Newsletter

March 13, 2025

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March General Meeting

Monday, March 17, 2025

Barrington Library

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Upcoming Events

MARCH


PROGRAM: Eric Sutz

“Mindfulness Practicing”

Monday, March 17, 2025

Barrington Library

and Zoom

9:45 A.M. Meeting



APRIL


AIM: LEVELS 1-2 COMPLETE AND LEVELS 10-12 PERFORMANCE JUDGE’S MEETING

Monday, April 7, 2025

9:45 A.M. on Zoom


Sunday, April 13, 2025

Deadline: Online Registration Spring Classical Recital


Sunday, April 13, 2025

Deadline: Online Registration Spring Pop & Jazz Recital


AIM: LEVELS 1-2 COMPLETE & 10-12 PERFORMANCE EXAMS

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Harper College


PROGRAM

Peng Krol

“Humor and Irony in Beethoven's Prometheus Piano Variations, Op.35”

Monday, April 21, 2025

Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom

9:45 A.M. Meeting


Monday, April 21, 2025

Deadline: Teachers Musicale


SPRING CLASSICAL RECITAL

Sunday, April 27, 2025

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

647 Dundee Ave, Barrington

1:30 p.m.


SPRING POP & JAZZ RECITAL

Sunday, April 27, 2025

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

647 Dundee Ave, Barrington

3:30 p.m.



MAY


Thursday, May 1, 2025

Deadline: Music Camp Scholarship

Send entries to:

Suyi Su

313 Dundee Road

Barrington Hills, IL. 60010


Thursday, May 1, 2025

Deadline: College Scholarship

Send entries to:

Suyi Su

313 Dundee Road

Barrington Hills, IL. 60010


TEACHERS MUSICALE

Monday, May 5, 2025

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

647 Dundee Ave, Barrington

10:00 A.M.


Monday, May 5, 2025

Deadline: Annual Report/Budget Request

Forms Due for 2025 events


LUNCHEON / BUSINESS MEETING

Monday, May 12, 2025

10:45 A.M.

Location TBA

A NOTE FROM OUR PRSIDENT

Dear NWSMTA members,

 

Working with Children Who Have a Natural Proclivity for Music Composition: Part II Middle School Aged and High School Students

Lois Veenhoven Guderian © 2025

 

Performing and creating music on complex levels requires years of dedicated practicing and the study of music. However, there are many ways to engage students in satisfying musical experience and creative thinking along the journey of developing pianistic artistry and maturity in composing. Providing students with opportunities to apply, in creative ways, what they are learning in piano lessons is one way to support young composers. When explorations in sound and experimentations with musical ideas and the process of decision making are a natural outgrowth of piano studies, youths can gain in musical skills and understanding and be motivated to continue their learning.

In Part I of this article, the following scenario of a 7th grader was shared: “Our child has had piano lessons before but did not really do well. It takes them a long time to figure out a piece of music. They love music, love to play the pieces they have learned how to play and spend hours at the piano making up their own music. In fact, our seventh-grade child wants to be a composer!” Providing help and guidance for a musical youth with this past experience is not easy. As educators, from this report by the parent, we become aware of the possibility that the youth’s music reading ability is significantly lower than their playing ability and composing ability. The youth needs to develop their music reading ability to match their playing ability. This is also necessary to the development of their ability to notate their own compositions. Often, with young composers, learning to sightread fluently is desired but not nearly as exciting to the youth as is composing and playing. To keep their interest and to support their growth, providing the student with a balance in activities – some that are structured, compositional exercises designed to build sightreading skills and understanding in theory and form with assignments that are wholistic in nature, open-ended and allow for more creativity in thought in the composing process, can be an effective approach. The student will need to build sight reading skills gradually, over time so  starting with assignments that are at their level of sight reading is usually necessary. Example of a structured, compositional exercise: “Improvise or create a new melody for the song Battle Hymn of the Republic. Retain the same lyrics and rhythm. Notate your new melody.” The assignment can be aligned with piano pieces the student is currently studying that contain dotted eighth and sixteenth note rhythms. If the song is found in a method book, they can first learn to play the piece as a piano piece. In this example, the dotted eighth and sixteenth note rhythm pattern is reinforced in a creative, music-writing way. As additional reinforcement, listening for the rhythm pattern and looking for and finding it notated in additional pieces of music as well as singing and playing music that contain the rhythm – including the student’s new, original melody – help to place the rhythm pattern in musical context. All these strategies deepen the student’s understanding in the rhythm pattern while reinforcing their facility in sight reading and playing skills. Flexibility on the educator’s part is important. Students will come up with many creative ideas. Such as, “May I change the lyrics, too? May I add a long ending to the piece?” To questions like these I reply “Yes! What a great idea!”

Another example of a structured, compositional exercise: Using a piece that is not at the level of the student’s maximum playing level, have the student learn how to play the piece and under your guidance, mark the phrases that are questions and answers. For the assignment, the student should retain the questions and compose new phrases, in the same key, with the same length, for the answers.

A wholistic assignment that allows for more creative freedom, the assignment could be quite simple in direction: “Compose a piece that has a beginning, a middle and an end. Make the beginning and ending basically the same. Make the middle section music in contrast to the beginning and ending sections.

Yet another way to provide students with a wholistic compositional assignment is to ask them to make up music that tells a story –a story of their choice. To build a cognitive framework for the assignment, provide and discuss listening examples of programmatic pieces. Suggest that the student listens to others they can find through Naxos or Google at home such as The Moldau by Smetana and Dukas’ The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

In a perfect world, all humans would have opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings in creative ways. For children and youths who show a natural proclivity to use music as their form of creative expression, guidance and encouragement can be essential to their well-being and growth. However, when a youth is studying piano, it is not just about the opportunity for expression and creativity; it is often, also about the love of playing the instrument and wanting to develop the playing skills, theory and knowledge towards writing and performing their own compositions for piano. For middle school and high school students who are studying and playing music at the intermediate or advance levels, composition assignments that are an outgrowth of their literature is an effective way to help young composers grow in their ability to compose. Together with the student, start with analyzing the form of one of the pieces they are studying. Forms such as AABB, rondo form, and theme and variation form are excellent forms to use for this purpose. The forms can be studied, learned and performed, and, then new pieces composed in the form. Assignments like these provide both structure and freedom. From the study of the pieces, the technique and playing skills learned during the lesson, as well as the theory and form experienced in the student’s piano literature provide students with the tools they need to compose. Open-ended assignments like this that are closely related to a student’s current piano work can provide the cognitive starting point and framework for their processes of exploration and experimentation with ideas and the analytical, evaluative, synthesizing, practical applied thinking processes of composing. And, in the process, provide support for the student to continue to grow in piano playing ability and composing, and in keeping their interest to continue.

 

Lois Veenhoven Guderian, PhD President, NWSMTA

MARCH PROGRAM - ERIC SUTZ - MINDFULNESS PRACTICE

SPRING CLASSICAL RECITAL

Spring Pop & Jazz Recital is coming soon. Please see below for the information of the recital. 


Dates: Sunday, April 27, at 3:30 PM. 


Place: St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 647 Dundee Ave, Barrington, IL 60010.


Registration starting date: February 27, 2025


Registration deadline: April 13, 2025


To keep the recital at a reasonable length, the Recital committee has decided that the maximum number of performance will be 25 for each recital. (It will be first come first serve.) Please review the rules and procedures before you enter your students to the recital. They can be viewed online at


https://www.nwsmta.org/uploads/1/4/1/6/14166152/pjr_policy_2_9_25.pdf


We are looking forward to wonderful performances at the recital. If you have any questions about the recital, please contact Janna Gainulin or Chyi-Ling Evans. Thanks!

 

                                                                                  Pop & Jazz Recital co-chairs,

                                                                                  Janna Gainulin and Chyi-Ling Evans

AIM LEVEL 1-2 COMPLETE AND LEVELS 10-12 PERFORMANCE EXAMS

The deadline to register students for the Level 1-2 Complete Exam and Levels 10-12 Performance Exams is March 13th and the exam will be held on April 13th at Harper College.


Please go to https://www.nwsmta.org/opera-aim-registration.html for online registration. 

All teachers entering students must be able to work a minimum of 3 hours to fulfill their work requirement. First time users of OPERA must register to create an account. For help on registering, please click the HELP button on the OPERA page or contact Exam Co-chairs Helen Chang or Mary Anne Block.


Level 1-2 Teachers must mail one check for all their students' entries to Brenda Haynes. The registration fee for Level 10-12 is already collected in December when registering for Theory. However, if your Level 10-12 student passed the Theory in a previous year and is only registering for Performance this year, a $20 re-enrollment fee is required now. If a Level 12 student is choosing the Recital option, it must be scheduled for dates before July 31 and an extra $25 recital fee is applied. Please go to the Aim Page for all fee details, dates and deadlines, teacher work requirements and procedures. https://www.nwsmta.org/achievement-in-music-aim.html


Thank you,

Brenda Haynes, April Exam Chair



TEACHERS' MUSICALE INPUT NEEDED

Dear Teachers,


Hello, my name is SuZane Ray. I am a member of NWSMTA and am the chairperson for the Teachers' Musicale.


I know many of you have wanted to participate in our Teachers' Musicale, but weekday performances can be difficult with some teachers' schedules. I also understand that many NWSMTA members teach full days on Saturdays and often have performance commitments on Sundays.


To make this event more accessible, we’re considering a weekend musicale that allows more teachers to share their artistry while reaching a broader community audience. A well-attended event not only showcases our talent but also attracts potential students who are inspired by live performances.


Should we continue to hold the event in May?

What if we were to consider moving the event to a weekend day in the early summer?


I’d love your input on finding a day that works best. Let’s work together to make this an exciting and successful event, while building our music studios!



Looking forward to your thoughts,


SuZane Ray, BA, UMTC

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear NWSMTA members,


 I wanted to share with you a book giving an interesting point of view on teaching/mentoring. 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People written by David Yeager. 


What motivates your students? According to David Yeager, if a young person is criticized for their work, especially if they are high achievers, they are more apt to be devastated by the criticism. They go from a species that loves learning, to a species that cannot tolerate the effort that is needed to succeed in moving to the next step forward in their life. If instead, that same person is critiqued with the statement, “I believe in your ability to make this piece come alive.” And if it is followed by the changes needed to improve, the student would realize that a person they respect sees their potential for an even better performance. That would likely lead to more enthusiasm for taking on a more difficult task.


Carol Dweck, a teacher of Peter Jeager, was the originator of the “Growth Mindset Belief.” Studies have been done that show students can go on to create greater growth from their struggles and failures, than from their achievements. Those who are used to success will see struggling or a failure as something to hide. Instead of getting help to improve, they will hide their struggles from the very people who could help them through the challenge.


The “Mentor’s Dilemma” refers to the decision of the mentor, to 1.) attempt not to make the student’s life more difficult by giving challenging criticism, but rather, allowing them to feel good about their present level, 2.) being honest about what is needed to improve and hope they will do something about it, or 3.) state your belief the student possesses the ability to improve themselves to the point they can move past this struggle.


A better way to be a motivator is to say, “I am giving you this information because I have high standards and I think you can meet them.” You want them to be able to imagine a new story. Mentors could share stories of their challenges and how they managed to move beyond them. Young people need to learn that the discomfort of being challenged by the stress of a poor performance is not a sign of lack of ability, just a need for improvement. The stories can help students go forward and see examples of it happening around them, if they know it exists.


The brain is like a muscle that can grow and get stronger. Change is possible during challenging struggles. The signs of stress someone experiences, are often thought of as something that will work against you. We can think differently about the stress we feel. Instead of thinking of your heart racing and hands getting sweaty, you can realize this is a sign you are doing something important to you. You are about to embark on a stronger performance. This is based on the belief that stress may be a positive enhancement. You take the stress and turn it into a resource.


We have heard of the “compliment sandwich” as a positive way to encourage students. You give them a compliment, “Your steady tempo was very soothing. Be careful to lift your pedal for each new harmony, so we can hear it change colors. I thought your dynamic contrast reminded me of two very different friends.” In fact, this is a suggestion for how to encourage students when judging for AIM. In this case, you have only moments to react to the performance, and likely no further contact with the student. If the teacher/mentor goes over the comments and helps the student frame them so the student comes to realize the “judge” felt they had the ability to go to a higher level in their performance. Then the teacher becomes a mentor for further growth. A mentor has an opportunity to encourage students to see struggles or failure as an opportunity to move past their present limitations.


Adolescence is a time for students to build a future where they will be valued. If students are motivated to be of value to others, they will have a healthy, positive view of themselves.


Deborah Lynch

Newsletter Editor

Northwest Suburban Music Teachers Association | https://www.nwsmta.org
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