Dear Members,

First, let me share with you some of the photos which were taken at our Masquerade concert:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/edti5pchdton4gb/AAAa9Cc_uwAxkh3lCVy1skmNa?dl=0

It was such a fun event in a relaxing environment. Thank you to everyone who made it happened!

The participating studios were Baik, Brener, Edgar, Field, Kao,X. Li, Ling, Y. Liu, Lu, Chang-McManus, Nojima, Tasi and Tseng.  Bravo to our Co-chairs: Kevin Kao and Victoria Park! Even though it was their first year chairing for this event, it was well organized and all the programs ran smoothly. Masquerade concert provides good experience for the younger students, and it is good stage practice for the older ones. Hopefully, we will see higher enrollment next year.

Our other branch events are in full swing. We just had our Romantic Showcase on November 1^st.  Seventy-eight contestants from the following studios:  Allen, Asada, Baik, Bedelian, Brener, F. Chang, Chang-McManus, W. Chen, Eckstein, Field, W. Huang, Hung, M. Lee, S. Lee, X. Li, Ling, Y. Liu, Lu, Ono, Oh, Puhl, Su, and Tsang. Congratulations to all these teachers! The judges gave very high remarks on our students’ performances. Here is a short message from one of the judges and I quoted” Festival was well organized and all teachers are working with enthusiasm. Students’ performance level was high. I think these three things are essential quality of successful competition. Your branch has all of these.” I have to give the credit to our hard- working festival chairs: Naoko Ono and Willie Chen.  They spent long hours of planning/scheduling, staying at the site for the entire day and compiling the result, etc.  I also want to thank you to teachers who helped with check-in and announcing: Midori Allen, Chi Asada, Debbie Brener, Vivian Field, Felix Chang, Sijie Ling, Naoko Ono, Jennifer Puhl, Sheve- Hwa Su, and myself.

Classical Showcase will be held on November 15^th.  Naoko Ono is working closely with Nan Won Baik to get this event ready. Thank you ladies!

Here are a couple of concerts performed by our own members:

• Chi Asada (Piano) and Kayako Adachi (Violin) performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on November 8, 2014. For info., Please visit  http://hoson-house.ticketleap.com/hoson-classical-four-seasons/
• Harotune Bedelian (violin) and Lorna Griffitt (Piano) on December 6, 2014; Program includes works by J.S.Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Debussy and Hymen

Please visit http://hoson-house.ticketleap.com/bedelian/for more details.

Thank you to those who had submitted their Member Interest Forms to Anna Kim. Our board will review them carefully. Also be sure to check on the weekly CM tips Sandely Miller sent out. Repertoire selection can be tricky. Please refer to the CM syllabus to avoid any confusion.

Lastly, I want to share this video from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ha2JvqBdI

Hope this video clip brings you lots of laughter in the winter celebration.

I want to wish everyone an early happy Gobble day and a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,

Melody Lu

Dear Members,

Happy October! It was so nice to see most of you at our September branch meeting, and it was great to have the chance to talk to some of our new members. Welcome to our branch:  Kerri Arakawa, Adam Gravelle, Hye Seong Kim, Danielle Ann Cook, Marko Njego and Jonathan Mann. I want to thank all teachers who chair for our various branch events, for their brief introduction during the meeting.  Sandely Miller and her CM committee have been diligently working on educating our new members about the CM program in the meeting, plus the extra session held at Sandely’s home. Thank you, Sandely, Margaret Tseng (CM Theory), Willie Chen (Information) and Anna Kim (Strings), for making this year’s CM meeting successful! Please remember to register for CM before the October 31th deadline. We don’t want you to spend Halloween on the computer.

I am so grateful to be working with all of you, who are professional and enthusiastic. There is always a sense of accomplishment when an event runs smoothly and successfully. Our branch is growing bigger and we need a lot more involvement from everyone. Please send or email your Member Interest Form to Anna Kim by October 18^th. We want to hear from you!

You still have time to register for our annual fundraiser, Masquerade concert. This is a two-day event and it offers good incentive for the participants. We are still far from our goal so please encourage your students to perform.  I want to thank in advance to our co-chairs of this event: Kevin Kao and Victoria Park.  They have been working hard to organize this fun event. I look forward to hear some spooky tunes and hope to see you there!

We had eleven performers for the September MSSL recital. It was a good turnout considering most of the students just returned from summer vacation. The MSSL team had donated $400 from their last year’s proceeds to our branch. This amount will be used to support other branch events. Thank you, Victoria Park and her MSSL team!

There are two important deadlines coming up: October 11th for Romantic Showcase, and October 18th for Classical Showcase. For those who are new to our online festival registration, please go to http://mtacsouthcoast.org/festivals/ . As part of South Coast branch, you should have a member -only login name.  Please contact the website administrator on the home page or myself if you have problem logging in. For any festival related questions, please contact Naoko Ono, our festival chair.

Lastly, I’ve a great piece of music to share with you from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/XlyCLbt3Thk?rel=0

Hope you enjoy the little performance by a “Spider Instrument”!

Melody

Dear Members,

Welcome to 2014-15 of MTAC South Coast year! The entire board and I sincerely hope you had a relaxing summer and are reinvigorated to start teaching again. First, I would like to welcome the new members who joined us this year:  Wenny Chandra, Elizabeth Lee and Monica Lee.  Although our branch is small, it still offers many exciting events and plenty of performing opportunities for everyone to explore.

Please plan to attend our first branch meeting of the year. It will be held at 10am on September 17^th at Field’s Piano. It is a mandatory meeting in which you’ll receive the branch directory and CM package.  Come and mingle with our old friends and meet new friends! If you are interested in performing at our branch meeting, please contact our vice president, Chi Asada, who is in charge of the programs.

The MTAC State convention in Los Angeles was quite amazing. The presenters were fun and informative. I want to thank the following members who represented our branch at the convention: Sally Liu, Naoko Ono and Alice Tasi as the branch delegates; Willie Chen, Sally Liu and Sandely Miller helped in the page room.  The next year’s convention will be held in San Jose. Please plan ahead.

A big Thank you to teachers who chaired our last year’s activities; all events went smoothly and successfully! I am very grateful that these teachers will help out this coming year once again. I do realize how busy everyone is, but we truly need your participation to provide opportunities for our students, and to keep our branch productive. You will soon receive a member interest form. Let our board know in what way and how you can help!

Our first event of year is Masquerade Fundraiser concert on Oct. 18^th and Oct. 19^th. Two of our enthusiastic teachers, Kevin Kao and Victoria Park, will host this event. The amount we raise from this concert will benefit other branch events. It is essential to the branch that you encourage your students to perform. Stay tune for more details.

I’ve received an invitation from our sister branch, MTAC-OCC, who will celebrate for their 40th Anniversary on September 21^st at Mission Viejo Country Club. Please go to the following link to RSVP: http://mtacocc40thanniversary.rsvpify.com/ . The early bird deadline is September 11^th.

Lastly, I would like to share with you this funny video from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psP0XgTI2VE What a good work out by the end!

Best wishes for a fulfilling year of teaching and music making!

Melody

Dear Members,

Hope you all had a nice, relaxing spring break!

On April 6th, our own Branch piano evaluation was held at Laura Chang McManus’ studio. Sixteen students from the following studios participated: Deborah Brener, Sheve Hwa Su, Sandely Miller, and Marifel Bolanos. Liz Lucus from Orange County North branch was our evaluator this year.  Her comments were positive and encouraging. Thank you so much Laura for inviting her and providing this important evaluation for the students!

We have a month packed with performances ahead of us. Kick off the month of May with a joint concert for both Composers’ Today and Senior recital. This concert will take place in Hoson House at 3PM on May 4^th. Thank you to our CT chair, Jennifer Puhl and Senior recital chair, Dr. Xiaole Li, for creating the beautiful programs, organizing and hosting for this event. You may view both programs on our website, in the announcement column. Each high school senior who performs will receive a $50 scholarship. The participating studios are Chi Asada, Nanwon Baik, Vivian Field, Si-Jie Ling, Soo Lee, Xiaole Li, and Jennifer Puhl. Light refreshment will be provided following the program. It will surely be a memorable and special concert for everyone who attends!

The SWV competition, which is dedicated for instrumental students only, will be held on May 10^th at 11am at Fields’ Piano. Anna Kim, the SWVC chair, worked very hard to invite students to participate. We have sixteen students enrolled this year; it is almost double that of last year’s enrollment. Thank you for your dedication and effort, Anna! We have three judges for three different instrument groups: Strings, Winds and Voice. Thank you to Anna Choi, Anna Kim and Stephanie Puhl, for securing the judges. Big applause to the teachers who signed up students for the competition: Esther Chen, Anna Choi, Anna Kim, David Pan and Stephanie Puhl.

Also on May 10^th at Fields’ Piano, the Branch honor recital is scheduled for 2pm to 5pm, with fifty student performances. I want to thank Dr. Debbie Brener for hosting this event; Sandely Miller for online registration and scheduling.

Last festival of the year, Contemporary Flare, will be held on May 17^th at Fields’ Piano. There are Sixty- six students enrolled in this event, which is featuring works solely for the contemporary composers. Laura Chang McManus is working hard on the students’ performing schedule and it will be sent out shortly.

The 2014 SCJBF Region V Festival will take place on Sunday, May 18th, 2014 at Saddleback College. There are 5 students from our branch that advanced to the regional competition. Good luck to them all!

Please plan to attend our last branch meeting of the year on May 21^st at Fields’ Piano. The results of the Contemporary Flare will be distributed on that day.   We are in the process of inviting fascinating guest artists to perform a recital for us.  The details will follow shortly.

Lastly, I want to share a video my friend sent me from You Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKezUd_xw20

Hope this humorous video helps you to stay cool!

Cordially,

Melody Lu

Dear Members,

Happy spring! Hope you’re all well rested after the March madness.

We had another year of successful Certificate of Merit. You may now view the result on the state website:

Go to www.mtac.org–>login–>CM students–>Student evaluation information and results.

I received many positive comments from the evaluators and parents regarding the level of our students’ evaluations as well as how smoothly the CM ran. These made me very honored to be part of our branch. My sincere appreciation to everyone who was involved:

• CM committee–CM chair: Sandely Miller; Theory chair: Margaret Tseng; String chair: Anna Kim; Wind chair: Ana Choi , Registration chair: Si-Jie Lin, and  Door Monitor chair: Naoko (Nancy) Ono. Thank you for the well planning and the solid management throughout the exam weekends.
• Securing Venue: Mr. Andreas Eckstein for securing UCI facility, Dr. Emily Hung for checking on the evaluating rooms, Margaret Tseng for Northwood High School, and Doris Shin for Chinese Baptist Church of Central Orange County.
• Hospitality: Alice Tsai and Sheve-Hwa Su.
• Set-up and Clean-up: Mr. Eckstein, Si-Jie Ling, Mr. Robert McManus, Margaret Tseng, Junko Nojima, Cecilia Tsang, Wendy Huang and Naoko Ono.
• Online result entering: Phoebe Wu

There were 12 high school volunteers who provided great help from these studios: Willie Chen, Soo Lee, Xiaole Li, Naoko Ono, Jennifer Puhl and Sheve-Hwa Su.

In addition, it was great to see many of you during the exam weekends. I thank you all for making this CM a great experience for our students.

The BBEs will be available to be picked up at Sandely’s house from April 7^th to April 11^th. Branch honor recital is scheduled on May 10, 2014. You may now register eligible students on our branch website: mtacsouthcoast.orgàProgram/FestivalàFestival registration. The registration deadline is April 20^th.

Our branch also offers a great opportunity to those who couldn’t participate during the CM weekends. The Branch Performance Evaluations (piano evaluations ONLY) will be held on the morning of Sunday, April 6th at Laura Chang‘s Studio. Please email her on how to enter the students.

A special event, the SWV (Strings/Winds/Voice) competition, which is dedicated to our non-piano students, will be held on May 10^th at 11am. The online registration for this event is available on our branch website. Please encourage your students to participate.

We have a combined concert for Composers’ Today and Senior recital on May 4^th at Hoson House, Tustin. Dr. Xiaole Li and Jennifer Puhl will be hosting this event. Please go to our branch website for more information.

A reminder that our Contemporary Flare Festival will be held on May 17 at Fields Piano. You will receive an email notification when the online registration is available. Be sure to sign students up for this fun event!

Lastly, I want to share this video clip “Bach in the woods” from You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M

Wish you all have a great spring break!

Sincerely,

Melody Lu

Dear Members,

There is an important change to our branch website.  It has been relocated to http://mtacsouthcoast.org/

All the login names and passwords remain the same. The most current information is posted on this website. Please update your bookmark.

It was so nice to see many of you at our branch meeting this past Wednesday. Our guest speaker, Craig Richey from Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, gave a fun and informative demonstration on “How to Practice”. Thank you to the following performers who volunteered for the demonstration: Halaine Zhao from Sally Liu’s studio, Nina Fukuma from Chi Asada’s studio, and Willie Chen. Also, thank you to our vice president, Chi , for planning  this meeting and preparing the refreshments at the serene Hoson House.

We had a successful Sound of Baroque and SCJBFestival  on February 22^nd. All three judges were very impressed by our students’ high performance level. Congratulations to all winners and the participating studios:  Asada, Baik, Bedelian, Brener, F. Chang, W. Chen, Eckstein, Hung, Leung, Lu, Ono, Puhl,Tsang and Tseng. My sincere gratitude to Chi Asada for organizing both events, and Andreas Eckstein for making the unique programs and setting up the venue.  I also want to thank the teachers who helped out with the check-in and announced the programs: Felix Chang, Willie Chen, Emily Hung, Margaret Tseng and Naoko Ono.

March is also our CM month. Our CM committee is working hard to prepare and to get ready for this big event. Both check -in forms for theory and evaluation weekends can be obtained from our branch website. I will be seeing a lot of you during the CM weekends, and I want to thank everyone in advance. With your help and support, we will for sure provide a great CM experience for all students.

I would like to congratulate our recording secretary, Laura Chang, who will be a beautiful March bride. In addition, William Rone, who just joined our branch, is getting married soon.

Lastly, I want to share this video (Idea and Composition by Mindaugas Piecaitis) on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeoT66v4EHg

Hope you all have a great month!

Sincerely,

Melody Lu

Dear members,

As we wrap up the first month of the year and head into February, I want to provide you with a couple of reminders:

• Update contact information-To ensure you are receiving all the important messages and to keep smooth communication, please update your contact information on both MTAC website (www.mtac.org) and our branch website (http://southcoastmtac.org/).  You can also add a personal touch by editing the profile page on our branch website.
• First branch meeting-Our branch meeting is coming up on Wednesday, February 26^th at 10am. The location is not at our usual meeting place. It will be held at Hoson House, (1961 Irvine Blvd., Tustin, CA 92780), a beautiful concert venue with a serene Japanese garden. Our first vice president, Chi Asada, has invited Craig Richey from Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB, to discuss “How to Practice”. This is sure to be an interesting and helpful program, and we hope all of you can attend.
• Baroque festival and SCJB festival-Best of luck to all teachers with students participating in the Baroque and SCJB festival on Saturday, February 22^nd, at Fields’ Piano. I want to thank Chi Asada, for organizing and chairing these two events, and also to the teachers who will be helping out with various event duties.
• VOCE –The branch recital was held on Feb. 1^st at Saddleback College. The winners will compete at the state final in April. Thank you to Junko Nojima, for organizing this event with the Orange Coast Cities branch and the Long Beach branch.

Our devoted Composers Today chair, Jennifer Puhl, has informed me of the following:

“Bravo to those students who sent in their applications early. These compositions will be evaluated, and the students will have the opportunity to make changes to their work based on the judges’ suggestions. They will send their corrected scores to the State CT Contest giving them an advantage to a possible win and thus a spot on the convention recital.”

Thank you Jennifer! For additional CT information, please visit MTAC website or the branch website.

We had another successful MSSL recital on January 26th.  A sincere gratitude and thanks to Victoria Park and her MSSL team for providing great performing opportunities on a monthly basis. Due to the high enrollment, please send in your application early.  You may obtain a copy of the application from http://southcoastmtac.org/forms-documents/

Also, one of our members shared a website and I thought it might be of interest to our branch teachers. Here is the link: http://musicedconnect.com/ .  Our member, Deborah Brener, is also a renowned lecturer. Congratulations Debbie!

Wishing everyone a Happy Lunar New Year!

Melody Lu

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