Oct. General Meeting
Monday, Oct 17, 2022
9:45 AM, IN-PERSON
Rolling Meadows Library
and Online via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 896 1963 3607
Passcode: 219505
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OCTOBER
FALL CLASSICAL RECITAL
Sunday, October 16, 2022
Rolling Meadows Library
1:30 PM
FALL POP & JAZZ & MORE RECITAL
Sunday, October 16, 2022
Rolling Meadows Library
3:30 PM
PROGRAM
Festival of Pianos and Midwest Keyboard Performers Challenge Committees
“The Times They are a’Changin’: All you need to know about the new “Festival of Pianos” and “Midwest Keyboard Performers Challenge” Events
Monday, October 17, 2022
Rolling Meadows Library and Online Zoom
9:45 A.M. Meeting
NOVEMBER
ISMTA CONFERENCE
Friday - Saturday,
November 4-5, 2022
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
SONATA-SONATINA FESTIVAL
Sunday, November 6, 2022. Harper College
Monday, November 7, 2022
Deadline: Festival of Pianos
PROGRAM
Susan Tang
“The Chicago Connection: Exploring the piano music of Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and Betty Jackson King through the Keys to Inclusion Initiative”
Monday, November 28, 2022
Rolling Meadows Library and Online Zoom
9:45 A.M. Meeting
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A NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT |
Dear NWSMTA members,
Have you ever seen a business or restaurant having a grand re-opening after remodeling? People work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure the business or the restaurant will be better and seem brand new again. That’s what I felt about our first meeting in September.
Our officers, committee chairpersons and members all worked very hard during summertime to brainstorm for ideas to make our organization even better than it was. I want to thank all of them for their efforts and thank the members also who joined in-person or on Zoom. If you missed the informative and fun “welcome back” meeting, don’t worry. Come and join us for this month’s meeting on October 17, 2022. There will be a double presentation that you don’t want to miss.
We want to congratulate our very own Janice Razag who has been elected as the ISMTA Teacher of the Year. Check out her bio and nice portrait at ISMTA Teacher of the Year - ISMTA
NWSMTA is not just an organization for meetings and student events. We are also a community of people who enjoy music, teaching, and each other. Some of us are retired but still participate in the organization - even volunteering and helping out at some events. After some discussion, the board has decided to offer the retired teachers reimbursement for half of their MTNA and ISMTA dues, as well as waiving the NWSMTA membership fee. To qualify for this benefit, the retired applicant must have been a NWSMTA member at least for 5 years. If you are qualified and would like to apply, please contact me.
A great organization always has people supporting it by volunteering their time and their talents. NWSMTA needs your support. Is there a committee that you would like to join and work together with other wonderful people? Please let us know.
The ISMTA conference will be held November 4-5, 2022 at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL. I am going and I’m looking forward being inspired and learning new things. Are you Interested? You can find the details at the ISMTA website. 2022 Conference - ISMTA
Chyi-Ling Evans
President NWSMTA
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OCTOBER PROGRAM: FESTIVAL OF PIANOS AND MIDWEST KEYBOARD PERFORMERS CHALLENGE |
Please join the Festival of Pianos and Midwest Keyboard Performers Challenge Committees for our October 17 program “‘The Times They are a’Changin’- All you need to know about the new ‘Festival of Pianos’ and ‘Midwest Keyboard Performers Challenge’ events”. Committee members will be on hand to detail substantial changes to these events and to provide teachers with some inspiration to offer these wonderful opportunities to their students.
Nancy Dempsey, Programs Chair
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Honey Jam Cafe in Arlington Heights (by the Racetrack) will serve as our regular lunch venue following our Monday meetings. Our clinicians will be invited to attend and all are welcome to join us.
Directions:
Menu:
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The make-up and final day of the GIGANTIC LIBRARY SALE of books, DVDs, CDs and videos at BARGAIN PRICES will be on Sunday, October 23 from 3:00 to 7:00PM. It will be held at 1160 West Mallard Drive, Palatine. Please call or email Suzanne Fleer, 847.202.8934, suzannejf2@comcast.net with any questions!!
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MASTERCLASS, MUSIC OF COMPOSERS OF DIVERSITY
DR. SUSAN TANG
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January 16 (Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday)
Start preparing your students now for a masterclass presented by Dr. Susan Tang from Northeastern Illinois University featuring “Music of Composers of Diversity”. The Monday, January 16, 9:45 AM meeting will take place on a school holiday with a snow date scheduled for Monday, February 20 (another school holiday). This is a wonderful opportunity to explore for yourself and with your students new and exciting repertoire by composers of diverse backgrounds.
Since much of this music has been forgotten or overlooked, Dr. Tang has referred us to a website which provides a database for many of these piano pieces.
- Search by title, composer, nationality, gender, level, etc
- Click on a specific piece to see sources for scores, leveling, and, in some cases, recordings.
Dr. Tang also mentioned that the music of black composer Florence Price provides a large selection of repertoire with a wide range of playing levels for our students.
AiM levels will be assigned to pieces by submitting a request to the AiM Committee. In addition, a category for “Music of Composers of Diversity” will be included for the new Awards event, “Midwest Keyboard Performers Challenge”.
Dr. Tang will also be presenting a lecture at our November meeting, "The Chicago Connection: Exploring the piano music of Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and Betty Jackson King through the Keys to Inclusion Initiative." The November and January programs together will offer us an alternative to a workshop for this year.
Please send your questions and your entries for the masterclass by Monday, December 5, to nwsmta99@gmail.com. We are being flexible with time allotted to the masterclass, but Dr. Tang will choose the final program.
Nancy Dempsey, Programs Chair
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Lots of Bargains!!!!!
Fran Onley has retired and has many new materials for sale at a discount. Please call her, email or text her to make an appointment which will work for both of you. Thursday and Friday mornings 10-12 or afternoon on those days 1-3 usually work, but she is free other days and times too.
Included in the sale are:
new Faber books : Lesson, Theory,Performance, Popular, all levels at discount
new Christmas books: mostly Faber, but others also-all levels primer to advanced
new Halloween sheets-all levels
new jazz books: Gillock, Lee Evans, Helen Marlais, Martha Mier, Noona and more
new books with AIM repertoire: Classics to Moderns, Piano Lit. Bastien, Keith Snell , Faber
new Sonata-Sonatina books
Many famous composer volumes with maybe only one piece written in, huge discount
Many used items
Many free items!!!
She’ll have the coffee on and pumpkin bread, too!!!
Fran Onley
847-651-6482-cell
847-394-4978-home
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We are offering new opportunities for teachers to share knowledge and expertise in more informal settings. The 9:00 - 9:30 time on Mondays before our business meetings will be available as well as the opportunity to schedule small meetings in teachers’ homes. An online Zoom session could be scheduled as well. If you have a topic that you would like help with OR that you feel you would have some special expertise to share, please contact Nancy Dempsey at nancyd4461@gmail.com or 847-934-6145 to schedule.
During phone calls to teachers that Board Members made last month, a number of teachers indicated they would like more opportunities to share informally. Topics that were suggested during these phone calls and at September’s “Welcome Back” meeting include:
Pre-School piano
Adult learners/ music sure to motivate
Setting up a Website
Marketing through Google
How to help students with nerves
Reinforcing reading with students who learn by rote from parents or watch hands on YouTube who do well without the reading.
How to make a slide for online Zoom
How to create a slide using pictures for the newsletter
Working with a student who has difficulty reading notes
Encouraging students to practice their technique.
Student who uses any finger regardless of what is written.
Preparing students for “All that Jazz”
Playing duets
AiM mentoring
Suzuki collaboration
Teaching voice or other instruments
Music sales
Nancy Dempsey, Programs Chair
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CAMP SCHOLARSHIP AND COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS |
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CAMP SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Congratulations to Edie Park and her teacher Dr. Christina Tio, for winning 1st place in the Camp Scholarship, Junior Division
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Congratulations to Harry Zhang and his teacher Dr. Soo Young Lee for winning the College $1000 College Scholarship.
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Dear NWSMTA members,
How would you like to discover a novel idea for teaching? Or the name of someone who has advice for teaching new skills? What about ways to motivate your students to improvise?
Here are a few to get you started. Have you listened to Janna Williamson, who teaches in our Illinois backyard? Check out her online information. She has a wealth of material available to inspire you.
Now, what about the student who had no time to practice this week?
Try using an idea from Jason Zac. The student will be excited to explore their instrument further. Perhaps to the point of actually playing an assigned piece. Instead of feeling like they wasted their lesson, they can discover something that allows them to spring into a new direction with their exploring.
You can check out his approach here with his five exciting music challenges for 2022.
It can help students learn to transpose melodies in preparation for AIM mid-levels. He often combines ear training, technique, theory and improvisation. He has MANY creative ideas students could benefit from.
For those students working in the upper levels of AIM, they may enjoy Julian Bradley’s approach to the modes. I find his various explanations clear to follow and accurate. That is not always the case with others.
Greg Niemczuk has given over 400 performances in the last fifteen years. Due to the pandemic in April 2020 he launched an unprecedented wordwide project to record videos-lectures on all the works of Fryderyk Chopin. All together more than 315 episodes were made in two languages (Polish and English) published on YouTube and on Grzegorz's Facebook fanpage. He has gone on to analyze and perform hundreds of Chopin’s compositions. It makes sense, that by studying all of a composer’s compositions, one would be able to have a deeper understanding of them. His lectures are a treasure to explore.
Enjoy the volume of performances and lectures available.
If you have not seen Seymour Bernstein’s “A Lesson Not to Miss,” be sure to share it with others.
I hope you are inspired to click on something that interests you.
If you want to share something you found interesting on the internet, please send a suggestion to inspire others. That’s what NWSMTA does to help others become better teachers and to create better musicians.
Deborah Lynch
Newsletter Editor
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Northwest Suburban Music Teachers Association | https://www.nwsmta.org |
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