Newsletter
Volume 22, Issue 9 | May 2021
Kristen Normann, President
Olya Katsman, Vice President
Michelle Chi, Second Vice President
Millie Chiem, Treasurer & Parliamentarian
Fonny Chandra, Corresponding Secretary
Ruth Zhou, Recording Secretary
Katherine Valdez, Membership Secretary & Referrals Chair
Grace Cheng, Director
Gloria Ho, Director
Maria Ehlert, Director
Karen Wolff, Director
David Ross, Director & Student Recitals
Lu Huang, Director & Website Administrator

Sandy Fong & Maria Ehlert, Hospitality
Sr. Andre Marie Fujier & Ruth Zhou, Historian
Carmencita Aspiras, Sunshine
Lu Huang, Composer Today
Olya Katsman, MSSL Community Outreach
Dr. Jiang Wu, VOCE

Gloria Ho, CM Chair and North Region Chair, (Piano, Strings, Woodwinds and Voice)
Grace Cheng, CM South Region Chair
Millie Chiem, North Region Honors Recitals
Karen Wolff, South Region Honor Recital
Katherine Lee & Ruby Cheung, Theory Site Coordinators
MTAC - SACB Board Opening
If you are interested in serving the board, please email Kristen Normann at kjnmusic@comcast.net or text at 510-517-3790
Important Dates
May 23 (Sun)

July 2 - 5 (Fri - Mon)
  • Virtual Convention - Unity through Music

July 31
  • Deadline to pay for MTAC membership fee
MTAC - SACB website
password: mta1
Message from Membership Secretary
Hello SACB teachers,

I hope all of you are doing well.

It is the time to renew your MTAC membership for 2022. The deadline of membership fee is due July 31. When you sign in to your MTAC account, you can just click the "Yes, renew now" button to complete the renewal process. If dues are not received by July 31, membership will not be renewed by that date, which may result in ineligibility to participate in CM 2022.

Please also check if your personal information on your profile (email address, home address, and phone number) is up to date. I will use that information for our branch's membership directory. So, if you have made some changes, please let me know by sending me an email. It will be very helpful so I will not miss anything.

Thank you!
Katherine Valdez
Scholarship Recipients
$1000 Senior Scholarship Recipient:

Justin Wang
student of Jed Gallant

The Regina Mastrantonio Memorial Fund Community Music Service Recognition Award Recipients:

Erin Yang
student of Grace Cheng
Helen Yuan
student of Fonny Chandra
Rebecca Tseng
student of Olya Katsman
Qingping Ye
student of Dorothy Su
Yichen Zeng
student of Dylan Librande

Each student received $250 award

Congratulation to all scholarship recipients!!!
Note from CM Chair
July 2 to July 5
  • Virtual Convention 2021 - Unity Through Music

Dear Teachers,
It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that the decision to take CM on line is a final one. I do know they have taken your objections into account, but I do not think that will change their minds. But maybe in the future, they might reconsider.
So here is my advice. I have long held this one adage my whole life and it has been one that kept me young, adaptable, and forward thinking. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. Or you can say change is the only constant.
So, let's think of the positives and all the new possibilities this major change in MTAC offers us regarding performance opportunities and programs for the students of our branch. But first the positives of on line testing:
  1. The student is now free to complete the testing on their own time, Students memorize and record any pieces that are possible for the CM exam at any time. As they start to have in person lessons, start recording at your studio for better recordings.
  2. Same thing for technique exam.
  3. They are free to learn more music! Before they spent most of their time during the year, especially busy high schoolers keeping two to four pieces memorized or in their fingers until test time. Now we will be given a time to upload, usually 10 days to upload the exam pieces (hopefully not early February in 2021!). So that's a good thing! They can really start learning much more repertoire, because they don't have to spend so much time keeping pieces in their fingers. Record it and done.
  4. There is no good thing about on line theory testing for the students, but for the branch, yay!! No more complaints about having to volunteer your time to fun the theory tests. No crises at Chabot. You can put in as many students as you want without having to volunteer one single hour.
  5. No more CM chair to deal with now. You will deal directly with CM council or State office. Now I only program the BH and Senior recitals and host all the recitals. Nobody has to do that job anymore. And I probably will continue to disburse the certificates, plaques, BH ribbons.
  6. Do you have any ideas for creative performance opportunities for our students, since they no longer have the opportunity to perform in an evaluation setting? Send your ideas to me


Gloria Ho
CM Chair
Senior Award Recital
Topic: Honoring Senior Students
Time: May 23, 2021 04:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

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Meeting ID: 849 9246 8091
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MSSL News
Hello everyone!
Music Students’ Service League (MSSL) is a student-run group of volunteers with the mission to promote happiness achieved through musical entertainment as well as developing musical appreciation for the underprivileged members of society, especially our elderly citizens. Despite the ongoing pandemic, we still host recitals by pre-recording performances and send them to senior living centers to brighten up our elderly’s day. We are planning to host monthly recitals in this coming year via online or in-person if permitted by health experts.

If you’re interested in joining us, please print, fill out, and follow the directions on the form:

Students of all skill levels are encouraged to join! Not only is this opportunity a great way to fulfill your service hours requirement, but you also get some well-needed practice for recitals and competitions!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Brooke Zheng (zheng.brooke@gmail.com), Erin Yu (erin4yu@gmail.com), or Andrew Gao (gao.andrew@yahoo.com).
Short Exam Pieces ideas
If you have anything to add to help all of us, please contact Gloria Ho at gloho@att.net with composers and their pieces that helped you get a student to pass their level
Piano Tuners' Corner
Robin Whitehouse
Email: robin@santacruzpiano.com
Phone: 831-247-0043

David Amendola
Steinway Concert Technician
Email: davidamendola@mac.com
Phone: 415-250-0724

Linda Kay
Email: ltune88@comcast.net
Phone: 510-910-0283
Accepting New Students
David Ross
Piano
Phone: 510-586-9163

Alice Huang
Piano
Phone: 510-709-8293
Email: hyh0118@gmail.com
Location: Castro Valley, CA 94546

Julie Chang
Piano
Phone: 510-366-2193
Email: Juliechangpiano@gmail.com
Address:716 Solstice Court, Fremont, CA 94539

To put your name on (or take your name out of) the list, please contact:
Fonny Chandra at: c.secretary.mtacsacb@gmail.com