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Welcome to ARS NEWS, an e-newsletter for recorder players. Please make sure to scroll to the bottom to see upcoming virtual recorder classes and events. Enjoy!
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ARS Board Meets in Person After 5 Years
The Board's last in-person meeting was held in 2019 in Rochester, NY. Once the pandemic prevented travel, Zoom became a necessity for the twice-yearly meeting. Last month, they met in Atlanta, GA, with many meeting for the first time.
Click to read more
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Member Benefit Highlight, Encore Presentation for Workshop Season: ARS Scholarships Available for Workshops (including online)
If you read your latest American Recorder magazine, then you are aware of the multiple opportunities to attend a workshop along with your fellow recorder and early music enthusiasts! The ARS offers scholarships to help you attend one of these workshops. If you need financial assistance to make your workshop dreams come true, then apply online for a weeklong or weekend workshop! Read below for links to information on upcoming workshops.
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Patrick von Huene to Receive ARS Distinguished Achievement Award
The ARS Board is pleased to make this announcement honoring Patrick von Huene as the 2025 recipient of the ARS Distinguished Achievement Award. The award is intended to honor a person or performing group with a high public profile, whose high-level work with the recorder has extended over a long period of time and over more than one specific area of achievement, and exercised significant influence in North America. Recorder players may recognize his name as the owner of the von Huene Workshop, one of the best-known recorder makers and repair shops in the US.
Click to read more
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Online Masterclasses for Recorder Composition Held
The ARS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and NAVRS hosted a two-part series of masterclasses on how to compose for recorder. It was a great success -- about 80 students from two HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) took part, along with some ARS members.
Click to read more
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The ARS at the Boston Early Music Festival
The Boston Early Music Festival is June 8-15, 2025, and the ARS will host several events there of interest to recorder players. The ARS's Recorder Relay will be held on Friday, June 13th from 10AM-12PM and celebrates the recorder community with terrific performances. It is free to attend and open for you to perform. If you or your group would like to play in the Recorder Relay, please apply here by May 1.
In addition, the ARS will co-sponsor the BEMF Beyond Borders Concert on Sunday, June 15th at 10 AM. This will be a wonderful event celebrating young local and international musicians.
The youth concert will be followed by a performance by the award-winning and world-renowned recorder group Boreas Quartett Bremen, entitled "Shakespeare in Love: Golden Age Venetian Consort Music at the English Court."
There will also be an exciting Recorder Masterclass led by the Boreas Quartett Bremen on Saturday, June 14th, where the public is welcome.
Last but not least, don't miss the wonderful BEMF Exhibition with many fine recorders and other instruments for trying and buying! The ARS will have a table at the exhibit.
Click to Read More
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Workshop/Festival Season is Upon Us
If you are interested in recorder-related summer activities, see the ARS webpage on events happening this spring, summer and fall. Organizations who are ARS advertisers or Partner Workshop members are featured.
All this information can also be seen in much more depth in our Spring 2025 issue of American Recorder magazine.
| | Checking in with Chapters, Consorts, and Recorder Orchestras | | |
NAVRS Has a Busy March
The virtual chapter celebrated Play-the-Recorder Month with a few events: Beverly R. Lomer and Sian Ricketts leading a workshop on the music of Hildegard von Bingen, and Sarah Jeffery presenting early music by women composers, drawing a new record number for registered participants. On the last weekend in March, the chapter immersed itself into the complete and unabridged history of “The Recorder” in an interview of author David Lasocki with Wendy Powers, one of two annual special presentations free to NAVRS members.
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ARS Chapter Representative Roundtable
The ARS Chapter Roundtable has one last session before the summer break. It will be held on June 1 at 2:00pm - 3:30pm Eastern time. Gather on Zoom with Phil Hollar and have a chat with your fellow leaders about what's happening in your chapter.
If you have a topic suggestion or haven’t been receiving announcements about the roundtables, please contact Phil Hollar.
The next ARS Website "Site-Seeing Tour" will be June 7.
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ARS offers a webpage with all the chapters offering virtual/hybrid meetings. There are several chapters with a worldwide membership, led by world-class music directors, thanks to the wonders of Zoom.
(Is your group offering virtual meetings but not on the list? Email us!)
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A Brief Reminder of ARS Scholarship & Grant Deadlines
Workshop Scholarships Any member who needs financial assistance to attend an in-person or online weekend or week-long workshop may apply for this scholarship. Deadline for week-long workshops: six weeks before funding is needed
Weekend Workshop Scholarships Apply six weeks before funding is needed. Virtual events are also eligible for funding, as long as the amounts do not exceed stated limits.
Chapter and Recorder Orchestra Grants These grants are awarded to Chapters or Recorder Orchestras with 10 or more ARS members to supplement membership-enhancing programs. Deadline: May 15, with funds to be used after September 1
Educational Outreach Grants Meeting certain criteria, anyone teaching the recorder may apply for this grant. ARS membership is not required to apply.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grants Any chapter, recorder orchestra, or consort may apply. Partner Workshops and Businesses are also eligible. Apply anytime.
Traveling Teacher Program Recorder communities without a recorder teacher in their area may apply for a grant to cover a professional teacher's traveling costs. Deadline: May 15, to be used after September 1
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ARS Beginners' Class for Alto Recorder
with Jennifer Carpenter
This is the perfect opportunity to dive into the basics of this versatile and expressive instrument - the alto recorder! Professional performer and teacher Jennifer Carpenter will lead through through engaging lessons that will help you develop practical musical skills.
Dates:
June 30, July 2, 7, and 9 at 8 PM, ET
ARS Beginners' Classes are free and available to everyone.
For more information and to register, click HERE.
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ARS Beginners' Class for Soprano/Tenor Recorder
with Lewis Baratz
Join professional performer and teacher Lewis Baratz who will expertly guide you through the foundations of learning the soprano or tenor recorder. If you are new to the instrument, are picking up this 2nd set of fingerings, or want a refresher course on the basics, then this is the class for you!
Dates:
June 16, 23, 30, and July 7 at 7 PM, ET
ARS Beginners' Classes are free and available to everyone.
Registration will open soon for this class! Click HERE for the ARS classes page.
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Multiple Class Offerings
with Anne Timberlake
1) Powerful Practice
Tuesdays, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, and 5/20 at 3:30 PM, CT
In this live, four-week small-group short course, we’ll explore important principles of effective practice and work toward applying principles in our own routines. We’ll discuss concrete strategies that work, the practice pitfalls you may be falling prey to, and why some conventional practice wisdom is wrong.
With great power comes great responsibility! Gain confidence in your practice.
Course fee: $99
Register on my website! Registration will be closed if the participant limit is met.
2) Wednesday Webinar: Scale Secrets!
Wednesday, 4/30 at 7 PM, CT
If you’ve had any kind of formal musical training, you’re probably acquainted with scales. You may even be doing some in your own practice– they are a fabulous tool! But are you using scales to their full potential? In this live, one-hour Zoom webinar, we’ll explore the whys and hows of scales, discussing how to set scale goals, what kinds of scales to do, how to vary your practice, and how to keep from reinforcing bad habits.
Class fee: $20
To register, please visit my website.
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Swedish Fiddle Tunes for Two
with Debby Greenblatt
Tues, May 13 at 7 PM, CT
Wed, May 14 at 10 AM, CT
Fri, May 16 at 7 PM, CT
Different tunes will be played at each session.
These tunes are largely dance-based, including the polka, march, waltz, schottische, and music for weddings.
There is limited enrollment, and pre-registration is required. The cost for each workshop is $15. The cost of each optional book is $15 (includes shipping if ordered with workshop registration).
For more information, and to register for the workshop:
https://greenblattandseay.com/workshops_swedish.shtml
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North American Virtual Recorder Society presents their May Playing Meeting
with The Early Music Guild of Oregon
When: Saturday, May 17, 2 - 3:30 PM, ET
Cost: NAVRS Membership is $20 and each playing session is $15.
Your first playing meeting is free and membership is not required.
"The Snow It Melts the Soonest" - English music celebrating May and Springtime: The Early Music Guild of Oregon - Gayle Neuman, Phil Neuman, and Laura Kuhlman - will lead our May session featuring music from both renaissance and traditional sources. Composers include Weelkes, Morley, Playford, and Anonymous!
For more information and to register, visit the NAVRS website.
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Amherst Early Music Online Courses
for May 2025
1) In Nomine with Anne Timberlake, recorder
How did a chant melody become the foundationfor hundreds of works by some of England's most famous composers? We'll explore the flowering of the "In Nomine" in 16th- and 17th-century Britain, as well as what playing the "In Nomine" part can teach us!
Saturday, May 3rd at 3 PM, ET
2) A la française - An introduction to French Baroque Ornamentation with Rainer Beckmann, recorder
French music is renowned for its elegance, grace, and expressive nuance. Ornamentation - or les agréments - is key to transforming simple melodies into a language of refinement, sweetness, and vigor. We'll explore the art of ornamentation through Hotteterre's invaluable examples before applying them to works by Lully and others.
Sunday, May 4th at 1 PM, ET
For more information and to see AEM Online's full lineup of virtual classes, please visit their website.
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Want to Share Your News?
The deadline for this e-newsletter is the 20th of each month. To submit your news using an online form, please go to https://americanrecorder.org/newsform. You may also email an article and photos. We love to hear stories of how the recorder community is still going strong. Send any of the types of news items you have seen in the paper newsletter or past ARS NEWS emails. Digital photos are welcome, as are digital videos for YouTube (DropBox or Google Drive suggested). Send your articles/photos to newsletter@americanrecorder.org.
Want to Share Your Upcoming Events?
Virtual events can be publicized by emailing Jennifer Carpenter. In-person events can be publicized using our online Event Calendar submission form (only ARS members may submit). Event info will appear in the calendar on the ARS homepage.
The deadline for ARS NEWS (this publication) is the 20th of the month. Send news to Susan Burns and event information to Jennifer Carpenter. ARS NEWS is emailed the last Tuesday of every month, with occasional exceptions.
Newsletter editors and publicity officers for Chapters, Consorts & Recorder Orchestras should make sure that your regular communications like e-newsletters are sent to the ARS office.
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