New Jersey Music Teachers Association
Affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association

Conference

• 2007 State Conference
• 2006 State Conference
• 2005 State Conference
• 2004 State Conference

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NJMTA 2007 State Conference: Magic of Music

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Bristol Chapel, Westminster Choir College of Rider University

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, November 16-18, 2007

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(The registration deadline is extended to Nov. 08, 2007. There is still time to save some money! Please send in your registration form now.)

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Dear colleagues,

MARK YOUR CALENDAR for November 16-18 for this year’s conference, which will be at Westminster Choir College at Bristol Chapel.  It promises to be a stimulating, thought provoking, creative and enriching event. I know you would not want to miss this rare opportunity to be part of this exciting event!
See you on Nov. 16!

Chiu-Ling Lin, President Elect

 

2007 Conference Intermediate Piano Master Class
Saturday November 17 at 10:00

     We are pleased to announce this year’s Conference Intermediate Master Class to take place on Saturday November 17th at 10:00 am at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.  Catherine Rollin, our Master Teacher, will coach four intermediate level piano students.  Betty Stoloff is the Coordinator of the Master Class.

The following guidelines have been established for teachers and students:

1. Teachers may submit up to 2 students to play in the Master Class.
2. Teachers need to list 1 piece, and only 1 piece, and composer, by each student’s name, along with other important information:  the age of the student, length of study, and student’s phone number.
3. Teachers select pieces from the standard intermediate piano repertoire.  There are no required or set pieces to prepare.  No piece should exceed 7 minutes in length.  Pieces should be memorized and well prepared.
4. The deadline for submitting names of students, pieces and pertinent information is October 25.  Please send all information to Betty Stoloff, 31 Crestview Drive, Kendall Park, N.J. 08824.

Betty Stoloff will then simply compile a list of ONLY the age of the student and the repertoire, and give that list to Catherine Rollin who will choose 4 students to play and 2 students as alternates.  Students cannot change the piece they are going to play in the master class.   Please feel free to contact Betty Stoloff, bhstoloff@gmail.com, if you have any questions.

 

NJMTA 2007 CONFERENCE ARTISTS

LECTURE RECITAL
MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING - METHOD OR MAGIC?
VICTOR ROSENBAUM

The most critical and important aspect of classical music performance is the interpretation of the works we play.  Yet, we often rely solely on intuition, general suggestions ("more contrast") and listening to CDs to determine how a piece "goes".  Surely there must be ways that the development of musical understanding and the communication of expressiveness in music can be guided and taught.  How can it be done while still acknowledging the magic of the moment and the impact of inspiration?

Pianist Victor Rosenbaum has performed widely as soloist and chamber music performer in the United States, Europe, Asia, Israel, and Russia in such prestigious halls as Tully Hall in New York and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Described by the Boston Globe as “one of those artists who make up for all the drudgery the habitual concertgoer endures in the hopes of finding the real, right thing,” he has collaborated with such artists as Leonard Rose, Paul Katz, Arnold Steinhardt, Robert Mann, Joseph Silverstein, Malcolm Lowe, and the Brentano and Cleveland String Quartets, among others.  Festival appearances have included Tanglewood, the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Kfar Blum and Tel Hai (in Israel), Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall (Blue Hill), Musicorda, Masters de Pontlevoy (France) and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York.  Recent seasons have brought him to Chicago, Minneapolis, Tokyo, St. Petersburg (Russia), Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem for recitals. 

A renowned teacher, Rosenbaum has given master classes at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School, and such other institutions as the Menuhin School, the Toho School in Tokyo and the Jerusalem Music Center.  He was Visiting Professor of Piano at the Eastman School, a guest teacher at Juilliard, and gives lectures, workshops, and master classes for teachers’ groups and schools both in the U. S. and abroad.  He is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, the New England Conservatory, where he formerly chaired the piano department, and the Longy School of Music, where he served as Director and President from 1985 to 2001.

A student of Elizabeth Brock and Martin Marks in his hometown of Indianapolis, Rosenbaum later studied with Rosina Lhevinne and Leonard Shure.  His highly praised recording of Schubert, which Classical disCDigest described as “a powerful and poignant record of human experience” is on Bridge Records.  The release of the last three Beethoven sonatas on the same label was named by American Record Guide critic Alan Becker as one of the top ten classical recordings of 2005 and Susan Kagan of Fanfare wrote of that disc: “Victor Rosenbaum’s rewarding interpretation can sit proudly among the best.” 

 

INTERMIDIATE MASTER CLASS
TECHNIQUE MAGIC: MAKING THREE HANDS OUT OF ONE AND OTHER MAGIC AT THE KEYBOARD
CATHERINE ROLLIN

In this session, Catherine will demonstrate how we can use our physicality in a very logical way, but one that ultimately produces very musical results.  Through numerous masterwork examples, she will illuminate why technique is not something to practice in isolation, but instead - how to integrate technical skills into repertoire so these skills can be a means by which we can truly express the soul of the music.  Catherine will demonstrate how she develops  technical skills with musical goals being the priority. When physical understanding and mastery unite with musical inspiration, the magic begins!
Catherine Rollin is an active pianist, composer, clinician and teacher of prize-winning students.  Catherine’s pedagogical compositions are recognized worldwide for their combination of musicality and “ teachability”. In demand as a clinician and masterclass presenter, Catherine has given over 150 workshops including a 2006 tour of Japan that featured the technical insights of her Pathways to Artistry series,as well as a wide variety of her solo and duet collections.  Her ideas on technique and artistry have been groundbreaking in the field of pedagogy in that they are important, applicable and accessible to pianists at all levels.

 

MUSIC INSTRUCTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY (or, "I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore")
JULIANNE M. MIRANDA

Technology has had such a profound impact on the way we go about our daily lives. Using the rapidly changing landscape of the information age as a backdrop (and a light-hearted analogy to a wonderful movie of the 20th century), we will explore the implications for how we advance our profession and survive the intersection of technology in a traditionally high touch profession. This presentation will focus on the specific ways that music instruction has changed in the face of technological advances and how we find balance between innovative tools and innovative thinking. As part of the discussion, we will consider new ways of thinking about standard tools and consider new tools for facilitating what has become standard practice in our classrooms and studios.

Julianne M. Miranda, NCTM, CPCC is the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Information Officer for Music Teachers National Association. A respected clinician and educator, she has been a frequent presenter at national and international conferences on topics including personal and corporate leadership, curricular integration of information technology, wellness for musicians and life management/ personal growth. She is a certified life coach and works with individuals who are primarily musicians and artists. She also serves as a consultant to education and non-profit organizations, focusing mainly on strategic planning, academic improvement and program assessment.  Prior to joining the MTNA staff, Julianne was associate professor of music at DePauw University where she taught courses in piano, music technology and wellness for musicians. She received a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Indiana University School of Music where she studied with Karen Shaw and Menahem Pressler. She is professionally certified through Music Teachers National Association and the Coaches Training Institute.

 

MEET COMMISSIONED COMPOSER
JOHN SICHEL

Mr. Sichel studied at the Yale School of Music where his teachers included Jacob Druckman, Nicholas Maw and Martin Bresnick, and from which he received his Doctor of Music Art degree in 1990. He is a lifelong resident of New Jersey, and currently lives there with his wife and two sons. He teaches theory, composition, piano, music history and rock-and-roll history at Raritan Valley Community College and is the curator of the A. Louis Scarmolin Trust. His hobbies including birding, astronomy and fiction writing.

Mr. Sichel has composed extensively in many genres. His most recent compositions include a clarinet quintet, five piano sonatas and a sonata for piano, four-hands, as well as a number of songs and short choral works.

 

THE QUALITY PIANO TEACHER: IT BEARS REPEATING
VEDA ZUPONCIC

A teacher who expects and works for pianistic quality has a plan and a program for every one of his students.  These teachers don't wait for talent to appear: They work for quality and they achieve demonstrable results with every child, no matter how gifted, or ungifted. Accountability is easy to prove as a piano teacher:  Competitions, auditions, recitals are all tests of a teacher's abilities, and the results of a teacher's work are possible to demonstrate within months of a child's study.  The quality music teacher who produces positive results will be rewarded by earning an income commensurate with his advanced training and experience.   

Veda Zuponcic will discuss the personal and professonal characteristics of the  quality piano teacher and the common tools and techniques all successful teachers utilize.   This session will be useful to the independent piano teacher who is eager to work at a level of quality that will sustain his artistic and intellectual interest and the interest of the student. 

Miss Zuponcic's orchestral appearances have included the Russian State Symphonic Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Zagreb and Seville Orchestra (Sutej), the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (Manahan), the Savannah Symphony Orchestra (Greenberg) and the Tbilisi Symphony (Jordania).

 Born in Aurora, Minnesota, Miss Zuponcic exhibited early promise at the piano. Early studies were with Dorothy Crost Bourgin of Virginia, and later, Katherine Hessler of Hibbing. She studied at Indiana University with the great pedagogue and pianist, Sidney Foster, where she distinguished herself by winning the Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto Competition and the Performers Certificate. Further studies were with Ilona Kabos in New York and London, and with Abbey Simon and Seymour Bernstein.

She has been Professor of Music at Rowan University of New Jersey since 1972, where she has built a reputation as a pragmatic and successful pedagogue of students of all ages. In 1992 she was an Exchange Professor for one semester at the Moscow State Conservatory where she taught a full class of students and gave a series of lectures on American piano music. Miss Zuponcic is in frequent demand as a clinician, and has presented workshops and masterclasses throughout the world, including the Barcelona Liceo, the Moscow State Conservatory, the Tashkent Conservatory, Temple University, the University of Wisconsin, Northern Illinois University, Eastman School of Music, Croatian National Conservatory, Kharkov Institute of Arts and Shizuoko Musical College. Her students have been prizewinners in the Philadelphia Orchestra Competition; San Angelo, TX Competition; the Bartok Kabalevsky Competition, the Washington D.C. International competition, the Stravinsky Competition, ARTS Competition, Kingsville, TX Competition; Josef Hofmann Competition; and MTNA Collegiate, Senior and Junior High School Competitions.

As administrator, she chaired the Department of Music at Rowan University for nine years; was Dean of the International Summer School of the Moscow State Conservatory for eight years; and was the Executive Director of the Hollybush Festival, an opera and ballet festival, from 1982-90. She serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for the Camden School of Musical Arts, where she also teaches. She is the Artistic Director of the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, Minnesota. She has recorded two CD's for Melodiya, The Romantic Piano and Americans from Moscow: Works by Carter, Dello Joio, Fine, Copland and Gershwin.

 

THE JOY OF TEACHING YOUNG BEGINNERS
STELLA XU

What makes us fall in love with teaching young beginners? What materials should we use to keep the interests of young children? In this presentation, I would like to share with you some of my own experiences and methods of teaching. In particular, I would like to focus on the basic and efficient ways to teach slurs, interval connection, dynamics, legato, staccato, and other fundamental aspects of piano pedagogy, using many examples and demonstrations. Learning techniques for beginners are essential, and grounding in musicianship at an early age is also necessary. I will also offer some tips for choosing the right piece for the right student, and discuss how to prepare students before a competition.

Chinese-American pianist Stella Xu began her piano studies at the age of five. She received early training from both the Primary and Middle Schools of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. At ten, she was a winner of the First Children's Piano Competition in Shanghai.

After Stella Xu made her first major appearance at Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., she performed extensively in American recital halls such as the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie. Her premier European performance took place at Wigmore Hall in London and was followed by recitals throughout Europe, in cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Milan. Ms. Xu has been a featured artist on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in both Chicago and Los Angeles. She has performed live for radio and televi­sion broadcasts in the United States, France and England, and her performances with major orchestras have been well received throughout North America and Europe. These include performances as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, BBC Welsh Philharmonic, Scottish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Chamber Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared at the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, and Colorado Spring Music Festival.
Ms. Xu received her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied piano with Herbert Stessin and received chamber music coaching from Felix Galimir. During her years at the Juilliard School, Stella Xu won three top prizes in the Juilliard Piano Concerto Competitions.

Stella Xu has also done extensive work as an educator. Under her tutelage, students have placed in various state, national, and international piano competitions.

 

SINGING WITH FREEDOM
DAURI SHIPPEY

This vocal masterclass, open to all vocal students of NJMTA and NATS teachers, is designed to help you polish your repertoire for competitions and for general performance.  Focus will be on conquering your performance anxiety, improving your diction and stylistic elements, and finding new joy and freedom in performing.  Importantly, Ms. Shippey understands both the practical and theoretical elements required by the modern classical singer. You can count on years of performing, lyric diction, and teaching experience when you sit in one of her classes!

Ms. Shippey holds degrees from The Juilliard School. Major voice teachers included Beverley Peck Johnson, Eleanor Steber, Martial Singher and Judith Coen. Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Joy in Singing International, Luciano Pavarotti International, Minna Kaufmann Ruud Competition, JS Bach International. Has sung leading roles internationally, including Tosca, Turandot, Kostelnicka, Micaela, Countess, Suor Angelica, Giorgetta, Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira and recitals, including soloist at National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C. Founder and Director of Passaggio Chorale since 1997. Has taught Master Classes in CA, ND, NJ, NY, Germany, St. Croix, and Italy.  Private studio since 1995. Member of NATS, MTNA and Mu Phi Epsilon. Her students have won major competitions and have graduated as scholarship students from leading conservatories, have sung in Broadway productions in NYC and San Francisco, teach in music conservatories, and sing with professional opera companies.  Voice faculty of Spoleto (Italy) Vocal Arts Symposium and Westminster Conservatory of Music, Princeton.

 

PREPARING AN AUDITION OF WEBER'S CLARINET CONCERTINO
KENNETH ELLISON

The Master Class will deal with practice techniques that will help to overcome musical and technical problems inherent in the piece.  Also presented will be ways of maximizing dynamics and stylistic features of the piece in spite of the instrument’s tendencies.  Basics of playing the clarinet, such as breath support, tonguing, and tone production will also be covered.
Clarinetist Kenneth Ellison has performed with many ensembles, including the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Riverside Symphonia and the Greenville Symphony, and has played under such conductors as Andrea Quinn, John Rutter, Frederick Fennell and Rossen Milanov at such venues as Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, NJPAC and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Member of the Chelsea Opera Company, Princeton Symphony woodwind trio for the BRAVO! Program, the NJ Arts Collective, and Triple Play Winds, the latter of which performs on concert series in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. He holds degrees from Furman University (BM) and Arizona State University (MM), and is working towards a DMA from Rutgers University.  His principal teachers include Robert Chesebro, George Jones, Andrew Lamy, and Robert Spring.