The 2008 Winter Conference promises to be a special treat for those of us who teach strings and a treat as well for the junior high school students we recommend for the Conference Orchestra. We are delighted that Michele Winter, Director of Strings at Lowell High School in San Francisco will be this year’s Orchestra Director. Michele has one of the finest string programs in California, has given many years of service to CMEA and has graced our podium once before as Director of the Winter Conference Junior High Orchestra. She has conducted festival orchestras in Northern California and presented sessions at regional and state CMEA conferences and at OAKE national conferences. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Teaching Music Through Performance, Strings Magazine and the Music Educators Journal.

Please remember that it is easy to recommend your finer students by logging in to SoloChair.com, scrolling down the large festival page to the conference orchestra, and following the prompts. High school directors, don’t neglect to nominate your freshmen musicians. This is a great opportunity for them to obtain early leadership experience that will enhance your program when they become sophomores, juniors and seniors. The conference orchestra will rehearse just across the lawn from the SJSU music building, so I hope you will take the opportunity to drop by and watch Michele rehearse.

Friday morning Mark Wardlaw will lead his award-winning Santa Rosa High School Orchestra in a session entitled, “Achieving Better Rhythmic Accuracy With Your String Orchestra (and observations on rehearsal techniques and philosophies).” Since 1990, Mark has been the director of bands, jazz band and orchestra at Santa Rosa High School. He also plays in several professional jazz groups, directs the Wednesday Night Jazz Band at Santa Rosa Junior College and writes for San Francisco Classical Voice.

We are grateful to JW Pepper and Alfred Publishing for bringing us renowned string educator Bob Phillips for three sessions. Composer, pedagogue, and teacher trainer, Bob brings a wealth of knowledge and a sense of humor to his clinics, drawn from his 27 years as a public school string teacher in Saline, Michigan. Credited as the “father of fiddling in the schools,” he is a leader in the use of alternative styles and an expert in large group pedagogy. One of today’s leading educational composers and arrangers, his pieces are performed by thousands of string students each year. Friday afternoon, Bob will lead the Santa Rosa High School Orchestra in a reading session of new music for string and full orchestra from elementary to advanced levels.

After a short break to catch your breath—and to visit our vendor exhibits—the celebrated and innovative Cypress String Quartet will give a brief performance to lead off a roundtable discussion on the subject, “Incorporating More Chamber Music into the Music Curriculum.” (We expect that choir and band teachers will also gain insights from the discussion.) Since its inception in 1996, the Cypress String Quartet has built a respected body of new music, commissioning and premiering over 25 works from many of America’s leading composers. As Quartet-in-Residence at San José State University, the quartet’s strengths in performance and education combine to serve the University and the greater San Francisco Bay Area community.

Joining members of the quartet in the discussion will be Sandra Lewis, associate director of instrumental music at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, Vivian McNulty, director of instrumental music at Blach Intermediate School in Los Altos and Dr. Tom Tatton who teaches in the Lincoln Unified School District in Stockton. Sandi has built a fine large ensemble and chamber string program at Gunn High School. Vivian has given great service to CMEA Bay Section as conference orchestra manager as well as the special representative and resident guru for Solo and Ensemble Festivals. “Dr. Tom,” as Tom Tatton is affectionately known to his students, is past president of the American Viola Society and currently serves as vice-president of the International Viola Society.

The distinguished panel will provide a forum for instrumental and vocal music teachers to share ideas about how to incorporate more chamber music into the school curriculum. This session is conveniently scheduled to immediately proceed the wine and cheese tasting Friday evening.
Saturday morning Bob Phillips will offer two sessions. In the first, “The How-to’s of Fiddling for Your Strings,” Mr. Phillips will present and illustrate a variety of fiddling techniques that can be used in ensemble class and can become powerful adjuncts to the string curriculum. Fiddling is guaranteed to put a smile on your students’ faces.

Hopefully music teachers of all levels and interests will join us for Bob’s second session entitled, “I Love Band, Orchestra and Choir.” Bob will share secrets of success for recruiting and motivating students that results in high retention rates and large programs. Come find out about the who, what, why, where, when and how for all levels of instruction. Afterwards join us at the CMEA luncheon and afternoon concerts by our wonderful Junior High School musicians.

I hope that all of you have had a wonderful and rejuvenating summer vacation. Being the son of an architect, I get pleasure and relaxation in executing small building projects that make available space more efficient. Th is summer’s projects included new percussion shelves in the instrumental hall and a new redwood planter box at home.

Aspirations

Each of us charts different goals from year to year. I intend to complete the fourth bundle of orchestra sight-reading material this year, finishing the rotation. Having four year’s worth of different music for sight-reading at festival, as with All-State audition materials, will save us the bother of preparing a new set each year. I would also like to update our database of orchestra directors to help improve communication. It would be terrific if each of you fiddlemeisters could take a moment to email me your contact information, your school and the classes you teach. This will make it possible for me, Sharon Calonico, Sofia Fojas and others to pass along information to you about such things as workshops and performances. My address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

CODA and All-State

This year’s CODA Orchestra Festival will be held at the University of Redlands on December 7 and 8, with conductors Louis Bergonzi and Neal Stulberg. Application forms and excerpts can be downloaded from the CMEA website, calmusiced.com, and are due on October 5. The same website has materials for the All-State orchestra application due December 1. It’s not too soon to get excited about the fact that this year’s All-State Orchestra conductor will be Mallory Thompson from Northwestern University. One of my very favorite conductors, Mallory has received rave reviews from musicians and critics alike wherever she has guest conducted, including her two stints with our own Silicon Valley Symphony.

Large Group Festivals

I need hardly remind you that CMEA festivals fill up fast! Don’t be shut out or forced to take a long, expensive bus trip to another county. Go on line September 1 or soon after to solochair.com to apply, then reserve buses for the day, and request release time and substitutes before your school’s quota is used up. With limited resources and tight bus schedules I know this is diffi cult to do, but try to schedule the day of the festival so that your students can observe another ensemble or two. That’s when our students can best appreciate all the hard work they put in to making great music. Last year it seemed that more directors had their groups fill out ratings sheets as they listened to other ensembles, a wonderful way of engaging them in the evaluation process.

Winter Conference

One of our goals for the Winter Conference ensembles has been to alternate between local conductors and those from out of the area. This provides us the chance to celebrate our local talent as well as to touch base with what’s going on in other parts of the country. I am very pleased to announce that this year’s Junior High Orchestra Director will be Michele Winters from Lowell High School in San Francisco. Michele has developed a model program at her school, has provided great service to CMEA Bay Section and is a pleasure to work with. This will mark Michele’s second appearance as guest conductor at our conference. As always, we hope to attract our fi nest string students. High school orchestra directors: please encourage your 9th graders to apply. Th is is a wonderful opportunity for them to begin honing the leadership skills they will use in your ensemble when they are older. I am also excited to announce that string expert Bob Phillips will be joining us from Michigan. A renowned teacher of “fiddle” music, veteran clinician and respected composer, Bob will conduct a reading session of new orchestra music for all levels, teach us how to incorporate fi ddle techniques in the classroom and present a general session about how to motivate students in all of our ensembles. One more preview about the Winter Conference: building on the great success of our roundtable discussion last year, we will have another panel of experts to talk about ways to incorporate more chamber music into the curriculum. Th e session will be introduced and informed by a performance by the Cypress String Quartet, resident artists at San José State University! Don’t think of missing this year’s conference — January 11 and 12.

Have an enjoyable, fulfi lling year.