Join Us For the General Membership Meeting is TOMORROW, 11/3 in Greeley (In Conjunction With WSHOF)

Congratulations to the students and directors who currently up in Greeley for the 2018 Western States Honor Orchestra Festival! The next Colorado ASTA general membership meeting will happen in conjunction with this event tomorrow, Saturday, November 3rd at 10:00am in the Union Colony Civic Center. All ASTA members (regardless of whether or not you have students participating in WSHOF) are welcome to attend this meeting. We hope to see you there!

Register Now for CMEA 2019

Be sure to join us at CMEA in January 2019 for not only some great workshops and demonstrations by our own state’s professionals, but these phenomenal guest clinicians (pictured from left to right below)!

Mark Wood, Violinist, Educational Advocate, and Composer

Duane Padilla, Punahou School, Honolulu, HI

Jim Palmer, National ASTA Elizabeth A. H. Green Award Recipient, Composer and Conductor

Here is a tentative list of string sessions for the upcoming conference. Exact dates and times are subject to change.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

10:00 - "Make It Real, Part I" (Mark Wood, presenter)

11:00 - Performance, Cherry Creek High School Chamber Orchestra (Jennifer Poole, director)

12:00 - "Orchestral Bowings" (Jim Palmer, presenter)

12:00 - "Make It Real, Part II" (Mark Wood, presenter)

1:00 - "Thumbs Up, Cellists" (Kristen Yeon-Ji Yun & Ka-Wai Yu, presenters)

2:00 - "Creative Jam Skills for Instrumentalists" (Duane Padilla, presenter)

2:00 - "It's All About Tone" (Jim Palmer, presenter)

3:00 - "Healthy Wrists and Hands in String Players" (Dr. Katherine Jetter, presenter)

4:00 - "A Jazz/Rock Approach to Teaching Music Theory in Orchestra" (Rebecca Jonas & Karen Olsen, presenters)

Friday, January 25, 2019

8:00 - Colorado ASTA General Membership Meeting

9:00 - "Artistry, Engagement, and Reinforcement" (Jim Palmer, presenter)

9:00 - "DIY String Repair, Part II" (Eric Trujillo, presenter)

9:00 - "Maximizing Your Microphones" (Rob Stahly, presenter)

10:30 - Performance, Altona Middle School (Jill Fischaber, director)

11:00 - "More Bridges: Fewer Walls" (Dr. Lindsay Fulcher, presenter)

12:00 - "Sympathetic Vibrations" (Bob Kreutz, presenter)

1:00 - "Life After Method Books: Teaching Technique Through Literature" (Leanne Griffey and Michael Schaefer, presenters)

2:15 - Orchestra New Music Reading Session

3:15 - "Creativity and Musicality in the Very Beginning Strings Class" (Dr. Lindsay Fulcher, presenter)

4:15 - University of Denver Symphony Orchestra (Lawrence Golan, director)

Saturday, January 26, 2019

9:00 - Denver School of the Arts Orchestra (Dr. Enrique Lasansky, director)

10:00 - "Mental Health Means More Than a Day Off" (Rebecca Jonas, presenter)

11:00 - Rock Canyon High School Chamber Orchestra (Benjamin Dale, director)

CMEA recently launched an updated website! Visit the new-and-improved CMEA website for more information about the conference and to register early!

Register Now for the 2019 National ASTA Conference - Early Registration Ends December 3rd

National ASTA Conference

National Orchestra Festival

March 6-9, Albuquerque, New Mexico

The 2019 National ASTA Conference is really close by this year! Come hear phenomenal school orchestra performances (EIGHT from Colorado!) and check-out clinics and sessions from nationally renown pedagogues, including two from Colorado ("Classic (Period) Style for Orchestra: What It Is And How To Get It" presented by Wes Kenney and "Highways and Byways: Options for Professional Advancement For Each Stage of Your String Teaching Career" presented by Lindsay Fulcher. Mingle with vendors and advocates of music education, and connect face-to-face with other passionate string specialists from around the country. Not to mention some incredible concerts from world-class artists. It’s truly an incredible experience! Register now! www.astastrings.org/NationalConference

Colorado Bach Ensemble Sponsors Inaugural Violin Concerto Competition

Colorado Bach Ensemble’s new Violin Concerto Competition is an opportunity for high school violinists to showcase their individual talents. Contestants prepare a memorized solo concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach, participate in a live audition with piano accompaniment for a panel of judges, and receive written educational feedback about their audition.

The winner will be a featured soloist on his or her chosen concerto and two runners-up will be selected to play as ensemble members for Coffee Cantata, BWV 211, in May 2019. The winner will receive a cash award of $1,000 and the two runners-up will be awarded $500 each.

Click here for the application form, and visit the Colorado Bach Ensemble website for more information. 

Save the Dates for CCAP 2019

The 2019 CASTA Certificate Advancement Program (CCAP) are as follows:

Saturday, April 13 Parker Performing Arts

Saturday, April 13 Durango (tentative)

Saturday, May 4 Front Range Community College, Ft. Collins

Registration information will be posted in January. Questions? Contact Margaret Miller, CCAP chair at: violaco@comcast.net.

Monthly Column From Private Teacher Liaison Philip Ficsor 

Hello! I’m Phil Ficsor and as the Colorado ASTA Private Teacher Liaison, I’d like to introduce myself and write about what my role will be. I’ve lived in Colorado since July 2013, before which I was a professor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. I hold degrees in violin performance from Yale, the University of Michigan and Boston University, where I got my doctorate. I have experience teaching all ages and abilities.

As your ASTA PTL, I look forward to creating a forum on private studio teaching and to offer an opportunity to network with other teachers. Whether you’re a new teacher, new to the area, or have been teaching for many years, getting to know the other teachers in your area is always a good idea. Through offering workshops and social gatherings we’d like to facilitate this building  of relationships.

In this monthly column, I’ll introduce you to teachers in the area through profiles, offer links to online resources associated with building your studio, housekeeping issues such as taxes, insurance and cancellation policies. We will also discuss teaching-specific topics on a broad range of subjects such as memorization, performing and etudes. Finally, we will talk about how to prioritize personal practice time, note-taking in lessons and keeping your students motivated and accountable.

If any of this sounds intriguing, please stay tuned to the monthly installments of this column as well as workshops in your area as well as part of conferences you may already be planning on attending. That’s all for now. Stay well!

-Philip Ficsor

"Ask a Seasoned Pro" Advice Column

Do you have a question related to string teaching? If so, submit it here, and a retired teacher may write a column about the subject in an upcoming newsletter. 

Denver School of the Arts Orchestra Performed World Premiere By Susan Day in Honor of Parkland Shooting

The Denver School of the Arts orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Enrique Lasansky, commissioned a piece by Colorado composer Susan day that was premiered on Saturday, October 13th and Sunday, October 14th. Here are Susan Day's notes on the piece and a link to a video of the performance. 

This piece was written for the victims, survivors, family and friends of the Parkland school shooting on Feb. 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Though the horror and grief of that day can not be fully comprehended, some of the emotions felt, perhaps, can be expressed through music. A quiet opening leads to an expression of sorrow as the main theme is introduced by 2nd violins. I hear
the words “My Heart is Broken”, a recurrent theme throughout. Beautiful melodies in this section represent beautiful lives lost. Several expressive solos are in this section. In a subsequent section, “Ready to March” - people are energized to do something to make a difference and are preparing to march. 1st violins introduce the theme of the march. Words I hear are “We’re marching now and you can not stop us now” This theme gathers momentum and energy as it spreads to each section of the orchestra. The music is meant to convey determination, courage, and an unbroken spirit. The Epilogue returns to the main broken heart theme. For all the marching, activity, and reflection, our hearts are still broken and hurting.

Upcoming Events and Important Dates

November 3, 2018: General Membership Meeting at Western States Honor Orchestra

January 23-26, 2019: CMEA Clinic/Conference

February 7-9, 2019: Colorado All State Orchestra

March 2-5, 2019: Colorado ASTA Large Group Orchestra Festival (Regionals)

March 6-9, 2019: National ASTA Conference (Albuquerque, NM)

April 13, 2019: CCAP Festival (Denver Site)

April 23, 2019: Colorado ASTA Large Group Orchestra Festival (State Level)

May 4, 2019: CCAP Festival (Northern Site)

Thank you to the following businesses for supporting Colorado ASTA!

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 hsmith26@cherrycreekschools.org 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 (hsmith26@cherrycreekschools.org), Colorado ASTA webmaster and newsletter editor, with any questions.