Colorado ASTA Newsletter November 2015 |
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Letter from the President Dear Fellow Colorado ASTA Members, As we enter this busy and joyful Holiday Season, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Colorado ASTA Board for their hard work. These wonderful professional men and women meet once a month to work hard on your behalf. They work tirelessly for you and for all of the orchestra students in the State of Colorado. This is an unpaid job – entirely volunteer. So please, when you see any of these folks please say thank-you for their hard work. I have been on the board since before dinosaurs and it is a thankless job. People serve on the board because of their love for string teaching and orchestra kids. I know it’s really easy to gripe about what is going on with our leadership, and for some reason harder to say thank-you. During this season of the year why not thank those that work so hard for you. Again thanks to Rebecca Jonas, Daryl Counsell, Lindsey Hayes, Hannah Smith, Linda Johnson, Fred Jewell, Steven Lambert, Margaret Miller, Linda Bolander and Sandra Sundstrom. Sincerely – Nancy Allwein, Colorado ASTA President |
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Newsletter Procedures We hope you like the new newsletter format! Moving forward, this newsletter will be sent out to all current members on the first day of every month. If you have any events, articles, etc. you'd like to submit, please email them to coloradoastawebmaster@gmail.com by the 20th of the previous month. As a reminder, we will no longer be forwarding emails about events, opportunities, promotions, etc. to the Colorado ASTA membership, so the newsletter is your chance to share important happenings with other string teachers in the state. We look forward to hearing from you! |
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Secret Word Congratulations to everyone who identified the "secret word" (Vienna!) in our last newsletter. We would like to thank everyone who responded to the last newsletter and participated in this contest! The set of Dominant violin strings was awarded to Susan Crisfield. Colorado ASTA plans to continue the "secret word" fun in some of our future newsletters. There's no secret word in this month's newsletter, but we hope you'll be on the lookout for the secret word the next time we have a contest! |
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General Membership Meeting This Saturday at WSHOF Our next general membership meeting will be held at the Western States Honor Orchestra Festival in Greeley this Saturday, November 7th, from 10:00-11:30. We will be discussing lots of important business, upcoming events, etc. We hope you will join us! |
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President-Elect Nominations Will Be Accepted Through November 30th Colorado ASTA is accepting nominations for new President-Elect through the end of this month. Please contact Daryl Counsell (castarep@aol.com) if you are interested in being on the ballot. This is a six-year commitment that starts at the conclusion of the 2016 CMEA Conference (two years as president-elect, two years as president, and two years as past-president). The ideal candidate is someone who has been teaching for five or more years, demonstrates strong leadership skills, and embodies a passion for string education. The President-Elect will be responsible for attending monthly board meetings, checking and responding to emails daily, helping to plan various CASTA-sponsored events, and advocating for string education in the state of Colorado. |
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New Denver Area Representative Also Needed There is also still an opening for a new Denver Area Representative, given a recent shift of responsibilities on the Colorado ASTA Board. Per the by-laws, this is an appointed position, but we would like to survey interest among our members before appointing someone. This is a great opportunity to get involved and share your opinions with the Colorado ASTA Board. The Denver Area Representative would be expected to attend monthly board meetings, (these take place on the third Sunday of each month), participate at CMEA, and be willing to help out with other events as they come up. If you are interested in being considered for this position, please contact Nancy Allwein at cameostring@gmail.com. |
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Preferred Private Teacher List Colorado ASTA's private teacher list is now live! You can check it out here! If you are a current Colorado ASTA member who would like to be added to this list, please fill out this form. |
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BVSD Proposes Music Choice Model for 5th Graders 5th grade instrumental music is once again a hot topic in the Boulder Valley School District. There is talk of requiring 5th graders to start choosing either instrumental music or general music due to scheduling reasons. To learn more about the situation, go here. |
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October Board Meeting Recap The October Colorado ASTA board meeting was primarily focused on planning upcoming events (large group festival, CMEA, etc.) and discussing the needs of our membership. More specific details will be presented at the Colorado ASTA general membership meeting on Saturday at 10:00 (at the Western States Honor Orchestra Festival in Greeley). We hope you will join us! We also developed policy surrounding Colorado ASTA elections and discussed information for the newsletter. As always, if you have any feedback for the Colorado ASTA board, please let us know! |
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2016 Colorado Music Educators Association Clinic/Conference The CMEA conference is coming up (January 27-30, 2016)! Be sure to mark your calendars and get registered. Our presenters will include: Gail Barnes, Jeremy Woolstenhulme, Margaret Miller, Sue Temple, Rebecca Jonas, John Hermanson, and Fred Jewell. And there will be performances from the following schools: Cherry Creek HS, Falcon Creek MS, Fort Collins HS, Kinard MS, and Longmont HS. The exact schedule of string sessions will be posted on the Colorado ASTA website soon. We hope you will join us for this great event! |
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2016 National ASTA Conference The 2016 National ASTA conference will be held in Tampa Bay, Florida on March 2-5, 2016. Additional information and registration instructions can be found on the national ASTA website. Three Colorado orchestras were selected to participate in the prestigious National Orchestra Festival associated with this conference: the Advanced Orchestra and Sinfonia from Denver School of the Arts (Enrique Lasansky, director) and the Symphonic Orchestra from Legacy High School (Aaron Carpenter, director). Don't miss out on this great opportunity! |
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MSU Denver to Host EOP String Competition The MSU Denver string department will be hosting the first-ever, annual EOP String Competition, November 14 & 15. The competition is open to all violin, viola, and cello students between the ages of 8-18. Winners from the three divisions will each receive a cash prize and the opportunity to perform on a winners recital on Sunday, November 15th. Students are invited to attend and participate in masterclasses with the MSU's prestigious string faculty, attend a faculty recital, and possibly participate in the winners recital. All performances and masterclasses are open to the public. For more detailed information and to apply, please go to the competition website. |
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Annie Savage to Offer Wernick Method Jam Class at Reduced Rate Annie Savage is Offering a Wernick Method Jam Class on Sundays from 3:00-5:00, November 1st-December 13th. She has decided that in order to entice folks into signing up for this round of AWESOME IMPROVISATION, JAM ETIQUETTE AND BLUEGRASS FABULOUSNESS that she will offer just this class at a $50 discount off of registration. Please visit Annie's website for more information and contact her directly (savagefiddler@gmail.com) to get into this class at a steep discount of $130 ONLY! (it's usually a $180 class). |
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