Grant Event - Lions and Tigers and...PARENTS!...Oh My!: Constructive Communication With Parents
2022-03-08 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual/Online
Information and Zoom access: Please contact Carolee Harbour.
Presenting District: Rogue Valley
Presenter: Rebekah Carter, NCTM Rebekah Carter, NCTM, maintains a piano studio in eastern Oregon, and has recently settled roots in Boise, Idaho. In addition to teaching in her private studio for over 15 years as an independent piano instructor, Ms. Carter teaches and accompanies as an adjunct instructor at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, OR. Her college studies took her to Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA where she studied with Dr. Peter Mack. In addition to teaching, Ms. Carter serves OMTA Blue Mountain District as Secretary and chairs festivals at the district and state level. In 2016-2018, she was a Tholen Fellow through Portland Piano International. In 2020, Ms. Carter presented at the OMTA Virtual Conference from Florence, OR. She is a regular presenter and competition adjudicator throughout Oregon and Idaho.
Ms. Carter enjoys maintaining a professional and friendly relationship with the parents in her studio. She also enjoys hiking, trying new foods, attending concerts, and spending time with her husband and two children.
Program Description: Teachers of all instruments can relate to stories of “that” parent…you know…that one. However, parents are a determining factor in a student’s success and a necessary part of our daily work as music teachers. So how can we develop a constructive and positive relationship with them? Research shows that communication is the key. This lecture will use humor and interactive activities as well as practical tools and help, and includes: a handout of useful phrases for common “sticky situations,” interactive role-playing, exploration of your studio’s communication style, other not-so-obvious forms of communication you use every day, helpful apps, and a practical look at the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Code of Ethics for professional guidance.

Grant Event - Music of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Contemporary Eras: differences in Tone, Articulation, Pedal, Rubato (focus on Romantic & Contemporary eras)
2022-03-12 11:00 - 13:00 | Virtual/Online
Local Contact: For more information and Zoom access please contact Sarah Milburn.
Presenting District: Umatilla-Morrow
Presenter: Dr. Thomas Otten, NCTM Thomas Otten holds the title of Emeritus Professor, having recently retired as Piano Area Chair from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He now resides in Portland, OR, where he is establishing himself as a master teacher and concert artist. A California native born of German-American parents, Dr. Otten has been hailed by the New York Times as “an extremely original player who puts a formidable technique at the service of his ideas.” He made his debut at age seventeen with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and has since developed a global profile through performances in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Sydney, Munich, Frankfurt, and Milan, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Severance Hall, the German Embassy, and the National Press Club. He has given guest artist recitals and masterclasses at top music schools and conservatories, such as the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, the Munich Hochschule für Musik in Germany, as well as the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, and Oberlin Conservatory in the U.S.
A recipient of numerous national and international awards, Dr. Otten has studied with artist teachers John Perry and Nelita True and worked intensively with biomechanics expert Barbara Lister-Sink. He has been on the faculties of the International Young Artists Project (Italy), Saarburger Serenaden International Music Festival (Germany), the American Institute of Musical Studies (Austria), and the Kent/Blossom Festival (Ohio), as well as concerto soloist at the Chautauqua and Brevard Summer Festivals. He has been a member of competition juries in the U.S. and abroad and was founder of the Kent Piano Seminar in Ohio, as well director of the UNC Liszt Festival, UNC Etude Festival, and the Ginastera Centennial Celebration in North Carolina. His discography includes transcriptions of Franz Liszt and a premiere recording of etudes by African American composer Leslie Adams. He is committed to diverse music of our time, having also premiered works by electronic music expert Frances White and jazz pianist/composer Joe Utterback.
Dr. Otten’s former students include prize-winning concert artist Andrew Tyson, along with other professional musicians who are active throughout the country. His collaborations include the Miami and Vega String Quartets, violinist Richard Luby, as well as baritone Marc Callahan and soprano Louise Toppin. For more information on Dr. Otten, please visit his website at www.otten.studio.
Program Description: What makes for a stylistically appropriate performance? Should we use the same amount of pedal in Mozart as Chopin? How do we choose articulations in Baroque music? These and similar questions will be examined to shed light on the often-confusing musical choices we have when performing and teaching music from many different style periods.

Grant Event - Making Syllabus Relevant: Using OMTA Syllabus Skills to Play Music
2022-04-02 03:00 - 05:00 | Virtual/Online
Location: Zoom, for more information and access please contact Sarah Milburn.
Presenting District: Umatilla-Morrow
Presenter: Dianne Davies Dianne Davies received a BA in music from Lewis and Clark College with piano emphasis and K-12 music education certification. Since then, Dianne has taught public and private school music and currently focuses on her private piano studio in Beaverton and performing. In 2010 Dianne created and performed her comedy show Dianne Davies Has Fallen Off Her Bench and in 2016, she created, produced, and performed a new show titled Attachments & Detachments–Tragedy to Triumph combining the music of Cascadia Composers, the Northwest Regions chapter of NACUSA (National Association of Composers USA), with dance, live art, and theatre to tell her own transparent story. In 2016, Dianne also began composing pieces for piano students. Since 2018, her student compositions have been performed each year at PSU in the Cascadia sponsored concert, In Good Hands, that connects living composers with young music students. Most recently, in December 2019 she produced another show with all her own compositions and arrangements for Christmas titled Soli Deo Gloria. Dianne created and performed original piano solo pieces, piano solo arrangements of Chopin Nocturnes fused with traditional carols (Romantic Christmas Suite), as well as a violin & piano duet, violin & cello duet, vocal solos and choral works. Again, she collaborated with live dancers and multi-media visual artist Collin Murphy. Dianne continues to teach during these trying times of the pandemic and chairs the State Composition Celebration Virtual Event. Watch for her monthly column in the OMTA Music News on-line publication and her current performing and composing projects at musiqPOWER.com.
Program Description: Dianne Davies has taken a series of folksongs and Christmas Carols to teach all levels of the OMTA Syllabus chord progressions and put them into music. The right-hand melodies are given in scale degree numbers and the left-hand accompaniment is given in Roman Numerals following each level of syllabus. Students learn to easily transpose the ideas to all keys and understand the concepts.

Grant Event - Acquiring Aural Skills: Listening Deeply
2022-04-02 05:00 - 06:30 | Virtual/Online
Location: Zoom, for access and more information please contact Rebecca Gooch.
Presenting District: Mid-Columbia
Presenter: Dr. Johnandrew Slominski American pianist Johnandrew Slominski enjoys a distinguished reputation as a performer and pedagogue. He has been hailed as “a remarkable, brilliant, and gifted pianist” (Chautauquan Daily), commended for performing with “a great deal of intellect” (89.9 KBPS Portland), and recognized for his communicative performance: “I was profoundly moved by his performance…He has a musicianship that transcends his youthfulness.” (Eye on Sun Valley). His 2016 San Francisco concert debut, presented by the New Piano Collective, earned praise as “awe-inspiring” and “ear-opening” from Stephen Smoliar of the San Francisco Examiner. Slominski seamlessly navigates the landscape of a varied and thriving career as a soloist, chamber musician, music theorist, author, pedagogue, and speaker. Highlights of his current season include a solo CD released on the Centaur Records label, an all-Schubert disc with soprano Kayleen Sánchez released on the Soundset Recordings label, performances of concerti by Mozart and Schumann, and more than a dozen speaking and teaching engagements in the United States and Asia.
Slominski earned three degrees from the Eastman School of Music by age 21, and was unanimously nominated for the Jerald R. Graue Musicology Fellowship and the Eastman Performer’s Certificate; his first professorship followed at age 23. He has held faculty positions as a pianist and music theorist at the Eastman School of Music, Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Linfield University. He is the founding director of Classical Music on the Spot (an institute for eighteenth-century improvisation), a co-founder of the San Francisco International Piano Festival, and a founding faculty member of the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the University of South Florida. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Slominski is a New Piano Collective artist.
Program Description: The composer and pianist Robert Schumann wrote in 1848 that, “You must get to the point that you can hear music from the page. …A perfect musician should be able to picture a piece, at first hearing…as though he had the score in front of him.” This workshop, facilitated by Dr. Slominski, former theory and aural skills faculty at the Eastman School of Music, opens a conversation about teaching and learning through a nuanced aural curriculum. Skills discussed include sight-singing, solfege and solmization, dictation, playing by ear, improvisation, and more.

District Event: Studies and Etudes to Master and Perform for Intermediate and Advanced Students
2022-04-02 12:30 - 15:30 | Grace Lutheran Church – Ashland, 660 Frances Ln, Ashland, OR, 97520
Linda Barker is well known among OMTA members and has enriched many of us by sharing her expertise at district workshops. She specializes in teaching intermediate to advanced level students. We look forward to learning how to use specific pieces to master specific skills.

Grant Event - Engaging Story and Narrative in Performance: Marches, Waltzes, Chorales, and Other "Topics" in Music
2022-04-12 04:00 - 05:30 | Studio of Carolee Harbour, 1953 NW Lamont Ave, Roseburg, OR, 97470
For more information: please contact Tammy Johnson.
Presenting District: Umpqua Valley-South Coast
Presenter: Dr. Stephen Lewis, NCTM, PhD, DMA Dr. Stephen Lewis, NCTM, PhD, DMA, is a Portland-based composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher whose compositions inhabit the terrain between sound as physical sensation and sound as signifier of culture. Stephen’s opera, Noon at Dusk, was hailed as “delectable,” with a “constantly shifting sonic world [that] proved fascinating and effective.” Recent and upcoming performance engagements include concerts with the Oregon Symphony, the Agnieszka Laska Dancers, the Astoria Music Festival, and Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project as well as a live broadcast on All-Classical Radio. Stephen has also performed throughout the United States and in Italy. Stephen holds a PhD in composition and a DMA in piano from UC-San Diego, and a BMus from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Stephen teaches piano, composition, music theory, and conducting privately at his home and from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, where he serves as music director and organist. Stephen enjoys baking bread, reading, wine tasting, and hiking with his wife. See more at his websites: www.stephenlewiscomposer.com (artistic) and www.chopinois.com (teaching).
Program Description: Many of us feel that music is often telling a story, but we cannot agree on what these stories are. Is there a story, or not? In this workshop, I will present current innovative ideas from music theorists about musical “topics,” or references to extra-musical ideas, and how they help us to speak more clearly and accurately about musical stories and narratives. We will look at some of the most common topics found in classical and romantic music and how thinking about topics can help teachers and students reach greater heights in their work together.

District Event: West Portland District April Meeting
2022-04-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Calvary Lutheran Church, 937 NE Jackson School Rd, Hillsboro, OR, 97124, United States

Grant Event - Teachings of Nelita True: An Homage
2022-05-06 03:00 - 05:00 | Virtual/Online
Location: Zoom, for more information and access please contact Mary Morganti.
Presenting District: Lincoln County
Presenter: Dr. Thomas Otten, NCTM Thomas Otten holds the title of Emeritus Professor, having recently retired as Piano Area Chair from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He now resides in Portland, OR, where he is establishing himself as a master teacher and concert artist. A California native born of German American parents, Dr. Otten has been hailed by the New York Times as “an extremely original player who puts a formidable technique at the service of his ideas.” He made his debut at age seventeen with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and has since developed a global profile through performances in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Sydney, Munich, Frankfurt, and Milan, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Severance Hall, the German Embassy, and the National Press Club. He has given guest artist recitals and masterclasses at top music schools and conservatories, such as the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, the Munich Hochschule für Musik in Germany, as well as the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, and Oberlin Conservatory in the U.S.
A recipient of numerous national and international awards, Dr. Otten has studied with artist teachers John Perry and Nelita True and worked intensively with biomechanics expert Barbara Lister-Sink. He has been on the faculties of the International Young Artists Project (Italy), Saarburger Serenaden International Music Festival (Germany), the American Institute of Musical Studies (Austria), and the Kent/Blossom Festival (Ohio), as well as concerto soloist at the Chautauqua and Brevard Summer Festivals. He has been a member of competition juries in the U.S. and abroad and was founder of the Kent Piano Seminar in Ohio, as well director of the UNC Liszt Festival, UNC Etude Festival, and the Ginastera Centennial Celebration in North Carolina. His discography includes transcriptions of Franz Liszt and a premiere recording of etudes by African American composer Leslie Adams. He is committed to diverse music of our time, having also premiered works by electronic music expert Frances White and jazz pianist/composer Joe Utterback.
Dr. Otten’s former students include prize-winning concert artist Andrew Tyson, along with other professional musicians who are active throughout the country. His collaborations include the Miami and Vega String Quartets, violinist Richard Luby, as well as baritone Marc Callahan and soprano Louise Toppin. For more information on Dr. Otten, please visit his website at www.otten.studio.
Program Description: Nelita True, who passed in January 2021 due to COVID, was one of the great artist teachers and clinicians of our time. Dr. Otten counts his study with her as one of his great blessings and joys; much of his pedagogical approach is due to his work with her. This session will illuminate her highly practical, organized, and effective approach to musicianship (tone, voicing, line, rhythmic direction), technique, practice, and memorization, along with anecdotes that underscore her warm, nurturing approach to her students.

Grant Event - Duke Ellington, the Pianist
2022-05-06 03:45 - 05:15 | Virtual/Online
Location: Zoom, for more information and access please contact Janet Smith.
Presenting District: Central Oregon
Presenter: Dr. Matt Cooper Matt Cooper is a Professor Emeritus of Music at Eastern Oregon University, where he was awarded the 2019 Distinguished Teaching Faculty award, retiring after a 31-year college teaching career. He served as OMTA President from 2000 to 2002, during which time he traveled to Khabarovsk, Russia as part of the “Music Without Borders” exchange program, leading to two additional invitations to perform in Khabarovsk in 2002 and 2004.
Dr. Cooper earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He has done extensive study in the Taubman approach at the Golandsky Institute and Princeton University and has studied Tango music in Buenos Aires. A former prizewinner in the Thelonious Monk and Great American Jazz Piano competitions, he is the author of Duke Ellington: A Study in Styles.
Dr. Cooper has adjudicated many piano festivals and competitions and has performed numerous solo recitals, chamber recitals, and concerto appearances throughout the Northwest. He has recorded four jazz and classical CDs and is in frequent demand throughout the Northwest as a performer, adjudicator, clinician, and presenter.
Program Description: Duke Ellington has been widely acknowledged as America’s greatest “jazz” composer, but from a 21st Century perspective many are now viewing his work as the equal of other composers working from European models. Ellington himself liked to use the phrase “beyond category” as the highest praise, and as recent scholarship by David Schiff and Harvey Cohen points out, Ellington’s music has been “ghettoized” partly due to popular mythology about his methods of composing.
Although he did not attend conservatory and he purposely avoided European models in his quest to create a music that would reflect the unique perspective of African Americans, Ellington did in fact study harmony and composition with Henry Grant, Will Marion Cook, and Will Vodery. His longtime collaborator from 1941 to 1967, Billy Strayhorn, was also an accomplished classical musician who thoroughly understood Ravel, Stravinsky, and Debussy. Contrary to popular belief, Ellington was a tireless composer who left behind nine cubic meters of scores, many in his own exquisite hand. Although a single critical edition of Ellington’s work is long overdue, these manuscripts reside in the Smithsonian and include several fully notated solo piano pieces which would make a fine addition to Syllabus, contemporary festivals, or recitals. Though currently unpublished, they are available to the public and are eminently more playable than comparable, hybrid pieces by Astor Piazzolla.
In this workshop, Dr. Cooper will share Ellington piano works such as “The Single Petal of a Rose,” “Meditation,” and “The Clothed Woman” as well as original transcriptions from his book, Duke Ellington as Pianist: A Study in Styles (College Music Society, 2013) and attempt to place Ellington in his rightful place in the wider canon of American music and music in general.

Grant Event - Music of the Romantic and Contemporary Eras: Differences in Tone, Articulation, Pedal, Rubato
2022-05-21 07:00 - 09:00 | Virtual/Online
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83551761030
Meeting ID: 835 5176 1030

For more information: please contact Sarah Milburn.
Presenting District: Umatilla-Morrow
Presenter: Dr. Thomas Otten, NCTM Thomas Otten holds the title of Emeritus Professor, having recently retired as Piano Area Chair from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He now resides in Portland, OR, where he is establishing himself as a master teacher and concert artist. A California native born of German American parents, Dr. Otten has been hailed by the New York Times as “an extremely original player who puts a formidable technique at the service of his ideas.” He made his debut at age seventeen with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and has since developed a global profile through performances in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Sydney, Munich, Frankfurt, and Milan, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Severance Hall, the German Embassy, and the National Press Club. He has given guest artist recitals and masterclasses at top music schools and conservatories, such as the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, the Munich Hochschule für Musik in Germany, as well as the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, and Oberlin Conservatory in the U.S.
A recipient of numerous national and international awards, Dr. Otten has studied with artist teachers John Perry and Nelita True and worked intensively with biomechanics expert Barbara Lister-Sink. He has been on the faculties of the International Young Artists Project (Italy), Saarburger Serenaden International Music Festival (Germany), the American Institute of Musical Studies (Austria), and the Kent/Blossom Festival (Ohio), as well as concerto soloist at the Chautauqua and Brevard Summer Festivals. He has been a member of competition juries in the U.S. and abroad and was founder of the Kent Piano Seminar in Ohio, as well director of the UNC Liszt Festival, UNC Etude Festival, and the Ginastera Centennial Celebration in North Carolina. His discography includes transcriptions of Franz Liszt and a premiere recording of etudes by African American composer Leslie Adams. He is committed to diverse music of our time, having also premiered works by electronic music expert Frances White and jazz pianist/composer Joe Utterback.
Dr. Otten’s former students include prize-winning concert artist Andrew Tyson, along with other professional musicians who are active throughout the country. His collaborations include the Miami and Vega String Quartets, violinist Richard Luby, as well as baritone Marc Callahan and soprano Louise Toppin. For more information on Dr. Otten, please visit his website at www.otten.studio.
Program Description: What makes for a stylistically appropriate performance? Should we use the same amount of pedal in Mozart as Chopin? How do we choose articulations in Baroque music? These and similar questions will be examined to shed light on the often-confusing musical choices we have when performing and teaching music from different style periods.

District Event: West Portland District May Meeting
2022-05-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Christ United Methodist Church, 12755 NW Dogwood St, Portland, OR, 97229, United States

2022 State Conference
2022-06-23 02:00 - 2022-06-24 14:00 | Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St, Florence, OR, 97439
Our 2022 OMTA Conference is a hybrid model that includes in-person attendees joining us in one of our favorite coastal towns of Florence, as well as a virtual option. Conference presentations and concerts will be presented at the Florence Events Center, and accommodations will be available at the Driftwood Shores Resort. This conference will stimulate and inspire as colleagues from around the state gather to collaborate, refine their craft, and refresh themselves.

2022 General Membership Meeting
2022-06-24 02:00 - 03:15 | Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St, Florence, OR, 97439
This is the annual meeting for OMTA that happens each year as part of the conference in the summer. It is a hybrid event this year, with both in-person and virtual attendees. A YouTube link will be emailed to all our members to access the general membership meeting for those not with us in person in Florence, OR.
Come one, come all! Find out what’s happening in our vital, creative, professional organization.

District Presidents Round Table
2022-09-24 12:00 - 12:55 | Virtual/Online
The meeting of the District Presidents and their President Elect officers that occurs prior to the State Board Meeting.

State Board Meeting
2022-09-24 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual/Online
The meeting of the State Board of OMTA, which occurs every Fall.

Grant Event - The Creativity of the Baroque Repertoire
2022-10-10 10:00 - 12:00 | U of O School of Music – Berwick Hall, Room 101, Eugene, OR
Presenting District: Eugene
Presenter: Dr. Lark Powers 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, Fort Collins Symphony, the Washington-Idaho Symphony, 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. Locally she is a frequent performer on 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 teaches 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.
Program Description: The Baroque repertoire provides an exceptional resource for teaching students to analyze, to develop creativity, and to take charge of their interpretation. This presentation uses compositions from a variety of composers, well known to less well known, and explores pieces in a range of difficulties. The blank scores from this period, in urtext editions free of dynamics and phrasing indications, can provide challenges in developing an idiomatic and effective interpretation, and discussion includes helping students find cadences, establish phrasing, the importance of meter and pulse, articulation, ornamentation, and the treatment of specific dance forms, as well as effectively translating this music for performances on the modern piano.

Grant Event - Training the Ear and the Eye From the Start: The Hoffman Method
2022-10-22 10:00 - 12:00 | Virtual/Online
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Jan Miller
Presenting District: Blue Mountain
Presenter: Joseph Hoffman Joseph Hoffman began playing the piano at age six. In high school, he studied with Alfred Mouledous, principal pianist for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. While continuing his musical studies in piano and conducting at Brigham Young University, Mr. Hoffman was appointed chorusmaster and conductor for numerous BYU opera productions, including Carmen and Pirates of Penzance. He conducted the 300-voice University Chorale and taught courses for music majors in music theory, conducting and sightsinging.
In order to help pay his way through grad school, Mr. Hoffman began teaching piano lessons to kids in the neighborhood. He wanted his students to love music and piano playing as much as he did, but he struggled to find a piano method that provided a rigorous, well-rounded musical training, while still being fun and engaging. Over the next several years, he made it his personal quest to study all he could about learning theory, and he actively researched the best methods available for teaching music. It was from these years of study, exploration, and experimentation that the “Hoffman Method” of teaching piano was born.
Program Description: Researchers have known for decades that young children do not learn best from books, but through direct experience. Joseph Hoffman will share techniques and activities which will immerse the children you teach in a rich array of musical experiences through singing, movement, and engaging activities that explore rhythm, pitch, and reading notes on the staff. Building on this solid foundation of musical awareness and skill, children develop a fluent piano technique and acquire an impressive repertoire of piano literature. The end result is students who are adept at playing by both ear and by sight. This program has been used over the last ten years with hundreds of students in both group and private settings, and the results have been remarkably positive..

Grant Event - Albums for the Young: Fascinating but Lesser-Known Repertoire Choices for the Intermediate Level Pianist
2022-11-05 10:00 - 12:00 | Virtual/Online
Presenting District: Mid-Columbia
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Rebecca Gooch
Presenter: Dr. Crystal Zimmerman Crystal is professor of piano at Willamette University where she teaches class piano, individual piano lessons, as well as courses in music technology. At Willamette, she is also staff accompanist and coordinator of the accompanying program. She frequently performs in collaborative, chamber music, and solo recitals as well as being pianist in the Salem Chamber Orchestra. Zimmerman is in demand as a lecturer and clinician, and her articles have been featured in American Music Teacher magazine. She worked with FJH music company on the series, Succeeding with Sonatinas. Her most recent publication is the FJH Masterpiece Anthology–Women Composers.
Program Description: This lecture will explore fascinating but lesser-known repertoire choices for the intermediate level pianist. These compositions are similar to Robert Schumann’s Album for the Young, Op. 68, ranging in length from one to three pages and are technically accessible for the intermediate student. She will discuss the character pieces from the middle of the nineteenth century, around the time of Schumann and the impetus behind the explosion of “Albums for the Young” during this time. She will play pieces from Schumann’s Op. 68 and demonstrate comparable/alternate suitable works by other composers such as Mosonyi, Kullak, Heller, Gade, Godard, Karganov, Kiel, Köhler, Kirchner, and Gurlitt. Many of the pieces have programmatic titles; it is this “character” element that can be a powerful creative stimulus for the student. She has found that, for younger students especially, engaging imagination in response to the images and emotions suggested by the title, can create truly magical learning experiences.

Grant Event - An Examination of Enrique Granados' Pedagogical Piano Works
2022-11-08 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual/Online
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Rosanne Smith
Presenting District: Linn-Benton
Presenter: Ricardo de la Torre In demand as a performer, teacher, adjudicator, and presenter, Ricardo de la Torre currently serves as piano instructor for the Community Music Program at the University of Puget Sound, where he was also staff accompanist for the School of Music. Ricardo has played in concert venues in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Spain, Austria, and France. A finalist and prize winner in several competitions in Mexico and the U.S., he received second prize at the Eleventh Annual Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America, sponsored by Indiana University’s Latin American Music Center and the Embassy of Spain. The recordings he made as a result of this competition were included in a two-CD collection released by the LAMC. Together with his wife, Dr. Lark Powers, Ricardo forms a piano duo that has performed internationally, was a finalist of the United States International Piano Duo Competition in Colorado Springs and received a Silver Award at the first international competition of the Carles & Sofía Foundation of Spain.
Born in Mexico City, Ricardo attended Escuela Superior de Música in his hometown, where he received a bachelor’s degree cum laude. He continued his studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he received a Master of Music degree and went on to graduate with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he worked as a teaching assistant.
An active presenter, he has participated in numerous local, regional, and international conferences. The results of his research have been published in specialized journals in the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia.
He is a visiting artist for the Washington State Music Teachers Association’s Music Artistry Program and has served on the faculty of East Central University in Ada, OK. Ricardo has also taught music analysis at Pacific Lutheran University. Currently he is pianist at First Lutheran Church in Tacoma where he directs its summer concert series Listen Live at Lunch.
Program Description: This session takes a fresh look at three of this important Spanish composer’s pedagogical collections and presents an overview of Granados’ educational activities and concerns as well as the way his tradition lives on today.

Oregon-MTNA Competitions
2022-11-12 08:00 - 19:00 | Lincoln Hall – PSU, 1620 SW Park Ave Room 75, Portland, OR, 97201, United States
Three-tier (state, regional and national) music performance competitions throughout the United States.
Registration Deadline: 3:00 P.M. Eastern Time, Wednesday, September 14, 2022

State Ensemble Festival 2022
2022-12-10 | University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, 961 E 18th Ave, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States
Chair: Genevieve Mason
Forms: https://oregonmta.org/programs/festivals/ensemble-festival/
Registration Deadline: November 25, 2022
Depending on the quality of their performance at the district recital, some ensembles are selected by the adjudicators and are invited to participate at the state recital.

Grant Event - Theatre Tools for Musicians
2023-01-06 10:00 - 12:00 | Virtual/Online
For Zoom Link: Contact Rita Warton
Presenting District: Lincoln County
Presenter: Dr. Lisa Neher New music powerhouse Dr. Lisa Neher is an award-winning composer, mezzo-soprano, and actress on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. Described as a “visionary composer” (Willamette Week), “maestro of beautifully wacky noises” (Oregon ArtsWatch), and a composer of “varied and imitable” vocal lines (Contemporary Classical), Neher writes music inspired by female athleticism, the tender love of friends, the ambiguities of death, and the eerie mystery of deep ocean life. Her EP Of Wind and Waves explores the currents of air, water, and emotions that define our natural and psychological world. Neher’s works have been performed by Third Angle New Music, Fear No Music, Opera Elect, Opera Theatre Oregon, Dinosaur Annex, the Cortona Sessions for New Music, Delgani String Quartet, Choral Arts Ensemble, and others across the United States and Europe. She is the winner of the ICDA/ICF Choral Competition and the Mirror Visions Ensemble Young Composer Competition, and is a NATS Composer Mentee, working with Tom Cipullo.
Praised as “a small woman with a very big voice” and “especially alive” (Oregon ArtsWatch), Neher captivates audiences as a performer with her electrifying dramatic commitment and unforgettable vocal colors. Her performance credits include Really Spicy Opera, Third Angle New Music, the Resonance Ensemble, New Music Gathering, Queer Opera, the International Saxophone Symposium, and Opera Theatre Oregon. She created the roles of Jennifer in Chamber Sounds of Singapore’s world premiere of One Thousand Paper Cranes for Japan by Rita Ueda, Julian of Norwich in Brook Joyce’s monodrama the Showing of Love, and the protagonist in Space Station 189, a sci-fi opera for Instagram by JL Marlor and Aiden Feltkamp. Neher is the curator of the One Voice Project, which champions unaccompanied solo vocal performance.
Neher is a sought-after clinician on topics including composing for singers, networking, music business and entrepreneurship, acting for singers and theatre tools for musicians. She teaches each year at the Ultimate Music Business Summit and is an instructor and Executive Team member for Toolbox Sessions. Her thriving private studio provides graduate-level education and mentorship in singing, composition, and career building for musicians from Australia to Europe. Neher holds degrees from the University of Iowa (DMA), University of Kansas (MM), and Lewis & Clark College (BA). She is an alumnus of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and the Cortona Sessions for New Music. She spends her free time training for triathlons, watching science fiction movies, and baking delicious treats involving copious amounts of chocolate. Her last name is pronounced “NEER.” For more information, visit her website, www.lisanehermusic.com.
Program Description: In this workshop, we will explore movement and expression tools from the theatre tradition and how to apply those to the work we do as musicians and music teachers. Topics include stage presence, physical awareness and relaxation, bowing, listening, receiving, and responding to energy, finding contrast through levels, tapping into emotion and expression using acting tools of emotional recall and creative substitution. You will leave with exercises you can use with your students in lessons and group classes.

Grant Event - Making Syllabus Relevant: Using OMTA Skills to Play Music
2023-01-11 10:30 - 12:00 | Calvary Lutheran Church, 937 NE Jackson School Rd, Hillsboro, OR, 97124, United States
Presenting District: Hillsboro
Presenter: Dianne Davies Dianne Davies received a BA in music from Lewis and Clark College with piano emphasis and K-12 music education certification. Since then, she has taught public and private school music and currently focuses on her private piano studio in Beaverton and performing. In 2010 Dianne created and performed her comedy show Dianne Davies Has Fallen Off Her Bench and in 2016, she created, produced, and performed a new show titled Attachments & Detachments–Tragedy to Triumph combining the music of Cascadia Composers, the Northwest Regions chapter of NACUSA (National Association of Composers USA), with dance, live art, and theatre to tell her own transparent story.
In 2016, Dianne also began composing pieces for piano students. Since 2018, her student compositions have been performed each year at PSU in the Cascadia sponsored concert, In Good Hands, that connects living composers with young music students. Most recently, in December 2019 she produced another show with all her own compositions and arrangements for Christmas titled Soli Deo Gloria. Dianne created and performed original piano solo pieces, piano solo arrangements of Chopin Nocturnes fused with traditional carols (Romantic Christmas Suite), as well as a violin & piano duet, violin & cello duet, vocal solos, and choral works. Again, she collaborated with live dancers and multi-media visual artist Collin Murphy. Dianne also chairs the State Composition Celebration. Watch for her monthly column in the OMTA Music News on-line publication and her current performing and composing projects at musiqPOWER.com.
Program Description: Dianne Davies has taken a series of Folksongs and Christmas Carols to teach all the levels of the OMTA Syllabus chord progressions and put them into music. The right-hand melodies are given in scale degree numbers and the left hand accompaniment is given in Roman Numerals following each level of syllabus. Students learn to easily transpose the ideas to all keys and understand the concepts.

Grant Event -- Practice Smarter, Not Longer
2023-02-04 10:00 - 12:00 | Virtual/Online
Contact for Zoom link: Jan Miller
Presenting District: Blue Mountain
Presenter: Dr. Lark Powers 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, Fort Collins Symphony, the Washington-Idaho Symphony, 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. Locally she is a frequent performer on 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 teaches 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.
Program Description: Practice is the most significant element which will determine a musician’s success and enjoyment of their craft. However, many musicians were never taught how to practice, and some of what we think we know about learning can be updated. A few easily incorporated practice strategies can greatly increase progress and make practicing more efficient. This presentation will delve into fascinating research on how the brain learns and how this relates to music and practicing. Offering innovative and practical advice, topics discussed will include organization, spacing, the effectiveness of interleaved (random) repetition, first-time retrieval strategies, performance preparation, and common practice mistakes. With strategies to overcome the challenge of getting started, making improvement that sticks, staying focused, and planning the next session, this presentation will suggest ideas that can make practice rewarding and effective. Strategic practice techniques create transformative changes, which can be seen in overall progress as well as in performing comfort and success.

Grant Event -- Master Class for Pianists
2023-02-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Roseburg Public Library, 1409 NE Diamond Lake Blvd, Roseburg, Oregon, 97470
Presenting District: Umpqua Valley-South Coast
Presenter: Deborah Cleaver Deborah Ingram Cleaver holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from Boston University where she studied with the renowned pianist and pedagogue Leonard Shure. After finishing her degree, she worked closely with Shure as his teaching assistant at New England Conservatory.
Ms. Cleaver has also spent many years studying the performance practice of the Baroque and Classical periods with such luminaries as Sandra Rosenblum, Edward Parmentier, and Elisabeth Wright. Her broad interests have resulted in lectures for universities and music teachers’ organizations, ranging from the expressive aspects of Baroque performance practice to the correlation between Romantic literature and music. Ms. Cleaver teaches at Lewis and Clark College and Reed College as well as in her private studio. She also organizes seminars three times each year for the Portland/Golandsky Institute community and is a past president of OMTA Portland District. She has been a faculty member of the Golandsky Institute since 2005 and teaches at their summer institute at Princeton University every summer. Previous teaching positions have been at Willamette University, St. Andrews College, and the South Shore Conservatory in Boston.
An avid performer, she has appeared with the Fear No Music Ensemble, the DeRosa Chamber Players, Cascadia Composers, Friends of Rain, and the Makrokosmos Project I and II. She has had performances aired on the classical music programs PLAYED IN OREGON and ALL CLASSICAL PORTLAND. In addition, she has given lectures, workshops, and recitals at Portland State University, Eastern Washington University, and for Oregon and Washington music teachers’ associations, and is a frequent adjudicator throughout the Northwest.
Program Description: The master pianist/teacher will work with piano students in a master class setting while the audience is invited to learn by observing. Please contact Tammy Johnson for more details.

Grant Event -- Master Class for Pianists
2023-02-25 10:00 - 14:00 | Grace Lutheran Church – Ashland, 660 Frances Ln, Ashland, OR, 97520
Presenting District: Rogue Valley
Presenter: Dr. Alexander Tutunov Alexander Tutunov is widely recognized as one of the most outstanding virtuosos of the former Soviet Union. First Prize winner of the Belarusian National Piano Competition and winner of the Russian National Piano Competition, Tutunov’s playing was described by Soviet Culture, Moscow, as “exhilarating and inspired, and which demonstrated a unique talent”.
Dr. Tutunov maintains a busy performing schedule in Europe, China, Mexico, and the United States as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and on radio and television. Dr. Tutunov is also in demand as an adjudicator for piano competitions.
Tutunov graduated magna cum laude from the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory (studies with Anna Artobolevskaya and Lev Naumov) and University of North Texas (piano studies with Joseph Banowetz). Awarded his doctoral diploma with honors in concert performance from the Belarusian State Conservatory, Dr. Tutunov has taught at the Minsk College of Music, the University of North Texas, and Illinois Wesleyan University.
Alexander Tutunov now lives in Ashland, where he is Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at Southern Oregon University. A successful piano pedagogue, he continues to prepare award-winning students. Dr. Tutunov is Artist in Residence at the University of Alaska Southeast, Artistic director of the SOU International Piano Institute, and was recently named the Director of the Chinese-American International Piano Institute in Chengdu, China.
Program Description: The master pianist/teacher will work with piano students in a master class setting while the audience is invited to learn by observing. Please contact Terri Horn for more details.

Grant Event -- Hearing, Sight, Touch, and Proprioception: Enabling the Four Senses of Piano Playing for Optimal Learning and Performing
2023-03-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Broadway Coffeehouse, 1300 Broadway St NE #100, Salem, Oregon, 97301
Presenting District: Salem
Presenter: Dr. Stephen Lewis Dr. Stephen Lewis, PhD, DMA, is a Portland-based composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher whose compositions inhabit the terrain between sound as physical sensation and sound as signifier of culture. Stephen’s opera, Noon at Dusk, was hailed as “delectable,” with a “constantly shifting sonic world [that] proved fascinating and effective.” Recent and upcoming performance engagements include concerts with the Oregon Symphony, the Agnieszka Laska Dancers, the Astoria Music Festival, and Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project as well as a live broadcast on All-Classical Radio. He has performed throughout the United States and in Italy. Stephen holds a PhD in composition and a DMA in piano from UC-San Diego, and a BMus from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Stephen teaches piano, composition, music theory, and conducting privately at his home and from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, where he serves as music director and organist. Stephen enjoys baking bread, reading, wine tasting, and hiking with his wife. See more at his websites: www.stephenlewiscomposer.com (artistic) and www.chopinois.com (teaching).
Program Description: Everyone longs to learn music so well that we can perform with ease, grace, and command of ourselves and the instrument. It often feels like a mysterious, alchemical process to arrive there: how do we go from learning and struggling to real mastery? The answer lies in large part in the four senses we use when performing: hearing, sight, touch, and proprioception. All four of these senses must be engaged for stellar performances, but we often do not know how to make the best use of them or how to teach our students to do so.
In this talk, Dr. Lewis will speak about how we must lead first and foremost with our hearing; how our eyes can be powerful allies or can make our practice and performance suffer; how touch and proprioception reinforce an intuitive and resilient connection between the musician and the instrument. He will talk about specific teaching and practice strategies to optimize how we use our senses. Recent neuroscience research on how our brain processes sensory input and turns it into motor action and creative thought will be explorer. Ultimately, this will help us better reach the place where we can feel empowered to perform creatively, boldly, and expressively.

Grant Event - Getting to Know our Neighbor: A Pianist's Guide to Pedagogical Repertoire
2023-03-08 10:30 - 12:00 | Calvary Lutheran Church, 937 NE Jackson School Rd, Hillsboro, OR, 97124, United States
Presenting District: Hillsboro
Presenter: Dr. Ricardo de la Torre In demand as a performer, teacher, adjudicator, and presenter, Dr. Ricardo de la Torre currently serves as piano instructor for the Community Music Program at the University of Puget Sound, where he was also staff accompanist for the School of Music. He has played in concert venues in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Spain, Austria, and France. A finalist and prize winner in several competitions in Mexico and the U.S., he received second prize at the Eleventh Annual Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America, sponsored by Indiana University’s Latin American Music Center and the Embassy of Spain. The recordings he made as a result of this competition were included in a two-CD collection released by the LAMC. Together with his wife, Dr. Lark Powers, Dr. de la Torre forms a piano duo that has performed internationally, was a finalist of the United States International Piano Duo Competition in Colorado Springs and received a Silver Award at the first international competition of the Carles & Sofía Foundation of Spain.
Born in Mexico City, Dr. de la Torre attended Escuela Superior de Música in his hometown, where he received a Bachelor’s degree cum laude. He continued his studies at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he received a Master of Music degree and went on to graduate with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he worked as a teaching assistant.
An active presenter, he has participated in numerous local, regional, and international conferences. The results of his research have been published in specialized journals in the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia.
He is a visiting artist for the Washington State Music Teachers Association’s Music Artistry Program and has served on the faculty of East Central University in Ada, OK. He has also taught music analysis at Pacific Lutheran University. Currently he is pianist at First Lutheran Church in Tacoma where he directs its summer concert series Listen Live at Lunch.
Program Description: Mexican composers have produced a wealth of piano music of pedagogical value. This lecture will offer a panorama of elementary to late intermediate teaching repertoire by Mexican composers from the 19th to the 21st centuries, discuss its main characteristics and performance tradition, and provide information about its availability in the U.S.

Grant Event -- Practice Smarter, Not Longer
2023-03-14 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual/Online
Contact for Zoom link: Rosanne Smith
Presenting District: Linn-Benton
Presenter: Dr. Lark Powers 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, Fort Collins Symphony, the Washington-Idaho Symphony, 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. Locally she is a frequent performer on 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 teaches 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.
Program Description: Practice is the most significant element which will determine a musician’s success and enjoyment of their craft. However, many musicians were never taught how to practice, and some of what we think we know about learning can be updated. A few easily incorporated practice strategies can greatly increase progress and make practicing more efficient. This presentation will delve into fascinating research on how the brain learns and how this relates to music and practicing. Offering innovative and practical advice, topics discussed will include organization, spacing, the effectiveness of interleaved (random) repetition, first-time retrieval strategies, performance preparation, and common practice mistakes. With strategies to overcome the challenge of getting started, making improvement that sticks, staying focused, and planning the next session, this presentation will suggest ideas that can make practice rewarding and effective. Strategic practice techniques create transformative changes, which can be seen in overall progress as well as in performing comfort and success.

Grant Event -- Pianists and the Brain
2023-03-14 11:30 - 13:30 | 825 Umpqua College Rd, 825 Umpqua College Rd, Roseburg, OR, 97470
Presenting District: Umpqua Valley-South Coast
Presenter: Dr. Diane Baxter Dr. Diane Baxter, pianist, educator and consultant, is the editor of The Oregon Musician. She recently retired as Professor of Music at Western Oregon University where she received the Faculty Honors Award for Outstanding Creativity and the Pastega Award for Excellence in Teaching. Diane taught studio piano and courses in Ethnomusicology, Performance Anxiety, and Research Methods. Dr. Baxter has adjudicated the Woodley Festival in Berkshire, England on several occasions. She adjudicates for all ages, and all levels. Diane consults and performs far and wide, often giving workshops on doing our best under pressure. “The Science of Artistry: The Fourth String” was published in Clavier Companion in Nov/Dec 2013. Diane’s article, “Ethnomusicology and Alchemy” was published in the April/May 2020 edition of American Music Teacher. Diane performs and teaches in France each summer, and in 2018 she began an international annual workshop on the shores of Loch Etive in the Scottish Highlands. The focus is on performance success and doing our best when it matters most. The workshop is thriving. Closer to home, recently Diane started writing the program notes for Corvallis Piano International and she continues to perform as principal keyboardist for the Newport Symphony. She lives, writes, plays and thinks in Brownsville, Oregon.
Program Description: How do we hear? What happens in the brain when we learn simple five finger patterns? What knowledge about brain function assists us as we learn new music? How do we process music? What does it mean “to know” a piece of music? How do we recall music? How does the athleticism of piano playing shape our behavior? This talk presents basic information about neurological functions from the performer’s point of view. It is a fascinating and diverse body of information.
