January 2012

Dear MTAC South Coast Members,

I realize that in my December 2011 message I inadvertently forgot to thank a very important person: Dr. Xioale Li. Xiaoleis our branch festival hospitality chair and she did an excellent job in setting up refreshments and procuring lunch for the Classical/Romantic festival judges, chair and co-chairs. All of our board members and general membership deeply appreciate your excellent contribution Xiaole and my sincere apologies for my omission!

Our February 15 branch meeting, 10:00 a.m. at Fields’ Piano will feature one of our own branch members, Dr. Deborah Brener. Her presentation will be “Around The World At the Piano: Becoming Multicultural In Today’s Piano Studio.” The April 2011 edition of The American Music Teacher featured her article by the same title. You will not want to miss this fun and motivating presentation!

At the February branch meeting we will take a survey as to the date for our 2012 performance master class: Sunday, November 11, 1-5:00 p.m. or combine it with our February 2013 meeting, Wednesday, 10:00 AM, 2-20-13. Please give this some thought between now and our meeting.

I would remind our members that the registration for our June 9 Concerto Competition is open; the deadline is Saturday, March 31. This event is open to ALL instruments. As mentioned in my September 2011 message, Chi Asada has graciously offered her services as branch accompanist, all proceeds going to the branch treasury. Winners will have a special winners’ concert with orchestral reduction for 2^nd piano. This competition will be an essay to gauge if we will be able to offer a winners’ concert with orchestra in 2013.

On January 2^nd, the online database opened for teachers of Panel and general C.M. students to enter their repertoire for the Evaluation Report Form and to apply for convention and branch honors. An e-mail was sent out in November by the CM Panel Chair and our own CM chair with complete instructions for the Panel evaluations.

Remember that the on-line repertoire registration deadline for all Panel students is January 10 with the general CM repertoire deadline quickly following on January 31. Please carefully read through the following CM evaluation information that our hard working CM chair, Sandely Millerhas compiled below.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and blessed New Year!

Musically yours,

Evaluation Form information (Repertoire, Convention, Branch Honors, Day and AM or PM Evaluation Requests, Carpool) can be entered online between Jan. 2 and Jan. 31 by logging into your Teacher Home Page atwww.mtac.org. The database closes Jan 31, 11:59 PM. No late information can be accepted. NO exceptions.

The Convention Recital theme for 2012, all instruments & voice, will be “Composers Born in Russia”. A list of eligible composers can be found at www.mtac.org on your Teacher Home Page

· String Evaluation and Theory Exam: Saturday, March 17 at Chinese Baptist Church of Central Orange County in Irvine for both performing evaluation and theory exam.

· Voice Evaluation and Theory Exam: Saturday March 17 at Chinese Baptist Church of Central Orange County in Irvine for both performing evaluation and theory exam.

· Flute Theory Exam: Saturday March 17 Chinese Baptist Church of Central Orange County in Irvine

· Piano Theory Exam: Saturday March 17 at Northwood High School in Irvine (new location) for piano only

· Piano Evaluation: Saturday/Sunday March 24/25 at UCI

· Flute Evaluation and Theory Exam: Sunday March 25 at UCI

· Branch Honors Recital: Saturday April 28 at Fields Piano in Santa Ana

REMINDER: There will be NO changes made to the Certificate of Merit Student Evaluation

Schedule once it is finalized and e-mailed to teachers in February.