Presenting District: Rogue Valley
Presenter: Dr. Lark Powers, NCTM

Program Description: Folk songs have much to offer the developing student: accessible and pleasing melodies, limited harmony, balanced phrases, and great variety in character, as well offering an opportunity to connect with past generations and to explore a student’s cultural background. However, a common lament is that many children no longer know many folk songs. This presentation will explore strategies in which teachers can bring folk songs into their student’s lives, including ideas to use them as a vehicle to develop music theory, harmonization ability, singing and playing, and other musicianship skills. In addition, resources will be shared for finding folk songs which show multicultural awareness and which can be chosen to support the cultural identity of one’s students. Discussion will be included about equity of representation and avoiding a lack of contextualization, as well as more information about evaluating the historical context of problematic folk songs.

Presenter Bio: In demand as a solo and collaborative artist as well as an adjudicator and presenter, Dr. Lark Powers has performed at such venues as Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the 92nd Street Y in New York City and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Internationally she has been heard in Europe, Mexico and Canada. In addition to numerous collaborations with ensembles, including the Tacoma Symphony, Olympia Symphony Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony, the Washington-Idaho Symphony, the Tacoma Opera, and the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, she appears in frequent two-piano concerts as part of the duo she forms with pianist Ricardo de la Torre. Last spring they were soloists with the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra. Locally she is a frequent performer on Lakewold Garden’s Music From Home series, the Listen Live at Lunch series at the First Lutheran Church of Tacoma, the Second City Chamber Series, and the faculty artist series at Pacific Lutheran University.

Lark received a DMA in piano performance from the University of Colorado Boulder, and holds three Master’s degrees (in piano, theory pedagogy and in harpsichord) and a graduate performance diploma in piano from the Peabody Institute. Her undergraduate studies occurred at the University of the Pacific, where she earned a BM in piano performance, summa cum laude, after which she attended the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris for three years where she won a premier prix.

A Nationally Certified Teacher of Music and a Washington State Visiting Artist, Lark is an Associate Professor at Pacific Lutheran University where she instructs applied lessons and accompanying, and coordinates the group keyboard program. Dr. Powers has presented on topics including managing performance anxiety, the creativity inherent in the Baroque repertoire, the pedagogy of keyboard harmony, and more. She is a proponent of new music, specializing in the music of Latin American composers, and can be heard on recordings with the Pan Pacific Ensemble on Albany records and the Cherry Creek Flute Duo.