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UPCOMING NEPTA EVENTS
Monday April 12 Teachers' Exchange
"Teaching Popular and Jazz Music"
Presented by Janice Zaganjori and Colleen Campbell
Wakelin Room, Wellesley Free Library
9:30am
April 26 Meeting
"Student Masterclass"
Presented by
Judith Gordon
The First Parish of Watertown
Monday, April 26
9:30am
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Member News
* * * * * Margaret Cheng Tuttle will perform with the Ariel Quintet on Sunday, April
18 at 3pm at the Park Avenue Congregational Church, 50 Paul Revere Road, Arlington. Program includes Poulenc's Sextet for Piano and Winds, Brahms's Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major for clarinet and piano, Irving Fine's Partita, and Danzi's Quintet in B-flat major. Quintet members are Clare Nielsen, flute; Kathryn DiCola, oboe; Rebecca Leonard, clarinet; Donna Taub, bassoon; and Ellen Donohue-Saltman, horn. Tickets $15 ($10 seniors and students) available at the door.* * * * *
Michelle Kelly will perform Friday, April 23, at 7pm at
M. Steinert and Sons, 162 Boylston Street, Boston, in celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Steinway Piano. Works by contemporary Boston area composers, who will all be in attendance, include John Craig Cooper, Marti Epstein, Donal Fox, Ruth Lomon, John McDonald and Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee.
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"Urartu Rhapsodie," Op.80, with a new cadenza written for this performance.
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Spring Greetings
As a new season unfolds, we welcome the warmth of the sun, vibrant colors that change our landscape along with the lyrical sounds of spring. It can be a time of renewal for many of us, as we apply different techniques and repertoire in our studios, some inspired by the March 22nd meeting featuring Bruce Brubaker's presentation on minimalist music. His message was very well received, and lively discussion followed from the audience! Thanks to Shann Wood for filling in for me that morning during my scheduled trip to the MTNA Conference in Albuquerque. Several of you have asked me about the trip, and it would take many paragraphs to describe in great detail. There were so many sessions, focusing on various aspects of teaching that I benefited from, and I was delighted to spend time with colleagues and friends in a relaxed setting, including fellow NEPTA members Deborah Yardley Beers and Betty Reed.
Lydia Reed-Guertin
President
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"It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
Our next meeting will be a Teachers' Exchange program at the Wellesley Free Library, on Monday, April 12 at 9:30am. Please join Colleen Campbell and Janice Zaganjori as they unlock the mystery of teaching popular or jazz music to our students. This is a very relevant topic as our students become more immersed and influenced by popular culture through electronic devices. If you have had success introducing popular and jazz repertoire within your studio, please bring your ideas, as we welcome audience participation and suggestions. Likewise, problems with solutions will be addressed as well!
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Student Masterclass with Judith Gordon
The Student Masterclass featuring
Judith Gordon will take place at The First Parish of Watertown on
Monday, April 26 at 9:30am. As of this email, one final repertoire choice is still in the works; however, here are two confirmed performers and works to be performed:
1. Layla Siraj, student of Helena Vesterman, will perform the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata No.12 in A Flat Major, Op.26, Andante con variationi.
2. Clarence Chaisson, student of Sylvia Chambless,will perform Brahms' Six Pieces for Piano, Op.118
No.1 Intermezzo in A minor, Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato, and No.2 Intermezzo in A Major, Andante teneramente.
Many thanks to Janet Ainsworth, our Student Masterclass chairman, for bringing together the performers and teacher for this morning's meeting.
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Luncheon Reservation for Annual Meeting
The luncheon reservation form is now available for downloading and printing. Some delicious choices were selected by our luncheon chairman, Jennifer Cope, all for the low price of $26 which includes salad, entrée, dessert, tax, and gratuity at Porcini's Restaurant in Watertown, just a short ride from The First Parish. Won't you please join us on Monday, May 24 after NEPTA's annual meeting and awards recital?
The deadline to sign up is May 10, and forms and checks should be mailed to:
Jennifer Cope
7 Porter's Cove Rd.
Hingham, MA 02043
Thank you Jennifer for coordinating this special event that we all look forward to!
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NEPTA Dues are Due May 31
NEPTA members can now renew their dues online for 2010-2011 at www.nepta.info through the secure PayPal site, or with a credit card. Or, download the registration form and mail with a check to Lindsey Robb, our NEPTA Treasurer.
The deadline to be included in NEPTA's printed directory is May 31.
Now that most of you have completed your 2009 taxes, it's not too early to think of donations and write-offs for next year. Please consider donating to the NEPTA Scholarship fund and support our organizational efforts as you renew your dues.
Below is a reprint from the March newsletter in case you missed this information from Sue Demb regarding updates to the NEPTA website.
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Dear NEPTA Member,
I am pleased to let you know that the updated NEPTA website is now available. Changes have been made to two areas:
FOR MEMBERS adds the following links:
1. Membership Directory where you can access members by last name or by town.
2. Update Your Information where you can change information, including signing up to have your name available for piano teacher referrals from the website.
3. Pay Your Dues where you can update your information and pay your dues using a credit card or PayPal. After you pay your dues, you can "continue shopping" and make a donation to the Scholarship Fund. The payment is processed by PayPal, but you don't have to have a PayPal account to use it. There is also an option to pay using any major credit card. OR you can print out a form and mail it with a check.
4. Donate to the Scholarship Fund where you can make a donation with a credit card OR you can print out a form for mailing a check.
These links all require that you log in to access them. The first time you log in you will have to create a new password, which you can change in the future or, if you forget it, you can have it emailed to you. On the first log in page, click on the link Create or Change Your Password to create your password.
FIND A TEACHER
If you have updated your information and checked that you want referrals from the website, click on the Find a Teacher link at the top of the page and put your zip code in the form at the bottom. You should see your listing, with all the information you added to the form.
Want to add more or change something? Just go back and update your information.
Don't want referrals any more? go back and update your information by unchecking the checkbox "Do you want referrals from the website?".
I hope you enjoy these new features. They will make many volunteer jobs for NEPTA easier.
Please let me know what you think and if you have any problems with the site.
Sue Demb
Former webmaster, NEPTA
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Recitals, Competitions, and Awards
The senior recital committee, composed of Niva Fried, Janet Ainsworth and Eleanor McLaughlin, did a superb job of organizing three different demanding programs on Sunday, March 7. The students played beautifully with such poise, presence and stunning displays of technique and expression. Congratulations to those students, teachers and parents who must be so proud.
On behalf of the Middlesex Musical Arts Society, Janice Zaganjori and Angela Gazza, awarded $300 to Maxim Bukhovko, student of Valerie Henkin. This one-time award was granted to a deserving senior performing in the NEPTA Senior Recital through extraneous donations from Janice and Angela's fund-raising four-hand recital. Thank you to Janice and Angela for administering the award and to the Middlesex Musical Arts Society for their support and encouragement of today's talented young artists.
The final weekend of recitals, on March 14, closed with the Composition and Jazz Recital, the 20th/21st Century Recitals, and the Ensemble and Adult Recitals chaired by Ruth Shyu, Miriam Gargarian, Elizabeth Landman, and Phoebe Yassa respectively. They all did a brilliant job of ordering the programs, with so many varied composers, styles and instrumental groups. On behalf of NEPTA, I thank all of them for their continued commitment and planning efforts for NEPTA.
In addition I would like to thank Tanya Schwartzman and Alex Foaksman, who helped out with the 20th/21st Century committee, Caroline Heatherton with the Ensemble Recital and Jean Alderman, Adult Recital.
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ALICE PROCTOR AWARD FOR COMPOSITION
Ruth Shyu is pleased to announce that the Alice Proctor Award was given to Caleb Darling, student of Mila Filatova. Congratulations on this fine achievement!
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MILDRED FREIBERG MIDDLE SCHOOL COMPETITION
Irina Gelman, chairperson of the Mildred Freiberg Middle School Competition is pleased to announce the results of the competition held on Sunday, March 21 at Steinert's in Boston.
Kevin Sherman, first place; teacher, Valerie Henkin
Yinian Tang, second place; teacher, Sylvia Chambless
Phuong Nghi Pham, third place, teacher, Clara Slater
The judges were Anthony diBonaventura, Michael Lewin and Tatyana Dudochkin.
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HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITIONS
Diana Tetzlaff, chairperson of the high school competitions, is also pleased to announce the results of the two competitions held on Sunday, March 28, at Steinert's in Boston.
RUTH DAVIDSON COMPETITION (Grades 9, 10, 11)
Yong Murray, first place; teacher: Niva Fried
Carl Lian, second place and winner of the A. Ramon Rivera Contemporary Music Award for the best performance of Memorial Blues by Gabriel Jackson; teacher: Nilly Shilo
Clarence Chaisson, third place; teacher, Sylvia Chambless
ALICE HAMLET SENIOR SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION (Grade 12)
Nathan Harris, first place and winner of the A. Ramon Rivera Contemporary Music Award for the best performance of Tribute to Albeniz by Rodiion Shchedrin; teacher, Margaret Bachelder
Thomas Tullius, second place; teacher, Natalia Harlap
Maxim Bukhovko, third place; teacher, Valerie Henkin
The judges for both high school competitions were Janice Weber, Andrew Rangell and David Hagan.
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Many thanks to Irina and Diana for the hours of preparation, late night emails, and last-minute phone calls, as well as their calm presence in making these events run so smoothly and successfully!
Additionally, I appreciate the volunteer efforts of Tanya Shrago (middle school) and Valerie Snow (high school) for helping out on the day of the competitions. Finally, congratulations to all of the winners and teachers. I look forward to hearing their performances at the awards recital!
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NEPTA Teachers' Recital
If you are interested in performing in the Teachers' Recital, on Saturday, October 23, 2010, please let Colleen Campbell know of your intentions as space is filling quickly. Solo and four-hand works are welcome, with a time limit of 10 minutes per performer. A suggested admission donation of $15 will raise money for the First Parish Chair Campaign. Please send your name and the piece's composer, title and duration to Colleen Campbell at campbell.c2@gmail.com by Tuesday, June 15.
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Volunteer Newsletter Editor Needed
We are still in need of a volunteer to take over Cindy Null's newsletter editor position for 2010-2011! Cindy has very generously offered to mentor this person providing them with all the necessary skills to deliver the newsletter to our members via Constant Contact. This position can be done completely in the comfort of your own home, so if you do live far away from the Watertown meetings, and wish to be more involved with NEPTA this would be the perfect opportunity. If you are interested please contact Cindy at cnull@rcn.com.
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New England Piano Teachers' Association 