Colorado ASTA Newsletter March 2016 |
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Secret Word It's time for some more secret word fun! The secret word in this newsletter is "monkeys." The fifth Colorado ASTA member to respond to the newsletter with the correct location of the secret word (outside of this opening article) will get to choose his/her favorite piece of music from the reading session at the 2016 CMEA Clinic/Conference (list of available titles can be accessed here). A big thanks to Mary Brainerd from Golden Music for generously donating this music! Golden Music has long been a big supporter of Colorado ASTA. Please consider doing business with them, and be sure to check out their lending library of orchestra music, which is housed at their Lakewood store and is available exclusively to Colorado ASTA members. This library is quite extensive, and among other things, includes all of the titles from our new music reading sessions in recent years. |
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Letter from the President, Rebecca Jonas While it seems like yesterday that many of us were at the Broadmoor for CMEA, February has flown by, and March Madness is upon is! As I write this, I’m looking ahead at a long day in my various roles of middle school orchestra teacher, private cello instructor, church musician, and rock cellist. And then hopping on a plane to head to National ASTA Conference! Many of us have days like this--where we wear several different hats--often at once. It can be stressful and demanding to balance our various musical identities. Sometimes we feel out of place--showing up to rock band rehearsal in khakis, sheepishly covering up tattoos for a symphony concert, trying to teach F naturals to first year players after a long night of gigging, or sitting in long faculty meetings about literacy scores and new math standards. That’s why I’m so excited to have ASTA in my life. As I’m preparing for National Conference, I’m excited to see friends and colleagues from my various musical “lives”. My conductor from graduate school, friends from teaching days in Virginia, former CASTA members who are thriving in new positions across the country, members of ASTA student chapters from CU, CSU, and UNC, members of the “alt” strings community who I’ve worked with in the past, professionals I’ve met from their presentations at CMEA, people who are interested in visiting Colorado for next year’s CMEA, and of course, all the outstanding educators and musicians who are representing Colorado this year at the Conference! Being part of a diverse and large professional music community is important. It makes us better musicians and teachers, as we learn from each other and find common ground. We also benefit from talking to professionals with new and differing ideas and approaches. As important as my National ASTA membership has been to me over the years, it is the relationships and experiences that I’ve had through my CASTA membership that are the most meaningful. As we head into Spring, I’m excited and proud to be part of an organization that has so much to offer our membership--Large Group Festival, CCAP, and Summer Conference are just a few of the great events on the near horizon. And I’m looking forward to finding even more ways for CASTA to be a meaningful and integral part of our members lives. The Colorado ASTA Board is a passionate group of string players and educators with diverse backgrounds representing many different facets of string education, and we’re here to serve you. Please let us know how we’re doing, and any ideas you may have for ways to improve CASTA. -RJ |
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From Colorado ASTA President-Elect, Alison Mayes It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year! (Or, Is It...?) It's almost officially spring time, which means some rain, some sun, and some stress. The final push is nearing…for performance contests, concerts, recitals, award ceremonies, evaluations, graduations, and more (tax season!). Between the National ASTA Conference and spring break, any savvy string teacher could tell you--from rookies to major leaguers to retirees--that sometimes it feels like you can barely keep your head above water during these coming months. I just wanted to take a moment to share some really simple but nice tips and reminders. Sleep, H2O, Eat, Repeat! Instead of staying up late to catch up on email or finish up a project, or skipping meals because you simply don't have time, be sure to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and at least snack throughout the day if you can't make time for a sit-down meal. You will begin to thank yourself for taking care of your body at its most basic needs. Everything else can wait! Do Something For You Believe it or not, it's okay to be selfish once in a while. Especially when you've had a really busy week or a tough day. Take just a little bit of time out of your week to do something purely for your own enjoyment. Bubble baths, romantic comedies, playing with pets, and baking a pie are some of my personal recommendations. :) Learn To (Gently) Say No As much as we try, we simply can't be everything to everyone, even though it's in our nature to be helpful. Don't be afraid to stick up for yourself and your busy schedule. You've got your own circus with your own monkeys to worry about! Screen-Free Sundays This might be a tad extreme for some of us, but you could try having one day per week where you don't look at your phone, computer, TV, etc. Focus your time and attention on being present in the moment, enjoying the peace and quiet, getting outside, or spending an afternoon with friends or family. Who knows, a blissful day with no technology worries could relax and re-energize. Smile and Be Compassionate Chances are, your colleagues and kiddos are feeling the heat too. Try to approach stressful times, both interpersonally and when teaching students, with an open heart and open mind. You'll feel better about your interactions, and so will they. -AM |
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Why Strings? How is string teaching valuable... to your students? to your community? to you? How does string education impact your world and the world of those around you? Being involved with my school orchestra is special to me because... |
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(Grandview High School students - images used with permission) Get your students involved with string education advocacy. Ask them "Why Strings?" and send us a photo of their responses. We will post to our newsletter, website, or Facebook page; with permission, of course. They can also share their own images on social media. We want to hear their voices. Please ask them to use these hashtags: #ColoradoASTA #wearestrings #wehaveavoice We are Strings. We are ASTA. |
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Conference Ideas We want to hear from you! What types of educational sessions would you like to see Colorado ASTA offer at future conferences? Is there something you've always wanted to learn more about? Perhaps you're not sure if others would also be interested in a similar session, or perhaps you don't know who the best presenter would be--we'd still love to hear any and all of your thoughts and ideas! Colorado ASTA wants to serve YOU, and this type of feedback will help us plan a great summer conference this year and a great CMEA expereince in 2017. Please fill out this form if you have an idea! The form will also be permanetly available on the Colorado ASTA website, in case you think of a great idea down the road. |
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CCAP Deadline Fast Approaching Please remember that the deadline for CCAP registration is Friday, March 25. The dates for the 2016 CCAP exams are Saturday, April 23, 2016 at D’Evelyn High School in Lakewood, and Saturday, May 7, 2016 at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins. Please see the Colorado ASTA website for details, and the national ASTA website to download the new handbook.
Thank you!
Margaret Miller
CASTA CAP chair
violaco@comcast.net |
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Colorado ASTA Scholarship Fund Applications for 2016 Summer Camp Student Scholarships are due April 1, 2016. The application is posted on the Colorado ASTA website, and scholarship recipients will be notified by May 1, 2016. As most of you know, Colorado ASTA did not have enough registrations to make the summer conference a viable event last summer, and therefore it was cancelled. This cancellation also meant that we were unable to run the silent auction, which has been really well-received by the summer attendees and has allowed us to provide camp scholarships to deserving students of Colorado ASTA members. As a result of this report at the Colorado ASTA general membership meeting at the Broadmoor, two of our members found me and graciously donated to the scholarship account. I would like to thank Leslie Stewart and Judy Elgethun for their generous contributions. If there are any other members who would like to donate to this worthy cause, you may do so by mailing me a check at the following address: Daryl Counsell 1640 Columbine Place Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Please notate that it is a donation to the scholarship account. Due to these members' donations and the board designating $500.00 from our operating budget for this worthy cause, the scholarship account is now up to $816.00. What an honor to work with people who are such strong advocates for budding music students in the state of Colorado. Respectfully, Daryl Counsell Colorado ASTA Treasurer |
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Nominations for State Awards Now Open It is once again time to submit your nominations for the Lifetime Teacher and Outstanding Teacher Awards. Nominations are open as of March 1st. Criteria for each of the awards can be found here. Lifetime and Outstanding Teacher awards are to be presented at the Summer Conference. Nominations are solicited from March 1 through March 31. Nomination forms must be submitted to Daryl Counsell by March 31, either by email at castasrep@aol.com or through the US post at 1640 Columbine Place, Colorado Springs, CO. Biographies and pictures are collected from April 1 through April 14. On April 15, bios are posted and online voting begins. Voting closes May 31. In order to vote, you must be a member in good standing at the time the voting closes. Voting will take place via Google Docs. It is also time for you to consider nominating yourself for the Exemplary Award. Anyone can submit an application to receive this award, which will be presented at the summer conference. The nomination period is May 1 through June 15. There is no election period since this is a self-nominated award. All documentation should be sent to the Colorado ASTA Board designee via email. Please visit the Colorado ASTA website for more information. |
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Colorado Bluegrass Music Society Offering Educational Outreach The Colorado Bluegrass Music Society Bluegrass Educational Outreach Program still has a few remaining matching funds to bring bluegrass and improvisation to YOUR classroom in the 2015-2016 school year! Featuring a performance ensemble of renowned musicians and a curriculum that can be adapted for all levels of orchestra classrooms, this is a GREAT way to get your kids CREATING music this spring and beyond! There is a $250 fee to bring the CBMS ensemble into your classroom for a half day, and they are available to provide you with orchestral arrangements of familiar fiddle tunes to use with your ensemble! If arranged in the next few weeks, the ensemble is even able to accompany your students in performance--making for a truly unique Spring Concert! Contact Annie Savage at savagefiddler@gmail.com to get samples of workshops, sample scores, and to arrange the time and date of your visit! Go to http://savagefiddler.com/tools-for-teachers for more information! CBMS is also scheduling informances and workshops for the 2016-2017 school year! Secure your matching funds today! |
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February Board Meeting Recap The February board meeting was focused on recapping the 2016 CMEA conference and on beginning preparations for the 2016 Summer Conference and CMEA 2017. We are excited to continue finalizing conference plans and to begin sharing these details with our membership as they become available. |
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Do you have an article, announcement, or other information you'd like to share with the Colorado ASTA membership? If so, we'd love to include it in our monthly newsletter! Please send your newsletter submissions to coloradoastawebmaster@gmail.com by the 20th of each month, and we will be sure to add them the next newsletter, which is published at the beginning of each month. Contact Hannah Smith (coloradoastawebmaster@gmail.com), Colorado ASTA webmaster and newsletter editor, with any questions. |
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