A New Journey

J i u u u i i ! by Pörrö
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I am thrilled to be entering a new chapter in my professional life as Music Department Head at Chicago High School for the Arts! ChiArts will open in September 2009 with a class of freshman and will add a new class each year until full enrollment is reached in the 2012-2013 school year. For a city of Chicago's size and significance, we are long overdue for a premiere public institution to provide young people with both a high level of artistic training and a rigorous academic curriculum. Students will have college preparatory academics in the mornings, followed by pre-professional arts training for three hours every afternoon. Arts majors include music, dance, theatre and visual arts. I am tremendously excited to have the opportunity to build ChiArt’s music program from its inception and am eager to be in the classroom myself. Although my official start date for the position is June 1, I have already been rolling up my sleeves with curriculum design and look forward to creating an outstanding community of music learning!

The Latest from My Flute Studio

Between student festivals, competitions and my own gigs, every Sunday in 2009 has been filled so far. No wonder January felt like a blur! My students have been having some great performances around Chicago, including the chance to perform some of their repertoire multiple times. As we have taken time to discuss and incorporate the feedback that they have received from festival and competition judges, each successive performance has gotten more polished and confident.

From among my private students, Leen van Besien played the first movement of Mozart's Concerto in G Major, K 313, for two concerto competitions last month. She won the senior division of Merit School of Music's Concerto Competition which entitles her to a performance with Merit's Symphony Orchestra as well as a spot on the MeritFest program (April 30th at Symphony Center, home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Leen was also the winner for flute in the Open Division of DePaul Community Music Division's 6th Annual Concerto Festival. As a result, she performed her concerto with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mina Zikri on February 1st. I was so excited and proud to see her walk out on the stage and the cadenza that she wrote for herself definitely put a personal stamp on her performance.

Merit's Honors Flute Quartet, featuring Jingyi Liu, Julia McGehee, Katie Scotkoswski and Leen van Besien, has played at three events in the new year. On January 18th, they performed as finalists in the Jules M. Laser Chamber Music Competition co-sponsored by Music in the Loft and Society of American Musicians and on January 25th, they competed in the High School Chamber Music Competition sponsored by the Rembrandt Chamber Players. Although they didn't place in either competition, we got some very helpful comments from the judges. The students worked on these suggestions both with me and in their weekly independent rehearsals. After each rehearsal, the students take turns writing rehearsal reports for me. Above you will see a "wordle" from the text of their combined reports and I love the way that this visual display reflects their focus and dedication. Their thoughtful work in independent rehearsals means that we can really concentrate on making music during the time that I spend with them. They are a treat to coach! As they performed music of Dubois and Schocker at Sherwood Conservatory's Festival of Flutes in early February, there was an ending to a movement when I simply thought, "That was like a perfect souffle!" Their performance earned them an Outstanding rating and an invitation to perform on the Festival Honors Recital (March 14 at 2:00).

So, while I'm looking forward to having some free Sundays soon, I wouldn't have missed sharing in any of these events with my students!

Merit Honors Flute Quartet Advances in Competition!

Congratulations to my chamber group at Merit School of Music!!! They are one of four ensembles selected to be finalists in the 2009 Jules M. Laser Chamber Music Competition co-sponsored by Music in the Loft and Society of American Musicians. Their competition repertoire will be the first movement of Dubois's Quatuor and The Easter Islander by Mike Mower. The final round of the competition will be held at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston on Sunday, January 18th. This is a really nice acknowledgement of how hard the students have been working since September. Besides their weekly coaching with me, they also rehearse independently a second time during the week and take turns writing up rehearsal notes to reflect on what they accomplished. Good luck Leen, Katie, Julia and Jingyi; I couldn't be more pleased for you!!!!!

Drat the flu!

Well, it happened. I got the stomach flu and it sidelined me for three solid days. I missed some great student concerts that I had been looking forward to hearing and fell behind with my desk work at the office. (Processing faculty payroll comes before all else!) So, I sadly cancelled my plans to attend the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Next year will be my year to go!

Merit Honors Flute Quartet debuts on YouTube!

We're planning to apply to perform on "From the Top" and the application asked if the group has a YouTube clip (hint, hint...). So, this past Saturday, we performed for the weekly Tuition Free Conservatory assembly and then headed back upstairs to our regular classroom for a few more takes. Here is Pierre Max Dubois's Quatuor as performed by Jingyi Liu, Julia McGehee, Katie Scotkowski and Leen van Besien. Many thanks to Mr. McGehee for being our cameraman!!

Classroom Management Discussion Group

My present position is as Director of Bridges: Partners in Music, the offsite instruction program of Merit School of Music. Approximately 50 Merit teachers go out into schools and community based programs to provide weekly classes in instrumental, choral and general music. Often the teaching conditions are quite challenging. This summer, I offered a structured opportunity for interested faculty to read and discuss The First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong. This link will take you to the agenda and discussion guide that I created for this series of three meetings.

Beginning Flute Pedagogy (October 12, 2008)

As part of the Chicago Flute Club's yearlong series of pedadgogy events, I'll be presenting a workshop on first flute lessons this coming Sunday. The event is at 2:00 at Suzuki-Orff School of Music (1148 W. Chicago Avenue). Please click here for more details!

You can also follow this second link to my handouts for the workshop.