Piano Teacher on Tour!

Piano faculty member, Christy Wisuthseriwong is playing in a series of saxophone concerts this week with saxophone professors Steve Stusek (from UNCG) and Drew Hayes (from Guilford College). The group will be performing solo and duo saxophone and piano music at:

Duquesne University in Pennsylvania
Youngstown State University in Pennsylvania
University of Maryland - College Park
University of North Carolina - Greensboro

The program at UNCG is on Monday, September 13th at 7:30pm, in the Organ Recital Hall of the Music Building. The concert is about 1 hour long, and is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!

MANC on the West Coast

Our Sustainable Funding team just returned from a whirlwind trip to Seattle, WA, where we were lucky enough to see the view from the Space Needle, eat some fresh seafood, and experience the brief period of summer weather. The majority of our time was spent focusing on how to improve upon things at MANC, and ensure a long-lasting impact in our community.

A few of us had a chance to stop by the Experience Music Project, which is an interactive pop culture museum. Tourists can experiment on different instruments within sound-proof studios, and even record their own Demo CDS. Guitars, basses, keyboards, and other instruments are on display, including a special gallery featuring 50 extremely rare guitars used by famous musicians like Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, and George Harrison. A massive piece of artwork piled high with guitars is entitled, "Roots and Branches".

The most interactive part of the museum is the "On Stage" area, where you and your friends or family can get on stage and play along with an automated instrument. Our Music Academy folks chose to set the guitars on the manual setting and put their training to work!

Thanks to Jonathan Holley for the details.

Success from an alum!

Congratulations to Sam Gingher, who took first place in Brevard Music Center's piano competition on August 1st! Sam performed Bartok's Piano Sonata (1st movement), Bach's French Suite No. 2, Chopin's Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15, and Griffes' Roman Sketches ( "Clouds).

You can check out Brevard on Facebook here, and Sam's MySpace Music page here.

New Teachers!

We're excited to announce the following new faculty at MANC:

Mr. Todd Ayers
Todd Ayers, percussion faculty member at The Music Academy of North Carolina, specializes in drum set instruction for students. Todd attended Greensboro College and received his Bachelor of Music Education degree in percussion. He frequently performs in rock and jazz bands throughout the triad. He can be reached at (336) 691-0672, ext. 206 or email: tayers@musicacademync.org.

Dr. Melanie Crump
Melanie has her Bachelor of Music in Choral Education, Master of Music in Choral Directing, and Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Appalachian State. In addition to being honored with the Voice Recital of Distinction Award from ASU, she was also winner of the concerto-aria competition. She later completed her Doctorate in Vocal Performance at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Melanie has extensive operatic performing experience, and has been nominated for The Excellence in Teaching Award at Guilford Technical Community College and at Mount Olive College. She can be reached at (336) 691-0672 ext 210 or by email at mcrump@musicacademync.org.

Ms. Lena Timmons
Lena completed her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music Performance degrees at Baylor University in Waco, TX. While at Baylor, Lena also pursued a degree in Music History, under the direction of Dr. Jean Ann Boyd. In August of 2008, she began her doctoral work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as a student of Dr. Alexander Ezerman, and as a member of the UNCG Liberace String Quartet. She can be reached at (336) 691-0672 ext 228 or by email at ltimmons@musicacademync.org.

Congratulations!

Guitar student Chris Staton has been accepted into the University of North Carolina School of the Art's High School program! This program offers young artists (grade 8 through college) a chance to focus on their art and prepare for a professional career in the arts, while also providing a broad, well-rounded academic education.

Although the school was not accepting new incoming students in his grade level, they made an exception for Chris based on his talent and skill as a guitarist. Chris studies with Master Teacher Kevin Dollar, who has been with The Music Academy since 1995. You can read Kevin's bio on our webpage here. Visit his website at http://www.swingtriade.com/ to learn more about his performances in the community, including his work with Swing Triade, a trio specializing in gypsy jazz.

Glimmerglass

Most of my life I lived only hours away from Cooperstown, NY, a region bursting with history, a vibrant arts community, and numerous tourist attractions -- but I had never been to visit before! Last week, I swung by the area for a day to see my friend Stephanie Foley Davis perform as Ma Moss in The Tenderland, performed at Glimmerglass Opera. A few things I learned:

- Many recognize and love Aaron Copland's music for its folk-inspired melodies, dance rhythms, and slow harmonic progressions that bring to mind a soaring landscape. When paired with a beautiful state park, a cute historic town, and the Baseball Hall of Fame, you find yourself enraptured in Americana.

- The entire region is named after the author, James Fenimore Cooper. His Leatherstocking Tales inspired the naming of "The Leatherstocking Region," and his reference to that "glimmer glass" led to the naming of the lake, state park, and opera company.

- Glimmerglass Opera is the place to go to hear extremely talented young performers (ie: in their 20's). The Tenderland featured all up-and-coming singers participating in the Young Artist Program for the summer. The production was stellar, and the cast had strong, clear, warm voices with well-honed techniques. You can check out one of the reviews here.

Interested in learning more about opera? Our voice teachers can help!

Kids!

Friday wraps up Week 1 of the Eastern Music Festival Kid's Camp/Music Academy Collaboration! Kids ages 4-6 got a chance to work with our teachers - learning about instrument families, singing songs, and working on basic exercises in melody, harmony, and rhythm. Props to our teachers who battled with a roomful of tots for hours on end! That's tough work. Tomorrow, the little ones will be visiting The Music Academy to attend a violin class, guitar class, and learn about our Recording Studio.

If you don't know about the camps, check them out here.

Twelve Benefits of Music Education (in a Nutshell):
summarized from Children's Music Workshop.com

1. Brain development, specifically in the areas involved with language and reasoning.

2. Spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things).

3. Creative thinking and problem solving.

4. Success in school, and a tendency towards higher grades.

5. Cultural awareness, tolerance, and compassion.

6. High standards, excellence, and reaching goals.

7. Understanding the concrete results of hard work and sustained effort.

8. Teamwork and discipline through rehearsals, ensembles, practicing, and performing.

9. Self-expression, meaningfulness, and self-esteem.

10. The creation of multi-dimensional workers, and good communicators.

11. Taking chances, conquering fear, and working through anxiety.

12. An arts education exposes children to the incomparable.

and.....IT'S FUN!