October/November 2009
MTAC MARIN BRANCH NEWSLETTER
President's Message
We had our annual Fall Potluck at Carol LaRusso’s house in earlier this month. It was nice to spend time with everyone along with plenty of good food and conversation. Thank you Carol for your hospitality and the use of your house. At the General Meeting we opened the discussion on possibly altering the MBD Competition rules. If you have any thoughts on this issue, please send them to our committee leader, Karen Rogers, res1ctmd@verizon.net. Karen and John Boyajy, johnboyajy@yahoo.com, are collecting the Member’s opinions to present to the Board for discussion on any changes for the 2011 competition.
NOVEMBER STUDENT RECITAL
RECITAL DATE: Sunday November 15, 2009
TIME: 2:00 pm.
At: JB Piano
CHAIR: Sally Fletcher sally@heavenlyharpist.com
22 Surry Lane
San Rafael CA 94901
ENTRY DEADLINE: November 5th, 2009 (ALWAYS 10 DAYS PRIOR TO THE RECITAL DATE). To enter your students, you can download an entry form from the website. Mail Entry Form to chair. We are no longer charging a student fee for these recitals.
We are building a web page where you will be able to input your student’s information and email it to the chair. I will notify everyone as soon as it is up, as it stands now you will still have to download and write out the information on the form and mail it to Sally thru the post office. Hopefully we will be able to streamline this process before the January 2010 Student Recital.
Each Teacher is allowed 10 minutes total time per Program and a total of 7 students.. The only exceptions are for a student who is also entering the Margaret B. Davis Competition and is required to play in a Student Recital in order to qualify to enter the Competition.
TEACHER 2 TEACHER
Our first Teacher 2 Teacher session of the school year was held on October 2nd. It was a lively and informative morning.
We discussed many topics, such as:
- How to improve students’ sight-reading skills.
- How to make theory fun and interesting for students and teachers.
- Ideas for teaching rhythm reading.
We also talked about various teaching methods series and teacher magazines.
Our next Teacher 2 Teacher session will be on:
Friday, November 20th, from 9:30-11am. It will be hosted by Marie Carbone. RSVP by November 16th, to mmarguerite@yahoo.com or 339-0497
All teachers are invited to participate. It is a fun way to make connections with other teachers and to share ideas about teaching. Suggested topics for the November meeting include:
Memorizing music. The business side of running a teaching studio.
Friday mornings don’t work for you?
Email Marie at mmarguerite@yahoo.com and suggest a time that works for you.
INFORMATION SENT FROM THE STATE MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, CAROL OAKS
1. 2009-2010 MTAC Reference Guide & Membership Directory, pg 24, A6: To be eligible for Certificate of Merit participation, new membership applications and reinstatement requests must be accurately completed and submitted to the State Office, postmarked on or before July 31st.
(quoted exactly from the Standing Rules, as there is no better language to avoid confusion.)
2. To be eligible for Certificate of Merit participation, current members must pay their dues by postmark deadline July 31st.
3. Teacher members who pay dues and reinstatement fees after the July 31st deadline will be ineligible for CM for the coming year only.
4. The July 31st deadline is the final deadline. No exceptions.
Judi Sands-Pertel
MTAC CM Information Chair
Training Liaison; CCSR
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’S REPORT
1. The 2009-10 directories have been printed and distributed to the music stores throughout Marin county. There was an error on the first page. Elenor Barcsak’s name was inadvertently left off the list of the Board of Directors. This is will be fixed in all future printings of the directory and has been corrected in the upcoming Membership Directory and Yearbook. My apologies to Elenor for this oversight.
2. The 2009-10 Membership Directory and Yearbook will be taken to the printer tomorrow, October 5th. They should be in the mail by this coming weekend.
3. June Choi Oh, who has been a contributing member for many years, will be
transferring her primary membership from Palo Alto to Marin County effective this year.
4. Dr. James Conway has been reinstated as an active member in our branch.
5. Our current membership totals 73. I had membership calls from D’Arcy
Reynolds and Laureen Macpherson. Now that the State handles most of the
paperwork details, I referred them to the State website to download and complete their applications. No word yet on whether either followed up on the calls. D’Arcy Reynolds would be a reinstated member whose original membership was in the San Francisco branch. Laureen Macpherson would be a new member.
6. Reminder to all members: If your personal information changes, i.e. name,
address, phone number, etc., you need to log onto your State MTAC webpage and update the information. Go to www.MTAC.org and click on the link that says “MTAC Login.” Enter your user name and password. When your Teacher Page appears, click on “Edit Teacher Information.” This will take you the information that the State office currently has for you.
You can edit the lower part of the page but you MUST remember to click the word SUBMIT at the bottom of the page in order to complete the process. If you fail to click SUBMIT, your changes will not be recorded. If you find any errors in the part of the page that cannot be edited, you will need to call the State office and speak with Rhonda Williams regarding those changes.
Submitted by: Christina Bradley, Membership Secretary
SCHOLARSHIP BENEFIT RECITAL REMINDER
We hope that everyone is planning to attend what promises to be a wonderful recital on Sunday, November 8th at 2:30 PM at the JB Piano Company, 540 Irwin Street, San Rafael.
MTAC Marin Branch members Elenor Barcsak, John Boyajy, Marie Carbone, Katie Butler, Phoebe Dong and Mary Fleming have graciously volunteered to perform. They will be joined by Katie’s husband, Ken Iisaka, and former Discovery Scholarship recipient, Christy Kyong.
This program is an exciting mix of Romantic and Contemporary music and includes works by Berg, Chopin, Gershwin, Leschetitzky, Rachmaninoff, Sarasate, Schubert and Shostakovich. General admission is $20.00, seniors & students are $15.00 and a family of two parents plus children pay only $35.00.
Recently, you received our 2009 fundraising letter. We’d like to encourage our members who have not donated in the past to think about doing so this year. The Marin Branch operates two outstanding programs: Discovery Scholarship, which offers music lesson scholarships to needy students, and the Margaret Bean Davis Memorial Music Scholarship, a juried competition.
Currently we are funding 16 young Marin music students through Discovery and last year 8 talented Marin students won $950.00 in performance prizes.
We cannot continue to provide these services to Marin’s young music students without your ongoing support. Please consider sending a donation to either or both programs. Checks should be made out to MTAC Foundation and mailed to Scholarship Chair Chris Bradley at 127 Bolinas Avenue, San Anselmo, 94960.
MTAC PROGRAMS FOR THOSE “CREATIVE” STUDENTS WHO DRIVE YOU NUTS!
Do some of your students come to their lessons with new rhythmic variations on their technique? Do they compose a piece and scribble the notes down on a piece of paper using a system of notation that only they can understand? Or do their parents tell you that they spend more time making up their own music than practicing their assignment? These “symptoms” might mean that your students are budding composers and/or improvisers.
You might want to consider entering these “creative” students (of any age) in one of the following MTAC programs. The chair for both programs is Chris Bradley. Contact her at musicamarin@pacbell.net for more information.
Why teach Improvisation?
Improvisation enables our students to become total musicians. It will enhance the musicianship and understanding they bring to the playing of the music of the masters. It is a skill that is needed by church musicians, accompanists, dance classes, choirs, jazz bands, community programs and on almost any occasion when people gather together. The inclusion of improvisation has many benefits to a music education. It is a lifelong gift for the heart, healing and happiness of our students.
The MTAC Improvisation Program offers teachers the following:
- Published resources to get you started in teaching Improvisation
- An annual Improvisation Celebration at the State Convention to exhibit exceptional musical improvisation from students all around the state.
- The opportunity to use improvisation as an optional element in Certificate of Merit; this is an exceptional way to balance the rigorous preparation of technique, theory and repertoire with the creative process of improvisation.
- Advice from teachers who are available to assist MTAC members as they begin their journey into the world of improvisation.
Improvisation in Certificate of Merit
Improvisation is now included as an optional part of Certificate of Merit Evaluations. The opportunity for students to balance the rigorous preparation of technique, theory and repertoire with the creative process of improvisation will be a positive addition to the CM evaluation for many students. For assistance in utilizing this option in Certificate of Merit, please view the documents at this link: Information, Sample Assignments and Forms
COMPOSERS TODAY
There are four annual projects in Composers Today. Each has a separate performance event.
- EVALUATIONS: A non-competitive learning experience where students (including adults) and teachers receive a written response, in the form of constructive comments and ratings, from two professional evaluators.
SYMPOSIUM: Compositions from the Evaluations are selected for performance in one of several State Convention Symposium recitals based upon the two evaluators' ratings and performance by the composer on a submitted tape recording.
- STATE CONTEST: This competition offers a 1st and 2nd cash prize for each of 8 divisions based on age as of March 30. Two professional adjudicators who provide constructive written comments judge compositions.
STATE CONTEST RECITAL: Winners perform their pieces (or have someone perform them) at the State Convention and receive a certificate and cash prize. Honorable mentions may play at convention and receive a certificate of performance.
- YOUNG COMPOSERS GUILD: The Guild provides a special format for the serious young composers who plan to pursue music composition as a career. Students who have had their work performed at MTAC State Convention at least once during their high school years may apply for membership in the YCG. Students may be selected to perform at convention and by invitation for various branches throughout the state.
- SENIOR MEDALLION: Senior Medallions are awarded to graduating high school seniors who have entered 3 different compositions in grades 9-12 including their senior year and performed in at least one State Convention Composers Today recital.
DISCOVERY SCHOLARSHIP
NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
We recently received a grant from the Marin Music Chest that will allow us
to award two full scholarships or four partial scholarships to needy Marin
County students. If you are currently teaching a student whose family’s
financial situation has changed or to whom you are giving your own
personal scholarship, why not suggest that they apply for a Discovery
Scholarship?
Discovery teachers agree to teach the student for a MAXIMUM of $35.00
per 45-minute lesson. Discovery is not intended to act as a supplement
to a teacher’s regular fees. We pay for 36 lessons a year, which can be
given on any schedule the teacher and student decide upon.
Piano students are required to take the Certificate of Merit test every two
years, beginning after two years of study. The Scholarship pays the C/M
fee, even if the teacher chooses to enter the student more frequently that
every two years.
Non-keyboard students are required to perform in two monthly recitals a
year, after completing one year of study. The Scholarship pays $20.00 per
recital ($40.00 annually) to cover the cost of an accompanist. Although
the scholarship is primarily directed toward public school students, the
Scholarship Committee recently voted to accept a applications from a
students studying at a private school provided there is documentation
showing that the student is receiving a full tuition scholarship to the
school.
Application Procedure
1. Log onto the Marin Branch website (http://www.mtacmarin.org)
2. Click on the words “Branch Activities”
3. Download and print out the PDF of the 2009-10 Discovery
Scholarship Information (this includes a five-page application).
4. Give the guidelines and application to your student’s family.
They should mail the completed application with all accompanying
documentation to:
Christina Bradley
Scholarship Chair
127 Bolinas Avenue
San Anselmo, CA 94960
DEADLINE: Must be postmarked on or before November 30th, 2009.
Interviews will be held during the Winter Break.
Lessons will start in Janaury 2010.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our Member Lucia Wahl has space for rent:
Former piano teacher renting spacious bedroom & bath in a clean 2 bedroom and 2 bath condo.vvExcellent location, safe neighborhood, near Autodesk in a complex called Marin Lagoon. Rooms are newly painted, new wool carpet, high speed Internet, cable. Reserved covered parking space optional.
I work full time as a Kindergarten teacher for San Rafael City Schools.
Ideal for a music studio. Rent $700 plus utilities. Please call Lucia 499-0524 or 259-7941
Please send newsletter items to Paul Agricola
Marin Branch President
pagricola@hotmail.com
415-383-2027
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