March 2012

Dear MTAC South Coast Members,

Our February 15 branch meeting at Fields’ Piano featured one of our own branch members, Dr. Deborah Brener; the meeting was well attended – thank you! Her presentation was “Around the World at the Piano: Becoming Multicultural in Today’s Piano Studio.” Debbie demonstrated the new CD’s which accompany her books and contain interactive rhythmic and melodic exercises; the exercises are fun and very useful pedagogically. The CD’s also contain interesting cultural, geographical and historical background for the given repertoire. Debbie’s husband, Marc, assisted her with the media equipment; thank you Marc!

I would like to thank Chi Asada, SCJBF chair and Junko Nojima, Sounds of Baroque chair for the excellent jobs they did in organizing and running the two festivals; thank you both so much for making these events possible through your commitment and dedication! Chi told me that there were 13 participating teachers and 9 of them were at the festival. Excellent attendance! Three out of the four teachers who weren’t there communicated with her and offered their help in some way. She feels this shows that we have excellent teamwork; I am inclined to agree. I speak for the entire South Coast board in thanking you teachers for your helpfulness and impressive “esprit de corps.” We are most grateful!

I would also like to thank Andréas Eckstein for the beautiful and impeccably designed SCJBF and Sounds of Baroque programs. Melody Lu told me that the judges commented on what extraordinary programs we had. Andreas, your programs are truly works of art; they are becoming legend. Thank you Andreas!

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.

We have a number of end-year events coming up: CM path B evals, Branch Honors/Composers Today recitals, Senior Recital, Contemporary Flare, our May branch meeting and the Concerto Competition. Make sure that you check our website often for due dates and event dates.

A special thank you to Lisa Honea for liaising with OCC and Long Beach branches to make the 2012 VOCE Recital and Competition possible. This is a very exciting event and it is inspiring to hear the winners’ recital at the MTAC annual Convention – the talent, is quite simply, phenomenal. Below is Lisa’s article on the February 11^th event:

Thank you to all who participated in this year’s VOCE Recital and Competition. We had a very successful program with twenty-eight students from eleven studios participating. The standard of performance was excellent. I would like to thank Shelley Johnson and the Orange Coast Cities Branch for hosting the festival this year. I would also like to thank Janice Luna and the Long Beach Branch who partnered with us.

Both Dr. Andrew Honea and Lisa Honea’s students placed first in their divisions.

Best wishes to you and your students as they participate in the second round on April 29, at Chapman College.

Best wishes for a good C.M. 2012! Thank you in advance to Sandely Miller, members and student helpers for making the South Coast evaluations possible!!

Musically yours,