2024 District Ensemble Festival

October 26th, 2024

Portland Piano Company

There are competitive and non-competitive categories in this event. Ensembles of two or more students perform in short recitals. Students in the competitive category will be coached by an adjudicator, students in the non-competitive category will receive general feedback after the recital. In the competitive category, 30% of students are invited to perform in the State Ensemble Recital, usually held the second weekend of December.

West Portland District Meeting

10:00am-12:00pm Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024

Christ United Methodist Church

Presenter: Emily Ross, Music Therapist

Fragile Folks: Working with Anxious Music Students

Does it seem like you are seeing more tears in the piano studio than you used to? Or students just completely shutting down? You are not alone. Understanding anxiety on a neurological and on a cultural level can help you navigate these tricky waters. Anxiety is a particularly hairy concept as it is both a general descriptor and a diagnosis. Because we have all felt it, it can be uncomfortable to talk about. Emily Ross, board-certified music therapist, has your back. This workshop will focus on clarifying definitions and the cultural context of anxiety. It will also cover newer terminology such as Trauma-Informed Care and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Finally, Emily will present concrete strategies to support a student without crossing into a therapist role.

West Portland District Meeting

10:00am-12:00pm Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

Christ United Methodist Church

OMTA President Heidi Evans will give a short talk on the lesser known programs/resources OMTA has to offer, followed by a round-robin discussion of teaching tips. Join us to kick-off the new year!

The Trula Whelan Concerto Festival is a single day event during which the participants have the opportunity to perform concerto repertoire with an accompanist. It is a non-competitive festival. The adjudicator will give a short master class after each performance. All participants will receive certificates of participation, and some will receive medallions for Outstanding Achievement or Honorable Mention.

The E-Festival is a non-competitive event, comprised of pre-recorded video submissions. Eligible music includes any original works from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, and Contemporary periods. After the submission deadline, an E-Festival YouTube Playlist will be sent out to all participating teachers which will be visible for 30 days.

Location: Portland State University, Lincoln Hall, Room 75

Students of East and West Portland teachers will be performing in a masterclass taught by Dr. Oksana Ezhokina, taking place at Portland State University. Dr. Ezhokina is Coordinator of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University. This masterclass is designed specifically for students studying advanced repertoire.

Presenter: Dr. Lisa Neher 

“Incorporating Composing into Your Studio Teaching” 

In this workshop, learn methods for incorporating composing in your studio lessons. We will discuss existing resources for teachers and ways to create your own composition assignments and prompts, as well as how to break down the process of composing a piece into small pieces that can be achieved using just a few minutes of lesson time each week. 

Composition Celebration Applications are due April 5th (postmark). Student submissions will be evaluated and commented on by an adjudicator. Students who submit outstanding compositions will be identified as Honored Composers, who may then advance to the State Composition Festival.

Location: Christ United Methodist Church

Presenter: Dr. Jill Timmons, NCTM

“Performance Practice – Piano Music from the Twentieth and Twenty-First

Centuries: Exploring Repertoire and Pedagogy”

The modern era brings to pianists a wealth of styles, composers, and cultural traditions. With this abundance, however, comes new considerations around performance practice issues and resources for teaching. In this two-hour workshop, Timmons will explore a number of traditions including: bi-tonality, atonality, twelve-tone serialism, aleatoric music, jazz, improvisation, the aural tradition, selected sources in world music, the American scene, and pop/rock/indie sources. The focus will be on performance practice and teaching materials readily available to the educator looking to expand repertoire resources. “The composer’s function has been purely achieved at the completion of a given work. From then on impurities arise. The music will not fully exist until sounded before some audience.” (Ned Rorem, Setting the Tone)

Location: Online presentation (Zoom)

Presenter: Greg Presley

“Collaboration - Tips, Tricks, and Traps”

 An experienced collaborative musician gives an overview of the field of professional accompaniment. What to bring out, what to leave out, how to set the tempo, how to discuss artistic goals diplomatically, how to set fees, how much to practice. The importance of sight reading skills. Developing the art of deep listening, and instant responsiveness. Learning to read body language. Sensitizing oneself to breathing and bowing. This is a field where people learn by doing, but everyone has to begin somewhere. Suggestions about a normal progression in collaboration, from duet work, to choir accompaniment, to instrumental and vocal accompaniment and collaboration.

There are competitive and non-competitive categories. Groups of two or more students perform together in short recitals. Students will be coached by an adjudicator. In the competitive category, 30% of students are invited to perform in the State Ensemble Recital, held on Saturday December 9th at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Presenter: Dr. Lark Powers, NCTM

“Practice Smarter, Not Longer”

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.

Statewide competitive event with set repertoire for each level (corresponding to the OMTA Syllabus levels). Students perform their piece one-on-one for an adjudicator in the preliminary round. All students receive written feedback. The top two performers in each level perform in the competitive mid-afternoon recital, open to the public. Details can be found on the OMTA State website under Sonatina Festival.

OMTA State President Liz Willis will be conducting a live Syllabus Level 5 exam during the meeting followed by a discussion with teachers about the Syllabus program. Teachers are encouraged to bring any and all questions and concerns about the Syllabus experience.

Non-competitive.

In a joint meeting with our colleagues in the East Portland District, we will have a masterclass with Peter Mack, distinguished pianist and MTNA President-Elect.

Autism, Neurodiversity, and Music

In 2021, the CDC reported that approximately 1 in 44 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. But what exactly is autism? What is meant by "spectrum"? and is it really a disorder? In this workshop, Emily Ross, a board-certified music therapist who specializes in autism, will introduce you to the history of the autism diagnosis, and how and why so many autistic individuals are drawn to music. She will also cover the Neurodiversity movement, the nuance of language regarding disability and human dignity, and specific strategies for adapting lessons for the autistic learner.

Emily Ross holds a Bachelor of Music Education from University of Colorado and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in music therapy from Naropa University. She taught public school music (general music and band) in Oregon for seven years, and English as a Foreign Language for two years while serving in the Peace Corps. She has been in private practice as a music therapist since moving to Portland in 2003.  While she works with clients with a variety of challenges and learning difficulties, her specialty is autism. She taught music therapy courses and supervised music therapy students at Marylhurst University.

Composition Celebration Applications are due April 7th (postmark). Student submissions will be evaluated and commented on by an adjudicator. Students who submit outstanding compositions will be identified as Honored Composers, who may then advance to the State Composition Festival.

Our District meeting originally scheduled for February 28th is being rescheduled for March 15th due to weather.

Our February meeting will be a Coffee/Tea Social time where we can visit and build professional and social connections. There will be free time for socializing and a short business meeting.

Help Desk / Information will be available from West Portland District leaders on Syllabus, Festivals, Competitions/Scholarships, and all things OMTA! Bring any questions, and we’ll do our best to answer!

We will have beverages and refreshments provided. Additionally, if you like to bake or have a fun recipe to share, just let us know! (Only guideline is the church is a peanut-free campus due to the preschool on-site.) We would love to sample your culinary creations!

Looking forward to seeing you and building our social and professional network!