Oregon Music Teachers Association in partnership with the Oregon Community Foundation and the Nellie Tholen Fund present statewide teacher enrichment events. These valuable and varying presentations are free and open to all music educators, members and non-members alike.

For more information about our OMTA/OCF Nellie Tholen District Enrichment Project Programs, contact our grant coordinator, Karen Huntsberger, NCTM.

Upcoming Events

Practice Smarter, Not Longer

Date/Time: Friday, April 5, 2024 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Online via Zoom
Contact: Mary Morganti
Presenting District: Lincoln County
Presenter:
Dr. Lark Powers

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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.

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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.

The Art of Memorization

Date/Time: Monday, April 8, 2024 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Location: First Congregational Church, 1050 E 23rd Ave, Eugene, OR 97405
Contact: Grace Ho
Presenting District: Eugene
Presenter:
Dr. Michelle Huang

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A native of Taiwan, pianist Michelle Huang has performed and taught extensively throughout the U.S. as well as abroad in the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, and Taiwan. Described as a pianist with much sensibility and nuance, Michelle Huang is

equally at home as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. She has played numerous solo recitals, gave workshops and masterclasses, and collaborated frequently with vocalists and instrumentalists in the Mary L’Engle Ensemble, the River City Trio, the

chamber group-in-residence at Friday Musicale in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Jacksonville Symphony and Richmond Symphony musicians. In 2017, she received a grant to commission ten paintings by two graduates of Virginia Commonwealth

University art students. These paintings were presented alongside the complete performance of Mussorgsky’s piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition during her concert tour in 2018-19. Deeply committed to community outreach, she launched a concert series during her residency at Edward Waters College, in which high caliber artists performed concerts as well as conducted master classes, workshops, and lectures for the continuing enrichment and exposure of classical music to both the school and the community. She initiated the Mentoring Program as part of the Richmond Music Teachers Association, in which young music teachers can be paired with experienced teachers to help them with aspects of teaching. She is the co-founder of the Online Young Pianist Summer Symposium, which launched in May 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. The Symposium was conducted virtually for pre-college and college students as well as teachers, in which guest speakers were invited to present topics such as the art of practicing, the art of memorization, and Alexander Technique, as well as a masterclass.

Michelle Huang holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee, and Doctor of Music in Piano Performance from Florida State University. Her principal teachers include Barbara Rowan, David Northington, and Read Gainsford. Dr. Huang has held teaching positions at Walter State Community College and Lincoln Memorial University. In 2011- 2014, she served as the Assistant Professor of Piano at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida. Most recently, she was on the piano faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. In the summer, she served on the faculty of East/West International Piano Festival in Seoul, Korea. In addition to teaching in the collegiate setting, Dr. Huang also maintains a private studio, where she works with talented pre-college students both in her Seattle studio and online. She has served as President and first Vice President of Programming for the Richmond Music Teachers Association. She is currently an active member of the Seattle Music Teachers Association and Eastside Music Teachers Association. Highly demanded as a frequent presenter and adjudicator, she is a Visiting Artist for the Washington State Music Teachers Association. Many of her students have won top awards and successfully pursued studies and careers in music.

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“I played through it without the music just fine before!” We have all been there. What makes someone a better memorizer than others? In this talk, we will look at the four different types of memory: visual, tactile, aural, and analytical, and how to best use them to securely memorize our pieces for the next performance. We will learn that there is a direct correlation between excellent practice habits and memory, and how the act of storytelling can really help to secure that memory.

Stepping into the Light: Thoughts on Performance Anxiety

Date/Time: Monday, April 8, 2024 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: First United Methodist Church, 607 W Main St, Medford, OR 97501
Contact: Michele Alspach
Presenting District: Rogue Valley
Presenter:
Dr. Diane Baxter

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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.

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Why are my hands cold and clammy? Why is my heart pounding? Did you just say something to me? No, I can’t just relax! Performance anxiety is a complex topic that involves how we think, how we feel, and how we behave. The results of it may range from mildly discomforting to completely paralyzing. We all want to get it right when it matters most, whether we are performers, family members, or teachers. All of us have something to gain by understanding what happens as we strive to excel. This talk will introduce some of the causes of performance anxiety and will offer some tips on how to do your best under duress.

Tips Toward Terrific Technique!

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 9, 2024 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Studio of Carolee Harbour (contact Tammy Johnson for address)
Contact: Tammy Johnson
Presenting District: Umpqua Valley-South Coast
Presenter:
Dr. Thomas Otten

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Thomas Otten holds the title of Emeritus Professor, having retired in 2018 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.

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Technique may seem like rocket science—but it’s really not! In today’s world—where we’re using our hands not only for piano playing but also for texting, typing at a computer, etc.—it’s increasingly important to give our students a solid technical foundation to avoid overuse injuries. We’ll start with an exploration of fundamentals of good keyboard biomechanics, and then apply these to technical issues such as scales, arpeggios, chords, octaves, and trills. There will also be an opportunity for participants to ask questions about technically challenging passages in repertoire that they’re teaching and/or playing.

The Sustainable Studio

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Brookwood Library Community Room, 2850 NE Brookwood Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124
Contact: Holly Counts
Presenting District: Hillsboro
Presenter:
Dr. Lisa Neher

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New music powerhouse Dr. Lisa Neher (she/her) 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 the climate crisis, 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 commissioned and 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, the Flute New Music Consortium Composition Competition, and the Mirror Visions Ensemble Young Composer Competition, and was 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 is a member of Portland Opera Chorus. 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. Her teaching credits include the Ultimate Music Business Summit, and theToolbox Sessions, as well as guest clinician appearances at Reed College, University of Iowa, Colorado State University, OMTA, Bandung Philharmonic in Indonesia, and more. 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.

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Most music teachers experience burnout and overwhelm. How can we create and maintain a studio that is sustainable for our economic needs and our personal and family well-being? This presentation will offer best practices for designing studio policies and practices to ensure stable finances for you and your family, protect your time and energy, and provide clarity and professionalism to your students and studio families. Topics include: tuition models, billing and scheduling software, studio contracts and policies, the ever-present “makeup lesson” question, healthy and joyful boundaries, and more. We will have time to address your questions and share strategies with one another. 

Practice Smarter, Not Longer

Date/Time: Friday, April 12, 2024 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Studio of Melissa Farle, Bend OR (Contact Melissa Barker for directions)
Contact: Melissa Barker
Presenting District: Central Oregon
Presenter:
Dr. Lark Powers

Read 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, 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.

Read Program Description

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.

Workshop Videos

(The following videos are available on this page below this list to active OMTA members only. Members will need to log in to view.)

Pilates For Musicians

Presented by Barbara Chapman NCTM

Nurturing Potential Into Passion

Presented by Leila Viss, 88PianoKeys.me

Starter Steps for Playing Eighteenth-Century Repertoire on the Modern Piano

Presented by Donna Gunn, M.M., NCTM

Teaching the Special Learner: Wisdom and Strategies for the Independent Music Teacher

Presented by Emily Ross, M.A., M.T. – B.C.

Tips For Preparing For Syllabus Exams

Presented by Heidi Evans NCTM

Succeeding With Sonatinas

Presented by Dr. Crystal Zimmerman NCTM, Professor of Piano, Willamette University

Music and the Brain – How We Hear And Understand Melody and Rhythm

Presented by Dr. Crystal Zimmerman NCTM, Professor of Piano, Willamette University

Authentic Baroque Dance

Presented by Daniel Stephens, M.F.A. and Judith Kennedy, M.A.

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