the Strings Plus Festival. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

Catherine Stewart, Chair

Continued from Page 5Piano enSemble

hiGh SChool Piano eXaminationS – 2009

for SChool reCoGnition/Credit

The High School Piano Examination Program for School Recognition/Credit was designed to encourage high school piano students, give them an incentive to continue studying and give them the recognition they deserve through their

school. This connectedness with the schools is a unique way that private teachers and school professionals can work together to promote this important aspect of our students learning. This is the 30th year that the auditions have been held in April and May.

The following statistics are based on the number of people who enrolled to take the examinations in 2009. There is usually about a 5-6 % of the students who elect not to take the exam after they have enrolled.

Of the total of 272 students who applied to take the High School Examinations in 2009

259 applied to take the examination for recognition

13 applied to take the examination for credit

85 were in the 9th grade 85 were in the 10th grade 73 were in the 11th grade 29 were in the 12th grade

18 entered at the Intermediate I Level 57 entered at the Intermediate II Level152 entered at the Advanced I Level 43 entered at the Advanced II Level

67 different schools were represented by students

17 students were home-schooled

90 different piano teachers were represented.

We would like to thank all Center Chairs whose role is absolutely essential for the running of this program. There were 21 scheduled days.

Annapolis Area – Cecelia WyattAnne Arundel – Donna ErvinBaltimore – Ruth PengChurchill High I – Jean KimChurchill High II – Hyun ParkEleanor Roosevelt – Hui-Yen Chang Greater Columbia I and II – Constance FischelHoward County Community College I and II – Christopher HallLaurel Area – Wendy DenglerMontgomery Blair High I – Ae Ja Park Montgomery Blair High II – Ellen Sakai Quince Orchard High I – Rosanne WhiteQuince Orchard High II – Cherie JengRichard Montgomery High –Heesun Kim/Ellen Sakai Southern Maryland – June Miller/Janet SwaneyWhitman High I – Lois JonesWhitman High II – Kristin ButlerWootton High I and II – Luba Turkevich

Special thanks go to Constance Fischel, again our registrar extraordinaire, who spent many hours receiving and recording the grades and sending out the critiques, reports

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and certificates. She has also allowed us to use her studio and chaired the Centers at her home for many years.

Thanks to Faye Bonner, our judges chair, who spent many hours getting all of the 2009 judges. The adjudicators were: Nicole Amyot, Deborah Bondhus, Carolyn Booth, Li-Ly Chang, Gary Dinn, Constance Fischel, Douglas Guiles, Nancy Hallsted, Linda Head, David Holmes, Claudette Horwitz, Conchita Jan, Cherie Jeng, Lois Jones, Elaine Lebar, Chieh-Ming Lee, Mei-Yu Lin, Doris Mattingly, Alice Maxfield, June Miller, Jamie Mitchell, Ingrid Mongini, Cathy O’Donovan, Maxine Russell, Chen-Li Tzeng, Barbara Wing, Mary Wolf and Cecelia Wyatt.

Congratulations to all of the teachers who entered students in the High School Piano Examinations: Deborah Allen, Elena Arseniev, Patricia Ballinger, Hedy Bannon, Sylvie Beaudoin, Leia Bennett, Maja Blagojevic, Patricia Blanchard, Deborah Bondhus, Faye Bonner, Carolyn Booth, Donna Bridgland, Barbara Brown, Lisa Bussing, Kristin Butler, Hui-Yen Chang, Li-Ly Chang, Joyce Crist, Wendy Dengler, Gary Dinn, Harvey Doster, Constance Fischel, Barbara Goldberg, Irina Gurevich, Christopher Hall, Nancy Hallsted, Linda Head, Nan Hillman, David Holmes, Sima Elkis, Elizabeth Green, Claudette Horwitz, Wei-Der Huang, Edwina Hunter, Lois Jones, Bonnie Kellert, Heesun Kim, Jean Kim, Aglaia Koras, Irene Kraymer, David Kuperstein, Olga Kuperstein, Terry Lacey, Elaine Lebar, Chia-Hsuan Lee, Chieh-Ming Lee, Mei-Yu Lin, Virginia Manchester, Ann Matteson, Doris Mattingly, Alice Maxfield, Hsien-Ann Meng, Alla Merport, June Miller, Dmitri Nazarenko, Cathy O’Donovan, Yevgenia Oleshkevich, Larissa O’Malley, Colleen Oren, Ae Ja Park, Hyun Park, Jamie Pasho, Bonnie Pausic, Ruth Peng, Marina Polskaya, Kevin Rose, Maxine Russell, Ellen Sakai, Martha Sallet, Karen Skelly, Marcia Slentz-Whalen, Susan Smith, Joan Spicknall, Betsy Stocksdale, Marilyn Stoughton, Janet Swaney, Kristina Suter, Junko Takahashi, Helen Tarchalski, Mary K. Traver, Luba Turkevich, Yie-Chien Tsau, Ziona Tuchler, Chen-Li Tzeng, Thanh Vo, Helen Weems, Rosanne White, Barbara Wing, Cecelia Wyatt and Tzi-Ming Yang.

We were very grateful for the use of the following places where the auditions were held: Laurel Presbyterian Church; St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Annapolis; Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis; Peabody Preparatory, Towson; Howard County Community College Fine Arts School of Music, Columbia; the Piano Studio of Constance Fishel, Columbia; Grace Brethren Church, Waldorf; River Road Unitarian Church, Bethesda; and the above mentioned high schools.

Participating Students’ High Schools were

Academy of the Holy Cross, Annapolis, Annapolis Area Christian School, Archbishop Spalding, Arundel, Atholton, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Bishop McNamara, Bishop Denis

J. O’Connell, James Hubert Blake, Montgomery Blair, The Calvert School, Centennial, Clarksburg, Winston Churchill, Dulaney, Albert Einstein, Fallston, Gaithersburg, Glenelg, Glenelg Country School, Grace Brethen School, Great Mills, Hammond, The Heights School, Hereford, Highland View Academy, Holton-Arms School, Howard, Thomas Jefferson (VA), Walter Johnson, The Key School, The Learning Community, Leonardtown, Mariotts Ridge, Richard Montgomery, Mount Hebron, Mount Saint Joseph, National Cathedral School, Northern, Northwest, Oakland Mills, Paint Branch, Patuxent, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, River Hill, Rockbridge Academy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Severn School, Severna Park, Sherwood, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, South River, SPEAR Academy, Springbrook, St. Albans School, St. Anselm’s Abbey School, St. John’s College High School, St. Timothy’s School, St. Vincent Pallotti, Stone Ridge, Towson, Urbana, Walt Whitman, Wilde Lake, and Thomas S. Wootton.

Co-chairs: Ann Matteson and Ellen Sakai

ComPetitionS

elizabeth r. daviS memorial Piano ComPetition

The Elizabeth R. Davis Memorial Piano Competition was held Saturday, May 2nd and Sunday, May 3rd at Downtown Piano Works in Frederick, MD. Many thanks to owners Dan and Theresa Shykind for sharing their new space with MSMTA and providing a fantastic piano from the Yamaha Concert Artist roster for this competition. Please be sure to visit their website: www.downtownpianoworks.com. We appreciate their support of MSMTA student activities.

Our judge for Division A (9th & 10th grades) was MSMTA member Junko Takahashi who received her BM in Piano performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, and her MM. in piano performance under Dr. Thomas Mastroianni. Currently, she is completing her Doctoral Degree. Ms. Takahashi is the outgoing president of the Montgomery County Music Teachers Association and current Vice President of Publication for the Maryland State Music Teachers Association. Most recently, she was elected to serve on the board of Washington Music Teachers association as a Treasurer. She has been making frequent appearances as judge in DC metropolitan area since 1995.

Our judge for Division B (11th & 12th grades) and the Collegiate Division was Mrs. Susan Carpenter, NCTM. Susan is an active member of MTNA and WVMTA-District 6. She completed her undergraduate degree in piano at the

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Oberlin Conservatory, with MM and doctoral studies at the University of Texas. Susan is a staff accompanist and piano instructor at Shepherd University.

RESULTS:

High School-Division A (Grades 9 & 10)

First Place: Kimberly Hou, student of Dr. Marjorie LeeSecond Place: Fifi Zhang, student of Dr. Marjorie Lee Third Place: Darwin Yang, student of Dr. Scott BeardHon. Mention: Sarah Barham, student of Rosita Kerr Mang

High School-Division B (Grades 11 & 12)

First Place: Risa Kaneko, student of Dr. Marjorie LeeSecond Place: Scott Yu, student of Jia-Yue Yang Third Place: Sarah Bao, student of Elena ArsenievHon. Mention: Naomi Saprio, student of Elena Arseniev; Kelly Hwu, student of Rosita Kerr Mang

Collegiate Division

First Place: Trisha Davidian, student of Dr. Daniel LauSecond Place: Songpil Kim, student of Yong Hi MoonThird Place: Charidel Libato, student of Dr. Daniel Lau

I hope this was a positive experience for you and your students. Many thanks to the teachers helped with registration—everything ran so smoothly. I also hope you enjoyed the excellent piano at our new venue.

Sincerely,Dr. Scott Beard, NCTM,Chair

Elizabeth R. Davis Memorial Piano Competition

horWitz memorial ComPetition for violin & Piano duo

deadline nov 13The fifth annual David R. Horwitz Memorial Competition for Violin and Piano Duo will take place on Sunday, December 13, 2009, at the Academy of Music in Gaithersburg, MD. Forms may be obtained by contacting Claudette Horwitz @ clhorwitz@gmail.com or Judith Silverman @ s.judith@verizon.net. Please mail applications to reach the chair by November 13, 2009.

This competition features music written for violin and piano duo, to be performed by high school students, grades 9 through 12. Two compositions are required with a minimum playing time of 5 minutes and maximum time of 15 minutes. Both pieces may be sonata or sonatina movements in contrasting styles or periods, or you may select one sonata/sonatina movement and one piece for violin with piano accompaniment.

Only one teacher needs to be a member of the MSMTA in order to enter two students.

Thanks to the generosity of Lashof Violins, the three finalists will receive cash prizes: $200 for First Place, $150 for Second Place, and $100 for Third Place.

Claudette Horwitz and Judith Silverman, Co-chairs

Claudette Horwitz

JaCK Weaver memorial StrinGS ComPetition

The 2008-2009 Jack Weaver Memorial Strings Competition was held on Saturday, May 3, 2009, at Jordan-Kitts Piano in Rockville, MD, and was chaired by cello teacher, John Kaboff. There were 12 students participating and the winners are as follows: First place and a $500 cash prize was awarded to Matthew Armbruster, cello student of John Kaboff; Second place ($300) went to Benjamin Hoyt, a violin student of Rebecca Henry; Third place ($200) went to Lauren Song, a violin student of Rebecca Henry; Fourth place ($150) went to Joshua Chik, a violin student of Adrian Semo; and Fifth place ($100) went to Julie Le Duc, violin student of Rebecca Henry. The judges were Andrew Hesse, Cello, and Adrienne Sommerville, Violin/Viola. Congratulations to all on fine performances.

John Kaboff, Chairman

Immanuela Gruenberg’s edition and CD of Schubert’s Four Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 was published by Hal Leonard in the Schirmer Performance Edition series. The sources Immanuela consulted for this edition include Schubert’s manuscript of the four impromptus. The edition’s Performance Notes discuss issues such as dynamics, fingering, ornamentation, tempo, rhythm, pedaling. Last year, Immanuela performed recitals and taught master classes in Washington, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beijing, and Buenos Aires.

member neWS

Helen Smith Tarchalski served on the jury of the Julia S. Crane International Piano Competition and as a master class clinician at SUNY-Potsdam. The competition was the subject of a three-part documentary aired on PBS in April.

li-ly ChanG to be mSmta CommiSSioned ComPoSer for 2009-11

At the June MSMTA Board of Directors meeting, it was unanimously voted that Li-Ly Chang will be our next Commissioned Composer. During this interim, Ann Matteson will take Li-ly’s place as the temporary chair of the Composition Commissioning Committee. Li-Ly has served in this capacity for many years.

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Li-ly has studied composition at the University of Texas, University of Kansas, and with Morris Cotel at Peabody. Her style has sometimes been described as a reflection of the folk music, tales and history of her native land, China. Li-Ly’s compositions are usually tonal with the use of pentatonic scales, whole tone scales, chromatics and syncopation. They have been performed at the U. S. State Department, Levine School of Music, Washington Music Festival in D. C., New Music Festival in Massachusetts, Asian American Fine Arts Festival in New Jersey, and the World Pedagogy Conference in Florida. Her piano teachers include Fernando Laires, Reynaldo Reyes, Leon Fleisher, Sacha Gorodnitzki and Jack Winerock. Li-Ly is also well known as an accompanist and ensemble performer.

Li-Ly was born in Taiwan to a family with roots in traditional Chinese music and arts. Her western music training started at an early age and she was playing in schools and concert venues from the age of eight. Ms. Chang has performed in Asia, Europe and the United States. She is a piano teacher with a studio in Silver Spring, Maryland. Li-Ly has also been the director of the International Young Artist Piano Competition for the past 24 years.. During this time she has been dedicated and resolved to meet the goals of promoting music from the East and the West and connecting friendships and encouraging the study of new Asian music and new sounds. She has been lauded by the U. S. Department of State for her work as director of this competition.

Li-Ly is well qualified to be our commissioned composer as she has written many compositions and some of them have been used in the International Young Artist Piano Competition. In a review of her Prelude No. 2, it was stated that her theme and variations depicted sounds from ancient Chinese instruments. Variation 1 imitates the Gu Zheng’s gliding and broken chord effect, and both variation 1 and 3 are characterized with detached-non legato style, imitating the crisp, pizzicato affects of the pipa. The music is marked by the use of pentatonic scale, bi-tonal, quasi-improvisatory style, syncopation and change-meter effects.

MSMTA is delighted to have one of our own members as the new Commissioned Composer.

Congratulations, Li-Ly. Her composition will be performed at the 2011 MSMTA Conference.

Ann Matteson Acting Temporary Commissioning Composer Chair

loCal aSSoCiationSElected officers for 2009-2011 are: President, Ann Matteson; Vice President, Ellen Sakai;, Corresponding Secretary, Mei-Yu Lin; Recording Secretary, Linda Head; Treasurer, Shirley

Smith; and Historian, June Miller. These officers were elected at the annual spring meeting/luncheon which was held at the home of Ann Matteson in May. Ann thanked all of the members who had played a part in the busy year that PGMTA had. A special guest was Zelma Deaton who has been a member for many years and has moved out of the area. The program was presented by June Miller, who performed the chosen literature for the Saul Roas Memorial Scholarship Competition which will be held in the winter of 2010. Ellen Sakai reported there were over 200 enrolled at the PG theory center in April. We are all proud of our member, Dr. Gail McDonald, who received a special pin from MTNA for being a member for 50 years.

Looking ahead, the date for the Stephanie Laios Composition/Improvisation Festival was set for Sunday, September 27, 2009 at Jordan-Kitts Music Store in College Park. This event is held with the Bowie and Greater Laurel Music Teachers Associations.

Ann Matteson, President

The AAMTA program year is now in summer mode, and

our students are busy preparing for our annual Water Music Festival to be held August 1 at the Slentz-Whalen Studio (and pool). Each participating student will perform a selection having some connection to water, and after presenting their pieces the performers will have the opportunity to enjoy a dip in the pool and refreshments on the patio.

It has been a banner year for MSMTA’s local affiliate in Anne Arundel County, thanks to the expertise of each of the dedicated members who served as an Event Chair or Co-Chair for our many student activities: Fall at the Mall Festival, Suzanne Hilton & Ellen Winner; Holiday Festival, Katya Merchant & Betsy Green; Winter Recitals, Raymond Hobbs & Bill Bloomquist; Theory Exams & Keyboard Musicianship Exams, Sarah Crandall & Betsy Green; Ensemble Festival, Katya Merchant Raymond Hobbs; Concerto Competition, Helen Smith Tarchalski & Diane Kinsley; Master Class, Bill Bloomquist; High School Piano Exams, Donna Dixon Ervin; Spring Solo Festival, Marcia Slentz--Whalen & Larissa O’Malley.

We also want to recognize each of our Business Committee Chairs for jobs very well done: Programs, Ellen Winner & Suzanne Hilton; Publicity, Bill Bloomquist; Historian, Katya Merchant; Hospitality, Ellen Winner; Procurer of Judges & Handbook Editor, Marcia Slentz-Whalen.

Our member-enrichment programs this year included lecture recitals by guest presenters Bonnie Kellert and Barbara Wing and

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by AAMTA member presenters Marcia Slentz-Whalen and Bill Bloomquist, as well as thought-provoking round-table discussions on various topics of professional interest to our members. Of course the spontaneous networking and dialogue that occur among our members at our annual Teachers’ Soiree and at our regularly scheduled plenary meetings are among the most valuable advantages we enjoy as members of AAMTA.

As my first year as President draws to a close, I want to take this opportunity to thank the other officers who have served with me during this past year. Our immediate Past-President Bill Bloomquist has been extremely helpful and supportive. His dedication and commitment to this organization helped to make a smooth leadership transition. Vice-President Katya Merchant, Recording Secretary Raymond Hobbs, Corresponding Secretary Gail Trafelet, Treasurer Betsy Green, and Directors at Large Cathy Lugo & Barbara Lancaster all have served with professionalism and excellence. Coming onto the board for 2009-10 will be our new Corresponding Secretary Chris Sanders, and our new Director at Large Carmen Schmidt.

Many AAMTA members have stepped forward during this past year to help with the leadership of our association – some long-time members changing hats to accept new positions of responsibility, other newer members stepping up to the podium for the first time. My heartfelt thanks to each of them! Their leadership support has made our organization stronger and bodes well for the future growth and development of AAMTA.

This local association truly has blossomed into a collegial network of gifted and highly dedicated professionals, and I am pleased and proud to serve as its President. What a banner year we have had!

Thank you, one and all!Marcia Slentz-Whalen, President

Greater Columbia muSiC teaCherS aSSoCiation

Thank you to all the members of GCMTA who have made this year a success by their volunteering to chair events: Janice Puckett, David Holmes, Deborah White-Bondhus, Kay Patterson, Jeffrey Beaudry, Constance Fischel, Gina Eichman, Douglas Guiles, and all of whom I’m forgetting. It was a bang-up year, with a teacher enrichment presentation by Bonnie Kellert, a Master Class with Ernest Ragogini, two lovely dinner meetings with friends, and a new president elected at our last meeting, Elaine Newhall. That’s right, this is my last report! Cheers!

Helen Weems, President

In March, the Frederick County Music Teachers Association held its third annual Sonatina/Sonata Competition. We were so pleased to have Judy Dalton judge for us. The Competition was a very motivating and exciting event for many students!

I would like to thank Bobbie Rastall for the excellent job she has done as Vice-President for the past two years setting up our programs. I know that we have all benefited from the programs we’ve attended! Our new Vice-President, Theresa Shykind, has put together another great list of programs for next year, including lecture/demonstrations by Bonnie Kellert on pedalling, Andy Kraus on working with an accompanist, Laurel Carroll on Music Learning Theory/Audiation, and David Rastall on Renaissance and Early Baroque music.We look forward to another great year together!

Laurel Carroll, President

At our February meeting, Ye Sung Lee presented a proposal to have an annual Composition Festival/Competition. The feedback from the membership was positive, so Ye Sung will begin pursuing grants and formalizing the requirements. Following the meeting, we had a discussion on “Incentives in the Music Studio – Motivating Students.” Every teacher present participated and we all left with some great ideas.

HCMTA began our 2009 events with our annual Theme Festival (Emotions and Humor), paired this year with the Ensemble Festival on March 1. Chairperson, Kathryn Stansbery, reported that 127 students participated in recitals throughout the day from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. The following weekend Olga and David Kuperstein chaired the Piano Ensemble Competition, another popular event for our students.

April began with Judith Parks chairing The Spring Solo Piano Festival, our non-competitive festival in which 69 students performed and received two critiques. The Miriam Thomann Piano Solo Competition, our largest event with 110 students entered, was co-chaired by Dr. Bok Hwa Kim and Kathryn Stansbery. The Piano High School Award Competition, chaired by David Kuperstein and Ye Sung Lee, followed in late May with wonderful programs presented by 19 students.

Guest clinician, Greg McCallum, presented a workshop in May on “Fine Tuning Your Core: Expression, Power, and Control with Feldenkrais Techniques.” He focused on applications to pianists and culminated in a performance of Ravel’s Ondine, implementing various Feldenkrais methods. Thanks to Kathy Evans-Santiago for suggesting this wonderful, fascinating, and informative lecture/demonstration.

Kristina Suter, President

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Our final general meeting of the year was held on May 12th. Those who attended were treated to some exciting performances by Spencer Fellows, Nicole Amyot, Bonnie Kellert and Junko Takahashi followed by a delicious potluck luncheon. MCMTA’s Senior Recognition Awards program was held on May 16th at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart where the first and second place winners of the Evelyn Swarthout-Patrick Hayes Scholarship Competition, Jessica Han and Scott Yu performed. Graduating seniors were presented trophies and as always, Luba Turkevich did a terrific job of organizing the afternoon. That was followed by the Ninth Annual Adult Recital, which had 13 performers, all of whom seemed to enjoy sharing their music with the group. Many thanks to Suzanne Ferrall, the Recital Chair, for her hard work in organizing a lovely afternoon of music. We finished activities for the year with our executive board meeting on June 2nd at the home of Junko Takahashi, who graciously provided us with a wonderful lunch. We set the dates and venues for the coming year’s activities, general meetings, and board meetings.

As new president of MCMTA, I’d like to say thank you to all those board members who have helped to make the transition so seamless, especially our Immediate Past President, Junko Takahashi for all her help in guiding me through this process.

As we look to move toward summer, I hope everyone has the opportunity to get refreshed and renewed and look forward to the upcoming year. Our next general meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 8th at Stone Ridge School.

Lori McCarthy, President

It is hard to believe that spring is here and that MTAB’s year of meetings, programs and good musical fellowship has come to a close.

At our March 4th meeting, we heard the winners of the February 28th Mirabella Competition chaired by Jeannine Case. The March 21st Theory Testing at Belair Baptist Church, chaired by Gail Trafelet, and the March 28th Keyboard Exams, chaired by Jeannine Case, ran very smoothly. We all enjoyed the Member Recital featuring American Music after the April 1st meeting. The recital was organized by our capable program chair, Elizabeth White. We continued our spring events with the April 18th Spring Musicale chaired by Barbara Kornreich and the April 25th Senior Awards Competition, chaired by Wendy Dengler. Our year was capped off by a delicious luncheon at The Four Seasons Grille in Crofton, Maryland, organized by Janet Ambrose.

All members who served as chairs and co-chairs of events have served so ably and I would like to take the opportunity to thank

every one of them. I would especially like to thank Elizabeth White, who stepped forward at the last minute to serve as Program Chair for our Member meetings. She arranged a very rewarding year of programs including a presentation by Bonnie Kellert, a panel discussion on accompanying, and the Member recital featuring American Music.

Bonnie Lynn Pausic, President

At our last meeting of the year on June 5th we elected our new slate of officers for the coming year:

President: Betsy StocksdaleMembership Secretary Patricia CrossmanCoordinators of student recitals: Ann McCandliss and Jane KahnRecording Secretary: Shisa SuskeyTreasurer: Allen GoodHistorian: Wendy Balder

Joanna Greenwood presented a poster paper at the National Music Teachers Convention this past year and she again presented at our June 5 meeting. Jo has a marvelous method of teaching creative, student-originated graphical composition techniques which enable even the youngest and earliest beginners to compose and notate their compositions. We all garnered useful ideas that we can utilize in our own studios.

Our upcoming year’s activities are all traditional, with various twists to keep students and teachers hopping. We are most excited about going “paperless” in all our communications, through a social networking site called Ning. If it works out well, we’ll be glad to share our knowledge with other groups.

Betsy Stocksdale, President

muSiC teaCherS aSSoCiation of Southern maryland

The Music Teachers Association of Southern Maryland held, for the first time, a Student Practice Contest. The 25 students with the highest amount of time practiced during the six-week contest performed in a recital which was followed by a pizza party. The top three winners then won a free ticket to a COSMIC Concert.

The Honors Concerts and MSMTA Scholarship Competition took place in May. This year’s winner of the MSMTA Scholarship was Katrina Chan, student of Patricia Blanchard.

In July, an outdoor “Dripstick Recital” is scheduled. After their performance, the students will enjoy frozen treats on a stick, thus inspiring the name of this event.

Donna White, President

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Melinda Baird4905 Stickly Rd.Rockville, MD, 20852812-320-4389baird.melinda@gmail.com Piano

Jae Han12702 Willow Creek Ct.Bowie, MD, 20720703-944-8975jae.han@pgcps.orgPiano, Composition, Violin, Acc

Amy Klosterman2710 Manhattan AveBaltimore, MD, 21215410-542-4228amyklosterman@yahoo.conPiano

Clair Cho715 Gatestone St.Gaithersburg, MD, 20878cjc212@yahoo.com Violin, Viola, Chamber Music, Music Education

memberShiP

WelCome neW memberS

Please update the following member information in your directory. Thanks, Annie Hou, VP Membership

Beginning in July, MSMTA will be accepting advertisements in its newsletter. Space is limited to two pages total, so ads will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Rates are as follows: Member Non-member

1/8 page $20.00 $30.001/4 page $40.00 $50.001/2 page $80.00 $90.00Full page $135.00 $150.00

For more information, see the announcement in the new guidelines, and feel free to contact Junko with any questions at: jutaka@verizon.net.

Nancy J. Rodo429 Sacred Heart LaneReisterstown, MD, 21136mnrodoms@verizon.net Piano, Music Therapy

Amy Tech903 Walnut AveNorth Beach, MD, 20714410-257-3815amyltech@gmail.comFlute

Larissa Wild3228 Birchtree LaneSilver Spring, MD, 20906-3040larissawild@yahoo.com Piano

Sang W. Ko940 Orchard Ridge Dr. Unit 100Gaithersburg, MD 20878sangwooko216@hotmail.comPiano

advertiSementS

Please email all notices and copy for inclusion in the September MSMTA newsletter by August 21, 2009, to:jutaka@verizon.net or mail to: Junko Takahashi

MSMTA Newsletter Editor 10503 Redosier Court Bethesda, MD 20814-2211

The MSMTA Newsletter is published five times per year by the Maryland State Music Teachers Association, Inc.

Claudette Horwitz and Elizabeth White, contributing editors

Circulation: 725

DEADLINE FOR NEXT NEWSLETTER

to teaCh iS to ServeA series of classes seeking beauty in piano performance, repertoire and wellness

Thomas Mastroianni, pianistwww.thomasmastroianni.com

We work together to serve our colleagues and wards who strive to experience beauty, realizing that beauty is not the property of the few, but rather, its attainment is a human right.

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*Seven of these sample topics will be chosen based on the interests of those who enroll.

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