Eau Claire,
WI,
54701
cvmusicteachers@gmail.com
The Eau Claire Community Foundation is celebrating its 25th anniversary by helping local non-profits raise funds. CVMTA proudly supports area music teachers as they train the next generation of musicians. The money we raise will help students share their music with the community and set them on a life-long track of making music.
Spread the word!
Greeting! I am very excited about our upcoming CVMTA year. You have a great board and they have been at work this summer on your behalf. I am also excited to see you, my music colleague. So, as your President and fellow teacher I have two invitations for you.
The first is an invitation to our upcoming program on Saturday, September 19, at 1:00 PM, at the Haas Fine Arts Building. I am looking forward to being challenged and motivated to develop my skills in curriculum planning and repertoire selection. Besides providing an educational experience, the meeting is a great time to network, make friends, and be encouraged through fellowship. I always look forward to our time together. Please come and make it a part of your professional experience. We need you.
My second invitation is to participate in Junior Festival, sponsored by the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs. Junior Festival is an adjudicated event much like District Auditions. So you might say, “Why should I participate in that when I have District Auditions?” Consider this:
One of our participating members had this to say,
“I have seen great progress in my students who participate in Jr. Festival. They are better prepared for WMTA Auditions. It also gives opportunity for my younger students to perform and then progress on to state when they are too young to progress on to State with WMTA. The kids are very proud of their accomplishments.”
My challenge to CVMTA is to increase our participation in this event by 10%. Will you help us do that? It is a great event. The date is Saturday, March 5, at the Haas Fine Arts Center.
Esther Pedigo
President, CVMTA
Do you or your students … 
This is the workshop for you!
Using our bodies in the most efficient way is vital to producing a good sound and maintaining good health. Dr. William Conable, a pioneering Alexander technique teacher and professor of cello at Ohio State University, realized an interesting fact: We move like we think. If we correct our notions about how our bodies work, correcting our physical motions is natural. He coined the term “Body Map” for our concept of our bodies.
On January 17, 2015, we have the privilege of hosting Melanie Sever (www.melaniesever.com) with the six-hour course “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body.” Participants will work to develop an accurate mental image of their bodies through explanations, anatomical models and pictures, and observation. This enables them to use their bodies effectively when performing.
Teachers will get an added benefit in learning how Body Maps are communicated and corrected. Every element of technique in making music is related to physical motion. Body Mapping provides tools to help students understand exactly what they need to do.
This workshop is open to all interested parties. A discounted rate from Ms. Sever, some grants, and fundraising have kept the costs down. We hope that you will join us in the new year for this exciting opportunity.
Get $5 off by registering by January 10! Registration Form
(This will help us predict attendance.)
Dr. Aurélien Pétillot (bio) will be with us to present “The Art of Musical Interpretation…or how to justify spending way too much time on YouTube.”
Through a great variety of audio visual examples, performance comparisons, and extra-musical elements, Dr. Pétillot’s lecture will focus on how to attain a deeper listening experience, a more informed and contextual approach to music, a more intimate understanding of styles, and a more truthful yet personal performance. It will also explore ways to use youtube, spotify, and other resources, as efficient and engaging didactic tools.
Join us for fun and educational afternoon.
Violist Aurélien Pétillot has garnered much esteem as a versatile and engaging performer and pedagogue. He has been invited as a guest artist and soloist by many ensembles and orchestras, in Europe and North America, both on Baroque and modern violas.
A passionate chamber musician, and an ardent advocate of music by living composers, he is a founding member of the Chiaroscuro Trio, whose debut CD of world premiere recordings of contemporary American works for voice, viola, and piano was released by Albany Records in the summer of 2013. In a review of the CD, Fanfare Magazine commended his “rich, beautiful tone that would be the envy of many a chamber or solo violist today.” He has played with the Cavani String Quartet, members of the Azmari, Mirò, and Tosca String Quartets, and toured with The Young Eight, the only professional String Octet in America. He is also the founder and artistic director of Viola By Choice, a non-profit chamber ensemble dedicated to promoting the originality, versatility and importance of the viola and its repertoire. Viola By Choice received the 2009 Austin Table Critics Award for “Best body of work”, and was praised for “offering smart and alluring programs that feed the brain and the soul – and do so with polished, enthusiastic musicianship.” Viola by Choice released its CD, Florilegium in 2010.
Aurélien Pétillot holds a Bachelor’s in musicology and performance from the Paris-Sorbonne University, a Master’s from the Mannes College of Music, in New York, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. His principal teachers, Jean-Claude Bouveresse, Alexander Brussilovsky, Pierre-Henri Xuereb, Caroline Levine, and Roger Myers, are heirs of an impressive lineage of pedagogues and performers that traces all the way back to Vivaldi and Corelli.
Currently, Dr. Pétillot is lecturer of viola and theory at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, principal violist with the Camerata Chicago, co-principal violist of the Lacrosse Symphony, and conductor of the Red Cedar Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he was the music director of the Chippewa Valley Youth Symphony, the viola and music history faculty at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, a faculty artist with the Austin Chamber Music Center, and the viola faculty at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. He also played regularly with the Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Victoria symphony orchestras, as well as the Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin. His lecture/recital entitled Death Symbolism as Creative Hallmark in Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata, based on his doctoral thesis, has been presented in various universities in America as part of the commemorations celebrating the 100th anniversary of Shostakovich’s birth. Other lectures have dealt with humor in music, the inter-relationships between the arts, and of course, the viola. A review by the Austin American Statesman of a concert of viola works inspired by colors reads: “The concert epitomizes the kind of eclectic, inclusive, lively programming that Pétillot promotes. Dialogue with other musicians, collaboration with other art forms, supporting the emerging composers of his own generation, digging through archives to find the forgotten gems of the viola repertoire— these are things that ignite Pétillot.
February 4, 2014, 7:30 pm (Tuesday)
Faculty Recital: Dr. Elizabeth Petillot, contralto, with Dr. Owen Lovell
UWEC Haas Fine Arts
February 6, 2014, 7:30 pm (Thursday)
Guest Artist Recital: Carlos Rondon, viola
UWEC Haas Fine Arts
February 8, 2014, 7:30 pm (Saturday)
Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra
American Music Through the Years
State Regional Arts Theater
February 9, 2014 (Sunday)
Federation Jr. Festival
UWEC – Haas Fine Arts
February 9, 2014, 5:00 pm (Sunday)
Faculty Recital: Dr. Nick Phillips
American Vernacular
UWEC – Haas Fine Arts
February 23, 2014, 12:30 pm (Sunday)
Organ Scholarship Auditions
Chippewa Valley chapter of the American Guild of Organists
Lake Street United Methodist Church
February 28, 2014 (Friday)
Deadline for WMTA registrations
March 1, 2014, 1-3 pm (Saturday)
CVMTA Meeting
Dr. Aurelien Petillot
Haas Fine Arts Room 160
March 1, 2014, 4-9 pm (Saturday)
Work day for WMTA Auditions
Sandra Statz’s house
March 1, 2014, 7:30 pm (Saturday)
Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra
American Gems
First Lutheran Church
On January 18, we had a wonderful Skype presentation from Jane Scheef about taxes. She gave a general overview of deductions music teachers can take and gave many tips. She also took questions from the floor and was able to address the concerns of attendees.
A smorgasbord of her information:
Thank you, Jane, for taking the time to talk to us!
Jane Scheef has a degree in Music Education from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota with an emphasis in piano. She taught in the public school systems in South Dakota and Iowa until moving to Wisconsin in 1973. From that time until April of 2012, she taught privately. From 1988 to 2008, she worked for H & R Block. She was a Sr. Tax Preparer and Office Leader and had her Enrolled Agent certification with the IRS for 17 years. She continues to do volunteer taxes with AARP.
Ms. Scheef states: “I have loved every minute of my music teaching and tax preparing careers (well nearly every minute) and am so happy to be able to combine the two for my colleagues in both areas.” She join us via Skype to cover basic and specific deductions for music teachers as well as record keeping and the required documentation for purchases, travel, etc.
We regret to announce that we will not be able to use the new Ovations! system to register for WMTA Auditions this year. While much work has been done, it still requires a little checking and tweaking before full-scale use.
There will be some time following the tax presentation if teachers wish to stay for informal discussion. Sandra Statz will be available to give a peak at the future of Auditions registration. (The computer program will be wonderful when it is finally ready.) Teachers with questions about Auditions or other events should bring them. Otherwise, just enjoy a few minutes to chat.
On November 16, 2013, from 1-3 p.m., Catherine Walby (bio) will be presenting to us on the topic of student assessments. This will include ways in which to communicate with families about student progress. She will share some of the methods and forms she uses to assess her own students each year.
Attendees should bring their own ideas as well.
Read about our November presenter:
Catherine Walby has been teaching piano at the Lawrence Academy of Music since 2000. In addition, she teaches class piano and secondary piano lessons at Lawrence University. She has run the week-long Academy Piano Odyssey camp each summer since 2003 and has served as theory teacher and keyboard department coordinator in the past.
Ms. Walby received a B.M. in piano performance with a pedagogy emphasis and a B.A. in biology from Lawrence University. Her primary teacher was Kathleen Murray for both piano and pedagogy. She received a M.M. in piano performance and pedagogy in 2000 from the University of Oklahoma, studying under Jane Magrath, Andrew Cooperstock and Howard Lubin.
As a member of MTNA (Music Teachers National Association), Ms. Walby has served as Appleton district auditions chair since 2001 and state Badger keyboard auditions chair 2005-2009. She has served as state president since October 2009. She also served as state secretary for several years and has been actively involved in the local Fox Valley MTA.
Ms. Walby continues to play actively, collaborating with colleagues, college students and Academy students on recitals and juries. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and baking with friends, reading, traveling and gardening.
