NORTHWEST MENC
CONFERENCE
 

SPOKANE CONVENTION
CENTER
February 13-15, 2009

WASTA will hold it’s annual membership meeting and luncheon at NWMENC in Spokane, Saturday, February 14, 2009. Watch for information about place and time for the meeting on our website at www.w-asta.org and in the Winter Newsletter.

ATTENTION WASTA

Collegiate Chapter Advisors:

The WASTA Board approved a project to increase collegiate membership in ASTA and encourage collegiate future string teachers to become members of ASTA.

Washington colleges that have a student ASTA chapter may request a $22 rebate per paid collegiate member. This money can be either used to reimburse the student or to put it in the collegiate WASTA account for projects and expenses as they see fit.

Send your collegiate chapter list of members to the WASTA treasurer, Ann Mediellin, ann.medellin@vansd.org for your chapter rebate.

50th BIRCH BAY WORKSHOP WAS A MEMORABLE EVENT

During the first week of August, sixty string teachers from W-ASTA and several other states participated in the 50th annual Birch Bay String Teachers’ Workshop. Guest clinicians Robert Gardner and Roupen Shakarian, along with regular faculty members Ian Edlund, Grant Sears, Chip Schooler, Joe Dyvig, and Krissy Snyder, presented a wide range of topics and activities of value to teachers at all levels.

Robert Gardner, Professor of String Education at Pennsylvania State University, presented daily sessions dealing with orchestra rehearsal techniques, as well as how to handle instruction in alternative styles within the orchestra structure. Special attention was given to techniques for teaching improvisation and jazz styles, along with lots of opportunities to actually play in these styles.

Roupen Shakarian presented a Conductors’ Master Class in which ten preselected participants prepared and conducted an assigned score, using a live orchestra. Maestro Shakarian then critiqued and coached each participant publicly. Each participant received a video of their session to take home.

In addition to these major events, there were ten hours spent reading new string orchestra publications in a variety of styles and levels of difficulty, four hours of basic technical instruction on each instrument aimed at ―newbies,‖ and an excellent presentation on advocacy by leaders of ArtsEd Washington. Evenings were taken up by an opening night margarita party and Mexican dinner, an alfresco supper waterside at Semiahmoo resort, and the traditional salmon barbecue on the beach at Birch Bay State Park, followed by the annual String Teachers’ Campfire, with its unique fuel.

We were pleased to have a few old-timers with us to help observe our 50th. A little time during the workshop was devoted to remembering the beginnings of W-ASTA in the 1950’s. Among our founding members were Robert Hirtzel and Harvey Flansburg of Vancouver, Karl Spellman of Longview, Fred Schlichting of Olympia, Gordon Edlund of Aberdeen, Frank D’Andrea of Western Washington University (WWCE at the time), Joh Monroe of Bellingham, Lyman Bailey of Bellevue, True Sackrison of Olympia, Bob McNamara of Bellevue, and probably a few others. Invaluable assistance also came from Lorris West, owner of Johnson-West Music Service. We recognized how the workshop ―morphed‖ from a three day affair to a weeklong comprehensive event. We also took time to recognize the very special contributions of Joanne Donnellan, who

directed the workshop for many years. We capped off our celebration with a rehearsal and recorded ―first performance of our commissioned work for string orchestra by Richard Meyer, who is arguably the foremost composer of music for student orchestras today. The work, entitled ―A Birch Bay Celebration‖, is set in two movements and effectively captures the spirit of the workshop. It received a very enthusiastic reception, and will be published by Alfred Music for release next summer.

It was a very successful workshop—wonderful weather, a congenial group of people, excellent presenters, and a memorable celebration of the work of W-ASTA.

The 51st annual workshop will be presented August 3-7, 2009. Make your plans now to attend. Pictures from this summer’s workshop may be viewed at www.stringspecialist.com/birchbay in September.

Western Washington University

Orchestra Festival

March 14 -15, 2009

Dear String Teachers:

We are pleased to announce the 2nd annual Western Washington University Orchestra Festival. In order to meet the increased demand generated from the success of this year's event, we have expanded the festival to two days: March 14-15, 2009. The festival is open to middle and high school string and full orchestras and has emerged out of your requests to have a festival, in state, which would serve both middle and high school programs, plus feature high quality adjudication as well as a substantial clinic experience for every group.

A national level clinician will work in tandem with WWU faculty to adjudicate and present clinics that will leave your stu-dents inspired and empowered to reach their highest level of playing. Our mission is to maximize the learning experi-ence for you and your students by offering ensemble clinics of greater than usual length as well as general interest "break-out" sessions and master classes on such topics as chamber music, solo performance and string technique. Conducting and pedagogy clinics will also be offered for directors. Each group will receive a gold, silver, or bronze rating with a commemorative trophy recognizing the quality of the performance. In addition, a special "Washington Orchestra Cup" trophy will be given for the best performance of both the Junior and Senior divisions. The festival will culminate with an awards ceremony and a performance by the WWU Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Shaw.

The 2008 festival was a tremendous success and we greatly appreciate the assistance received from WASTA to plan and initiate this new and very important venture. Dr. Robert Culver was the featured guest clinician, and he personally worked with every ensemble in attendance. Directors also received a pedagogy session with Dr. Culver while their students performed in master classes for Western's string faculty. The "Washington Orchestra Cup" trophies were awarded to Odle Middle School, directed by Nancy Shaw and Squalicum Chamber Orchestra, directed by Gerald Bergeron.

We would love to reserve a space for your ensemble in this year's festival and request that you indicate your interest as soon as you are able. Those who request will receive detailed registration information and a reservation for the date of their choice on a first-come, first-served basis. The cost will be approximately $200 per ensemble.