2003 State Convention
The North Dakota Music Teachers Association will hold its 2003 State Conference from October 31-November 2, 2003 at Bismarck State College. The Guest Artist/Clinician will be Dr. Teresa Dybvig, a pianist from New York. She holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, Boston University School for the Arts and the Indiana University School of Music. She is currently on the faculty of the Taubman Institute. Dr. Dybvig's expertise is much sought after and her busy teaching schedule regularly takes her to students in Manhattan, La Crosse and Madison, WI , Minneapolis and Chicago. She is frequently asked by colleges and other music organizations to present lectures and masterclasses on both the interpretive and technical aspects of playing the piano.
Dr. Dybvig teaches Taubman Technique, which is an approach to playing the piano that emphasizes coordinate movement. She will give a solo piano recital at the Belle Mehus Auditorium on Friday, October 31 at 4 p.m. Featured on this program will be works by Bach, Haydn, Messiaen and Schumann. On Saturday, she will give a lecture entitled, "The Profound Simplicity of the Work of Dorothy Taubman". On Sunday, she will give a Technique Clinic emphasizing problem solving in specific passages of literature, and also a student masterclass.
Also on the Conference schedule will be student competitions and a recital; an organ lecture recital at Trinity Lutheran Church by Dr. Christopher Anderson of UND; a yoga class with Bismarck Yoga Instructor Kay Wanser; A session entitled "Dare to Be Different", given by Cindy Harrington, of J.W. Pepper & Son; A session on "Creating a Summer Camp", given by Beth Klingenstein of Valley City State University; and a session on Brazilian Piano Music, given by Dr. Sergio Gallo, pianist from UND. NDMTA has commissioned a new piece of music for the Conference from Dr. Michael Wittgraf, composition professor at UND. The work is entitled, "Child's Play", is written for clarinet and percussion, and will be premiered at this Conference. The performers will be Elizabeth Rheude and Mike Blake, who are both on the faculty of UND.
Dr. Dybvig's appearance at the NDMTA Conference is sponsored in part by the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, and Dakota West Arts Council, with funds made possible by the City of Bismarck. The Bismarck-Mandan Symphony is also co-sponsoring her solo piano recital at the Belle Mehus Auditorium. Anyone interested can register for the Conference. Registration for the three-day event is $80.00. Please contact Mary Schneider at 223-4687 for a registration form. Also, individual tickets may be purchased at the door for Teresa Dybvig's piano recital, Christopher Anderson's organ recital and Sergio Gallo's piano recital. These tickets are $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for students.
| Guests: | Michael Wittgraf | Beth Gigante Klingenstein | Teresa Dybvig |
Michael Wittgraf
Michael Wittgraf was born in 1962 and raised in rural Minnesota. He earned the D.Mus. in composition from Northwestern University, the M.A. in music theory/composition from the University of Minnesota, and the B.A. in mathematics from Carleton College. His composition teachers include Dominick Argento, Andrew Imbrie, M. William Karlins, Alan Stout, Jay Alan Yim, Alex Lubet, and Phillip Rhodes. He has won the University of Minnesota Craig and Janet Swan Sesquicentennial Commissioning Project, and his works have been distinguished as finalist in the ASCAP/Nissim Composition Contest, the Ladislav Kubik International Prize in Composition, and the Modern Chamber Players International Composition Contest.
His music has been performed by many artists, including the Chiara String Quartet, the BECS Quartet of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Thursday Musical of St. Paul, the University of North Dakota Wind Ensemble, the DuQuesne Contemporary Ensemble, and Tempus Fugit. He has served on the music faculties of Northwestern University and St. Mary¹s College, and is currently on the music faculty at the University of North Dakota where he specializes in composition, theory, technology, and bassoon.
Child's Play
for Bb Clarinet and Percussion
Duration: Approximately 13 minutes
Child's Play was commissioned by NDMTA and the MTNA; and was composed for Elizabeth Rheude and Mike Blake of the University of North Dakota. The work is based on about 30 children's tunes that I knew as a child. It also incorporates jazz and latin rhythms, as well as some improvisation by the percussionist. During the course of the music, the children's tunes appear in various guises: sometimes clearly heard; other times well hidden to the ear. As many as 12 tunes completely stripped of their rhythms are heard at once.
Some tunes are placed in conflicting rhythmic contexts. They appear polytonally and alone. Sometimes they sneak out of the texture only to disappear again. Musical game playing is the essence of the work: hide-and-seek, fantasy play, races, puzzles, games of skill, and games of chance. Some of the games occur simultaneously. All of the games are light-hearted.
The music opens with an introduction based on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," which is the same tune as the alphabet song and "Baa, Baa Black Sheep." Following is a large section divided into two presentation of 12 tunes each. During the division, some of these tunes become recognizable. The middle of the work comprises a large section of improvisation by the percussionist. While the drums sound, the clarinetist plays some musical games using pitches and rhythms from several tunes. The meter changes from duple to triple subdivisions during the course of this section.
The last major section marks a kind of return to the opening large section. Some of the tunes are recycled, but the texture has changed. The music concludes with a coda that employs "Rock-a-Bye Baby" and Brahms' "Lullaby," putting the music to sleep.
Dr. Michael Wittgraf
University of North Dakota
Department of Music - Box 7125
Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202
(701) 777-4716
Beth Gigante Klingenstein
Beth Gigante Klingenstein is nationally known for her work on business policies for the independent music teacher. She received a Bachelors degree in Piano Performance from Syracuse University and a Masters degree in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan. Klingenstein has taught as an independent music teacher for 28 years and is presently on the music faculty of Valley City State University where she is also the Founding Director of the VCSU Community School of the Arts.
Klingenstein is the author of A Business Guide for the Music Teacher and has published articles in Piano and Keyboard Magazine and Communiqué - Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunication. She is also a regular contributor to American Music Teacher Magazine and The Piano Adventures Teacher, and has presented extensively at local, state and national conferences on music and technology issues.
Presentation: Creating a Summer Music Camp
How can we motivate our students to continue with music studies in the summer months? How can we increase our summer income? One creative and fun solution to the "summer-slump" is to offer a summer music camp centered around a single theme such as world music, opera, jazz, etc. Anyone can create such a camp, and this presentation will offer guidelines for deciding on a theme, determining a budget, devising a curriculum, and organizing time and materials.
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