Thanks to all of you who participated in this year’s Winter Conference by attending sessions, assisting with various tasks and recommending your excellent string students for the Conference Orchestra. I hope that you had an enjoyable and enriching experience. I was so impressed by the quality of offerings in all areas, that I felt the same feelings as last year: there were simply too many great sessions for one person to attend.

Did you enjoy Bob Phillips as much as I did? His enthusiastic embrace of alternative styles such as fiddle music, mariachi and jazz brings a breath of fresh air to those of us who haven’t ventured far from the standard fare in our curricula. His general session concerning attracting and retaining students to our programs was full of great ideas that we would do well to adopt or revisit. We may never develop programs as massive and vibrant as his, but he reminds us that our reach can indeed exceed our grasp when we proceed with hope, energy, commitment and a little chutzpa.

I’m sure that all of you who heard the quality of the conference orchestra performance agree that Michele Winter accomplished wonders
in a single weekend as our conference orchestra conductor. The repertoire she selected was of excellent quality and very attractive for adults as well as junior high musicians. With gentle empathy, Michele coaxed a performance of uncommon depth and sophistication out of her young charges. What a fine model of conducting technique she provides for the rest of us!

Thanks to Sharon Calonico and Vivian McNulty for sharing the daunting job of orchestra manager. Cheerfully and tirelessly they organized and collated student applications, planned the orchestra’s audition and rehearsal schedule, set up rehearsal spaces, oversaw registration, created the student placement cards, and helped Maestra Winter organize the rehearsals, breaks and the performance itself. Thanks also to those who helped prepare sections for the first rehearsal. Seating auditions were judged by Loretta McNulty, Kate Meyer, Stephen Moore, Tristan Arnold and Richard Frazier. Sectionals were run by Cathy deVos, Ann Spector, Joffria Whitfield and Anne Lerner Wright. We are grateful for your generosity and expertise.

Many thanks to Jim Mazzaferro and the Cazadero Summer Music Camp for generously providing four scholarships to our young string players. This year’s recipients, each a principal in the conference orchestra, are Ray Zhao, violin, Winnie Ding, viola, Michael Lu, cello and Aaron Yim, contrabass. Thanks also to Dr. Edward Harris and the CSU San Jose “Summer in the City” Music Camp for extending a $50 scholarship to every single member of the orchestra!
Thanks to Mark Wardlaw and his fine Santa Rosa High School Orchestra for presenting an informative session about orchestral rhythm and rehearsal techniques and for preparing performances of new pieces for strings at the reading session. Thanks also to conductor Bob Phillips of Alfred Publishing for selecting, conducting and speaking about the music and to Scott Grady of J.W. Pepper for providing the music as well as the annotation handouts.
I must admit that my favorite session was the chamber music roundtable. What better way to introduce the session than to have a breathtaking performance of a movement of Beethoven’s Opus 132 string quartet by the Cypress Quartet? Then what a panel of experts to discuss incorporating chamber music in the school curriculum: Sandra Lewis, Vivian McNulty, Tom Tatton and the quartet: Cecily Ward, Tom Stone, Ethan Filner and Jennifer Kloetzel. It was a deep and thoughtful discussion that brought us back to the heart of what we care aboutmost as musicians and educators—personal expression that connects with other people.

Refreshing and energizing to the max! While the conference is still fresh in your memory please e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with any thoughts, suggestions and/or complaints. Let me know if you have ideas for next year’s sessions or if you would like to be considered for a particular task next year. After three years I will be stepping down as orchestra representative, but I hope to continue to serve the board in some capacity and I will be happy to advise and mentor our new rep. Fresh blood is good! Consider throwing your hat into the ring.
 

Best of luck to all of you for an enjoyable second semester. I hope to hear your orchestras at some of our CMEA festivals in the spring.