Desert Valley Music Teachers Association
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DVmTA Newsletter​s and blog

Awards in Excellence 2019-April 13 and 20, 2019

9/26/2019

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Students auditioned for Awards in Excellence on April 13, 2019 at Arizona Piano where each student performed two memorized pieces from the DVMTA Repertoire List and were judged. Those who were selected winners performed at the Winners' Recital, held at the same location on April 20, 2019. We were amazed at the level of achievement from these young pianists! Congratulations to all who auditioned, and to those who were selected  winners and to those given honorable mention. ​Thank you to their teachers for preparing them so well, and to the Awards in Excellence Committee: Lorri McHardy, Fei, Xu and Yali Luo, with help from Penny Carpenter, Lori Weidemann and Hong Zhu. 

The auditions
The Winners' Recitals
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April 2019 Newsletter

9/26/2019

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Spring has arrived!  Beautiful colors are popping up all around, the fragrance of orange blossoms is sweetening the air, children are getting restless for school to end and there is evidence of new growth everywhere you look!  At this time of year, we not only recognize natural and physical growth, but family calendars are filling up with numerous events that evaluate, recognize and celebrate academic growth as well.  Many students across the valley are currently taking the AZ Merit test in an effort to prove that they actually learned something at school this year!  Many students are making preparations to graduate and take the next academic or life step ahead.  Music and dance studios are busily polishing up numbers for spring recitals.  Sports teams are competing for division titles.  It is the season for demonstrating growth!
DVMTA has three remaining activities that celebrate and award the hard work students have made in their music studies this year – Awards in Excellence, Achievement Day and Awards Plus.  I hope that all of you have students participating in at least one of these awesome events!  They are each unique in their ability to provide the perfect way to award students for their musical growth.  Unfortunately, deadlines have passed for entering students in these events this year, but here are some suggestions, beyond the typical spring recital, of other things you might try in your studio to celebrate student growth this year!
  1. Make one lesson at the end of the year a Mini – Achievement Day to evaluate whatever skills you’d like to test in your individual studio.
  2. Hold an end-of-year group lesson with refreshments for the students with games and activities that celebrate the things they have learned during the year. 
  3. Issue a report card praising the growth students have made on various music skills throughout the year.
  4. Distribute special ribbons or awards at your end-of-year recital to celebrate specific areas of improvement for each child (memory skills, technique, sight-reading, theory, etc.)
  5. Make an audio recording of each student’s recital pieces and create a permanent file that can be added to each year.  Have students critique their own performances to help set goals for next year.
  6. Assign a piece or two to review from last spring and have the student reflect on how the piece “feels” this time around – what skills has s/he gained that makes it easier a year later?
No matter what you do, make sure to find some way to celebrate how far each student has come this year.  Musical growth is often difficult for students as well as parents to easily recognize, so it is definitely important to assure them that all those lessons have been worthwhile! 
 
Carolyn Rooder
DVMTA President 2018-2019

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March General Meeting-March 29, 2019

9/24/2019

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Dr. Mandarin Cheung-Yueh was our guest speaker at the March General Meeting and presented "Repertoire for Advancing Students".  She discussed how teachers can effectively help students advance  to more difficult repertoire through focusing on different aspects and definitions of transition. We were privileged to also hear  her perform an amazing piano duet with Snezana Krstic. ​
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March 2019 Newsletter

9/24/2019

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We began the DVMTA year with the theme, “Individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean”. The classic folk tale, Stone Soup, likewise, illustrates the power of how several people individually sharing just a small amount can all work together to create something much bigger that can be enjoyed by everyone.  This timeless theme was beautifully played out last month as DVMTA proudly presented “Road Trip” - our 34th Annual Cavalcade of Rhythm!  For readers who may be unfamiliar with this event, Cavalcade is a piano ensemble event where groups of as many as forty students perform duets on as many as twenty pianos!  The production of Cavalcade is an excellent example of many people from many music studios working together to create a community event that would be impossible for an individual studio to produce on its own!  The teamwork involved in the planning and execution of this event is absolutely mind-boggling!  Lucky for us, we had an amazing group of individuals that worked countless volunteer hours to make Cavalcade a reality this year – Jenna Hartley, Linda Carpenter, Hillary Bitter, Sara Pratt and Charles Newton.  Together they weathered just about every storm possible to get the show “on the road”, and they never gave up!  In addition, forty plus DVMTA teachers all contributed their talents in various ways to produce this year’s event.  Talk about teamwork!  
  
I am so proud to be part of an organization whose members demonstrate the true meaning of teamwork. Our members work well together, make valuable contributions, do whatever it takes, think of the bigger picture, give generously of their time, listen to each other’s opinions and ideas, pitch in as needed and ultimately, get the job done!   DVMTA has been working hard this year to meet modern challenges that threaten to make wonderful events like Cavalcade a thing of the past, but I have to say, teamwork has helped us to meet these challenges head on!  Together, we have managed to maintain the integrity of the special events, like Cavalcade, that have drawn music teachers, parents and students to be a part of DVMTA since 1980!  


Carolyn Rooder
DVMTA President

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  • Home
  • Join/Renew
  • Find a Teacher
  • Events
    • 2023 Music Marathon
    • 2023 Original Composition Festival
    • 2024 Cavalcade of Rhythm
    • 2024 Awards in Excellence
    • 2024 Achievement Day
    • 2024 Awards Plus
  • Members
    • Documents >
      • General Documents
      • * Member Documents *
    • General Meetings and Calendar
    • Membership List
    • DVMTA Board and Committees
    • Noble Award Donation
    • Library
    • Resource Links
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