New York American String Teachers Association
Zone 4 NEWS!
A full time elementary string position at
Whitesboro is open starting in the fall. Jen Willis is getting
married this summer and moving with her husband to St. Louis. (What
a loss for us!) The high school program had over 20 students
participate in the NYSSMA solo festival this year with many high
scores. 5 students performed in the Area all-State Orchestra. The
musical (Seussical) was performed with mainly a student pit
orchestra.
We have a chamber group and a very active quartet
that performed for Ride for Missing Children, several school
functions, and the St. Elizabeth's school of nursing graduation
dinner. We had many concerts in March to celebrate Music in our
Schools Month.
Fulton City School District
We took the 7th and 8th graders to see Blue Man in NYC May 30th and had a great time! Kelly Evans is having baby number 2 sometime this summer!
Patti Davis arranged for the Great Bear Trio to play/discuss folk music with our string students in grades 4-12. Pattie was the String Chairperson for NYSSMA and was responsible for organizing the fantastic String Sessions at the 2008 NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester. She was responsible for bringing string educators and clinicians extraordinaire Dr. Robert Gillespie and Bob Phillips. We bid Patti Davis a fond farewell as she is moving to Atlanta, GA! Patti has been with the Fulton City School District for 18 years. She has made quite an impact on string teaching in our zone and will be greatly missed!
Clinton
Central School District
Marlene Hawkins, District Orchestra Director for the Clinton Central School District guest conducted the festival orchestra for the Oneida Elementary All-County Music Festival in April. Selections included: La Rejouissance, Handel/Meyer; Tango d’Amour, Susan H. Day; Dragon Slayer, Rob Grice; and Zydeco Two-Step, Doug Spata where each section took turns standing (including cellos) when it was their turn to “fiddle”.
Student Jennifer Rayne, violin, was selected and performed in the Conference All-State String Orchestra at the NYSSMA Winter Conference. Congratulations to Senior Damian Scalise, jazz guitar, on his acceptance to Ithaca College as a Music Performance and major.
A “Spring String Fling” concert was recently performed combining the Clinton Elementary 4-6 Orchestra program with neighboring New Hartford Central School’s Suzuki String program students in grades 2-4. Over 200 students took to the stage performing songs in grand play down style learned from Essential Elements 2000 Book I, and Suzuki Book I. The concert concluded with the traditional Twinkle Theme while the audience of 700 sang along!
New
Hartford Central School District
T.J. McAvaney continues to serve as Music Department Chairperson for the New Hartford Central School District. T.J. serves as the NYSSMA All-State Orchestra Chairperson. He is responsible in overseeing the Conference All-State String and Symphony Orchestra ensembles that perform at the annual Winter Conference. He is very much in demand as a clinician, adjudicator and conductor.
The NH High School String Orchestra enjoyed a trip to New York City where they enjoyed the Broadway show, Jersey Boys.
The String Faculty of Michelle Wilcox, Margaret Jevens, and T.J. McAvaney prepared students for the “Spring String Fling” concert hosted recently at neighboring Clinton Central School District’s Performing Arts Theatre. New Hartford is looking forward to perform in their own newly renovated Theatre scheduled to be completed in the Spring of 2010.
Congratulations to Senior Claire Wilcox, violin, on her acceptance to Ithaca College as a Music Performance and Education major. Claire performed in the NYSSMA Conference All-State String Orchestra, and the All-Eastern Festival Orchestra held in Providence, RI this year. She is the daughter of New Hartford’s own String Teacher, Michelle Wilcox.
Submitted by Marlene Hawkins - Zone 4 Representative