PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

NEW JERSEY MUSIC
TEACHER’S ASSOCIATION
October 2014
Fall 2014
Three Quarter Times
Inside this issue:
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
- 2014 NJMTA State
Conference
2
Dear Colleagues:
- Member’s News
3
I hope you all had a chance to enjoy a
break during the summer, and are fully recharged to begin another year of
music making and sharing.
- NJMTA Children Help- 4
ing Children Performathon: Getting Ready for
the 10th year—2015
Special points of
interest:
 October 26th—YMC Strings,
Winds, Brass, Percussion &
Voice at Westminster Choir
College
 November 1st—State level
MTNA Student Performance
Competitions at TCNJ
 November 2nd—YMC Piano
& Chinese Instruments and
Advance Master Class Audition at Westminster Choir
College
 November 8 & 9—NJMTA
State Conference at TCNJ
2015
 February 28th & March
1st—2015 Performathon
I would like to take this opportunity to
thank our board members for a year
filled with memorable events and activities, and for their support and encouragement during my first year of
presidency with NJMTA. The goal of
NJMTA, as stated in our Constitution, is
“to conduct programs and activities to
build a vital music culture and an enlightened musical public” – we could
not reach this goal without the board
members’ selfless dedication and contributions to this organization. I am
grateful to have the opportunity to
serve this organization and work with
all these wonderful board members.
The programs coming up this fall include:
 MTNA Student Performance
Competition, chaired by Deborah
Gers, assisted by Junior Division
and Young Artists Division Coordinator Amy Tu
 Young Musicians Competitions, chaired by Ingrid Tang for
strings, Renae Block for woodwinds and brass, Li-Chan ChenMaxham for voice, assisted by
Wennie Niu, and Yang Yi for Chinese instruments.
 Conference Advanced Master
Class Audition, chaired by Kyu-Jun
Rhee
 Commission Composer Competition, chaired by Eunju Kim
 High School Scholarship Competition, chaired by Margaret Knight
Another important event this fall will be
the NJMTA 2014 State Conference on November 8th and 9th, at The College of New
Jersey. Dr. Hendry Wijaya, State Conference Chairperson and President-Elect,
has been working countless hours with the
Conference Planning Committee for the
past few months to come up with programs that cover multiple aspects of music
learning. You can find more details about
our State Conference programs in this
newsletter, in the article “2014 NJMTA
Conference” by Dr. Hendry Wijaya.
For detailed information about the conference schedule and registration, please
check the NJMTA website at
www.njmta.com. Don’t forget to mark your
calendar, and invite your friends, colleagues, and students to join us at this extraordinary event.
We are also looking forward to the 10th
anniversary of the NJMTA Performathon,
which will take place in Spring 2015. The
NJMTA “Children Helping Children” Performathon has been a fast growing program for the past few years, providing a
non-competitive
community-oriented
event that gives students the opportunity
to reach out and share their talents with
Continued on page 3
Page 2
Three Quarter Times
NJMTA 2014 CONFERENCE
November 8 & 9, 2014 at TCNJ
I would like to invite you to attend our next Annual
State Conference, which will be held on November 89, 2014. The conference will take place at The College
of New Jersey (TCNJ) in Ewing, NJ. You do NOT have
to be an NJMTA member to participate. The conference brochure has been sent out to all of you by
email. The hard copy of the brochure should arrive in
the mail soon. You should also be able to find one on
the NJMTA website.
Please note that our conference this year will be one
week earlier than usual. This is due to schedule conflict with TCNJ. The conference dates on the yearbook
(including the winners recitals) are incorrect , because the yearbook was printed before we learned
about this schedule conflict. If you continue to find
different versions of the conference dates or winners
recitals on the NJMTA website or anywhere else,
please note that the correct dates are November 8 and
9, 2014.
The theme for this year’s conference is “A Lifetime of
Learning and Discovery” and our feature artist is Yong
Hi Moon, a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. Ms. Moon will give a Lecture Recital - “Romantic Treasures” on Saturday, November
8, at 1:00 p.m. This lecture recital will shed light on
the exquisite and unique quality of the works of Albeniz, Schubert and Schumann. On Sunday, November 9, at 1 a.m., Ms. Moon will conduct the Advanced
Master Class.
This year’s conference will be special because we will
have a Violin Master Class by Herold Klein, who is a
former member of The Philadelphia Orchestra. This
Violin Master Class will be on Saturday, November 8,
at 3:15 p.m.
Once again, we will have a Piano Duet Master Class
this year by renowned duo-pianists Dallas Weekley
and Nancy Arganbright. This Duet Master Class will
be on Saturday, November 8, at 9:00 a.m. They will
also give a very interesting presentation on “Unique
Duet Music for All Stages and Ages”, which will be
held on Sunday, November 9, at 9:15 a.m.
At the conference, we will also feature our own distinguished teacher, clinician, and pianist - Phyllis Lehrer,
currently on the faculty at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Ms. Lehrer will present
“Adventures in Contemporary Music: Repertoire and
Musicianship Activities for the Late Elementary, Intermediate, and Early Advanced Student”. Composers of
the late 20th and early 21st centuries have contributed
innovative and attractive repertoire for pianists. Phyllis Lehrer will perform and discuss pieces that represent many of the diverse styles from that repertoire
and will suggest helpful techniques and strategies for
teaching it. This session will be on Sunday, November
9, at 11:00 a.m.
Our Conference Banquet dinner will be on Saturday,
November 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the "1855 Room" of TCNJ.
Please join us for a delicious dinner, and a chance to
get to know our Conference Artists, including our
commissioned composer, Alexander Peskanov.
Please note an important change on the conference
registration form regarding the banquet. The registration for the banquet must be received at least one
week before the conference.
There will be three winner recitals, with Composer
Commission Winners Recital, MTNA Performance
Competition Winners Recital, MTNA Composition
Competition Winners Recital and NJMTA Chinese Instruments Recital on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. and
two NJMTA Young Musicians Competition Winner Recitals and Chinese Instruments Recitals back to back
on Sunday afternoon starting at 3:30 p.m.
Continued on next page
Page 3
NJMTA 2014 CONFERENCE (Con.)
Please take advantage of the lower registration fee by
registering early (before October 24). Please tell everyone you know who might be interested in attending
the conference (members or non-members, teachers,
students, parents, anyone...).
Thank you for your support and I hope to see all of you
at the conference!
Hendry Wijaya,
President-Elect and Conference Chairperson
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE (Con.)
the community. We had over 300 performers and 50
teachers involved this year, and over 20 recitals held
during the weekend of March 1-2, 2014. For the 10th
anniversary, Betty Stoloff, Arts Advocacy Chairperson,
has planned a special faculty/teachers performance – if
you have any ideas for the program, please contact Betty.
As I mentioned earlier, NJMTA is a volunteer-run organization, and we are fortunate to have so many dedicated
members join the Board to give their time and energy.
There have been quite a few changes on the NJMTA
Board in the past few months, and I would like to take
this opportunity to thank the following Board members
who decided to move on, as well as those who have just
joined the Board.
Thanks to those outgoing board members:
Phemie Chien – Membership Chair
Rose McCathran – Recording Secretary
Welcome to the incoming board members:
Yuhui Chloris Li – Membership Chairperson
Shuling Juan – Spring Piano Festival Co-chairperson
Grace Kuo – Spring Recital Audition North Jersey Chairperson
Wennie Niu – Voice Chairperson (starting in January,
2015)
Special thanks to Renae Block, current winds, brass &
Three Quarter Times
percussion Chairperson for both the Spring Recital
Audition and Young Musicians Competition, for
agreeing to take over the Recording Secretary position as well.
The 2015 MTNA National Conference will be held on
March 21-25, 2015, at the Rio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. Highlights of the conference will include recitals
by Lady Jeanne Galway and Sir James Galway, Ann
Schein, and the Canadian Brass; an Advanced Piano
Master Class given by Lang Lang; and an Intermediate Piano Master Class conducted by Scott McBride
Smith. For more detailed information, please visit the
MTNA website at www.mtna.org.
Lastly, I would like to invite all NJMTA members to
join us for the Annual Meeting, which will be held at
the State Conference at The College of New Jersey on
Saturday, November 8th at 11:00 am.
I wish you all a joyous and musical year, and I look
forward to seeing you at the State Conference.
Sincerely,
Wei-Yuh Christina Xie
President, NJMTA
Member’s News
Bravura Summer Music 2014
The 2nd Bravura Summer Music, held at Lawrenceville
School on June 23-29, 2014 attracted 25 pianists, 5 violinists
and 3 cellists of ages 7-13 from New Jersey.
During the 7 days, students received private lessons, Duet &
Chamber music coaching and classes on Musicianship, Music Appreciation, Conducting, special topic on Holistic Memorization and Rehearsal technique. Master classes by Marnie
Kaller, Sylvia Wang, Chiu-Ling Lin, Chiu-Tze Lin and Mira
Kang.
When not in classes, students took a Field Trip to Grounds
for Sculpture, final day BBQ party, ice cream social, Talent
show, Dancing, Chinese Yo-Yo instruction, Origami paper
folding. There were concerts for solo repertoire, duet,
chamber music groups and faculty members. Fore more
information, email us at bravura.summer@gmail.com and
visit us at https://www.facebook.com/
BravuraSummerMusic.
Page 4
NJMTA Children Helping Children Performathon
Getting Ready for the 10th Year— 2015!
It’s time to put the 10th Annual NJMTA Children Helping
Children Performathon on your calendar.
MARK YOUR
CALENDARS!
We have secured Saturday, February 28th and Sunday,
March 1st., 2015 for the Performathon. Once again, we are
grateful to Westminster Choir College of Rider University for
donating the hall space for this event.
This past winter, the 2014 Performathon raised over $23,000
for the 3 Ronald McDonald Houses in New Jersey. Thank you
Teachers, Students, Families and Friends of NJMTA for sharing your
time, energy and talents.
The NJMTA Children Helping Children Performathon continues to include performers of all ages and
levels. Performers raise money by seeking sponsors for their participation in the 1 hour concerts
scheduled on the weekend of February 28th-March 1st, 2015. Donation Forms and Permission Slips are
brought to each concert and a running tally is provided throughout the weekend.
In addition to the glorious music, participants are urged to contribute a visual or written component.
Some of the works can reflect on the theme “What Music Means to Me.” Other works can be about a
particular composer or piece of music.
Teachers – I still have many of the past art/written submissions. If the families would like to have
these works returned to them, please have the families contact me so that I can return the works.
I look forward to working with all of you on the 2015 Performathon.
Betty Stoloff
NJMTA Arts Advocacy Chair
The New Jersey Music Teachers Association, is an affiliate of the Music Teachers National Association. The objective of the NJMTA is to advance the musical
knowledge and to promote professional growth among music teachers, and to conduct activities which encourage and support teaching, performance,
composition and the appreciation of music. We are a nonprofit organization whose funds are used solely to accomplish these objectives.
Officers
President
WeiYuh Christina Xie
wychris09@gmail.com
President-Elect
Hendry Wijaya
HWHW123@aol.com
Vice President, Student Activities
Grace Chang
graceclchang@yahoo.com
Recording Secretary
Renae Block
renblock@verizon.net
Co-Treasurers
Bing Bing Chang
bingsquare@gmail.com
Jean Yi-Ching Sze
jeansze@comcast.net
Immediate Past President
Chiu-Ling Lin
pianosecret@comcast.net
MTNA Competitions Coordinator
Debra Gers
debgers@embarqmail.com
Membership Chairperson
Yuhui Chloris Li
Chlorisli@gmail.com
NJMTA NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Yvonne Chin
661 Abbington Drive
East Windsor, NJ 08520
Visit our website
http://njmta.com/blog/