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For the Record |
| ISSUE 5 ::
Wednesday March, 16 2005 |
PAST ISSUES |
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From the
Development Director
James Douthit, President
We've all seen it, perhaps on our own report
cards from elementary school or on those of
our children, a category of assessment
located far below the academic areas of
math, reading, and science. Somewhere in the
conduct and personal deportment evaluation
area lie the words: "Plays well with
others". What is "playing well with others?"
Does this mean leading the group in
playground activities or blindly following
the dictates of other colleagues who
enumerate the rules of the game? How much
control do we actually have on our on
behavior relative to playing with others?
Why is this category relegated to such a
small part of the report card? While
knowledge and academic skill are important
objectives, an inability to collaborate
makes these skills, at the very least,
ineffective and diminishes their value.
At the MTNA National Conference last year,
Jody Graves (a former classmate of mine from
Eastman) delivered an interesting
presentation titled, "You say tomato, I say
tomato, let's call the whole thing off."
Often discussing the humorous aspects of
musical communication through collaboration,
one poignant comment remained with me. As
the war in Iraq was in full force, Jody
posed a question to the audience, "If
President Bush and the leaders of foreign
countries were able to meet together to play
chamber music, do you think we would still
have problems maintaining world peace?" The
audience fell silent. A chord of truth
resounded in each person as they
contemplated the answer to this question.
As musicians we recognize the importance of
collaboration. We value time spent with
colleagues making beautiful music and look
forward to opportunities to share the stage
with partners in order to present sublime
musical moments that we cannot create by
ourselves. Whether the performers are a duo
of singer and accompanist, or larger group
such as a woodwind quintet, composers
throughout history have been intrigued by
the musical expressions of both large and
small groups of musicians. Rising to the
challenge, they have created unique
interactions which blend the expressions of
multiple performers. Consider Schubert's
song, "Die Erlkonig". The pianist sets the
stage for the drama, which is about to
unfold, as a repeated octave g in the right
hand is accompanied by a scalar passage in
the left hand. The singer enters to begin
the narrative of the father riding swiftly
on a horse in an attempt to seek medical
care for his son. Were either of these two
parts to be presented singly, the musical
effect on the listener would be diminished
and the story rendered much less dramatic.
As we plan for our state conference in the
fall (November 11-13 at Penn State
University), Nanette Kaplan Solomon (PMTA
Vice President for Conferences) and Steven
Smith (Conference Site Coordinator) have
begun the introduction for an intriguing
conference built around the theme of musical
collaboration.
Within this Newsletter, you will find
exciting information about our conference
artists and clinicians. Workshops will be
focused on various aspects of musical
collaboration. I hope that every member will
begin making plans to attend. We typically
have around 14 % of our membership
participating in our state conference. Our
officers and leaders work diligently each
year to present the competitions and other
activities associated with our state
conference, yet only a small portion of our
membership is in attendance. At the close of
each conference, members returning to their
home are buzzing with excitement with all of
the new ideas they have added to their
teaching tools. Our artists and clinicians
have both national and international stature
and our workshop clinicians are skilled,
knowledgeable, and eager to share
information they have gleaned from years of
study.
Though it may seem far away, as musicians we
have crowded teaching and performing
schedules. If we are to maintain even a
small chance of attending the conference, we
need to begin the planning stages now. I
hope that the topic of this year's
conference will excite you as much as those
of us who are in the planning stages. We
look forward to receiving proposals for
workshops, competition entry forms, and
finally, conference registration forms.
Let's collaborate to make our conference
another memorable experience this year with
the ultimate goal of enriching our
instruction, and opening doors for our
students that will forever remain closed if
we do not provide the key!
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