Dear members,

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a joyful and restful holiday!

Another year filled with many exciting events is off and running. As many of us are preparing to finalize students’ repertoires, CM Database is now open for repertoire entry, Branch Honors, and Convention Recital applications. Please check all necessary requirements and rules before entering the information online.  The deadline is January 31, 2014. Please do not wait until the last day. If you encounter any problem at the last minute, help may not be immediately available. This year, we have another strong CM committee:

CM chair: Sandely Miller

Theory chair: Margaret Tseng

Wind Chair: Ana Choi

String Chair: Anna Kim

Please contact them if you have any CM related questions. And thank you to all our CM chairs for handling the biggest event of the year!

This year we will again be combining with both the Orange Coast Cities and Long Beach Branches for our VOCE Recital.  This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to hear many other excellent students from other branches.  An information email was sent back in Nov., 2013, and the deadline is January 8, 2014. A big thank you to Junko Nojima, our new VOCE chair, for organizing this event with the other branches.

Our next big festival will be Sound of Baroque and SCJBach Festival.  Please note that SCJBach Festival has a separate website for registration: http://www.scjbf.org/.  You will find all necessary information on it. As for Sound of Baroque, Registration is on our branch website: southcoastmtac.org. A notification will be sent out via email once the online registration is open. We are grateful to have Chi Asada, our first vice president, chairing for both events. Please contact her for any additional questions. Also, there is a change in the venue this year. Both festivals will be held in Field’s Piano on February 22.

If you are looking for performing opportunities for your students in a relaxing environment, please sign up for our MSSL recital. It will be held on January 26, 2014 at 2pm. The application form can be downloaded on our branch website.

As always, all of our branch events would not be happening without each of our members’ participation and support.  I greatly appreciate all teachers who helped in various events last year and look forward to seeing you in the upcoming events!

Have a wonderful 2014!

Sincerely,

Melody Lu