Member Announcements
We welcome all announcements of interest.
News - April 2008
We are delighted to present not only a pair of workshops, but also a concert, by the talented performer/teachers Nina Stern (recorders) and Mauricio Molina (percussion), from New York. This is a rare opportunity not only to hear an exciting performance with "Flutes and Drums Around the World", but also to get hands-on practice so you can take the experience back to your students or ensembles at home! Keep reading for full information about the workshops, the concert, and the performers.
Nina Stern & Mauricio Molina, Recorder/Percussion Workshops
2:00 — 6:30 pm
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive,
Austin, Texas -- See map
Recorder and Percussion Workshops
on Renaissance Dance and World Music
Workshop fee only $20 per session (payable at the door)
Nina and Mauricio will offer 2 two-hour workshop sessions; the fee for each session is $20 per person. If you attend both sessions, the fee would be $40.
Session #1 Renaissance Dance Music (2:00 — 4:00 pm)
The first two-hour session will concentrate on the dance music of Renaissance Italy, France and Germany. Participants can alternate playing recorders and hand drums (some extra drums will be available) and will learn basic rhythmic patterns and drumming techniques that will enable them to add a rhythm section to their recorder consorts.
Session #2 World Music (4:30 — 6:30 pm)
In the second two-hour session, learn how to play an Arabic melody, a Macedonian tune in 7/8 meter, or a Brazilian samba. Participants will be introduced to the melodies and rhythms of traditional music from around the world. Recorders and hand drums will be used in this session as well.
Recorder players and percussionists at any level are welcome to attend.
Please send email to nina_workshop@toot.org by April 25, so we have an idea how many people to expect. It's OK to send us an RSVP later, or even just to show up -- but we'll be better prepared the more people we hear from.
Remember to bring along a music stand and any recorders you wish to play!
Nina Stern & Mauricio Molina, Concert
"Flutes and Drums Around the World"
Monday, May 5th, 2008
7:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive,
Austin, Texas -- See map
$18 general admission, $13 students and seniors, $8 under 18
Nina Stern (recorders) and Mauricio Molina (percussion) will perform hauntingly beautiful melodies from Armenia, lively dances from the Balkans and Medieval Italy, and hypnotic rhythms and songs from the Middle East. For more information, call (512) 371-0099.
Biographies of the Artists
Nina Stern, a native New Yorker, is one of North America's leading performers of the recorder and classical clarinet. She received a Soloist's Degree from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland and is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music. Together with percussionist Mauricio Molina, Nina has created a course for school music teachers, introducing them to a new approach to classroom recorder teaching. "Flutes and Drums Around the World" uses music from around the globe and spanning the centuries to energize school children of diverse backgrounds, making instrumental music appealing and accessible to them.
Mauricio Molina, historical musicologist and percussionist, is the director of the medieval music ensemble Sendebar and has taught recorder and percussion in New York public schools for the Boys Choir of Harlem, the Carnegie Hall Education Outreach Program, and the New York Collegium. Mauricio is dedicated to the reconstruction of medieval Mediterranean music. His dissertation, "Frame Drums in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula," received the Higini Angles prize in 2006.
National ARS Board meeting - Austin hosting postponed
The National ARS Board meeting for Fall 2008 will be held in Toronto rather than Austin, due to some logistical considerations for presenting the 2008 Composition Award to its winner. Instead, Austin will host the Winter 2009 meeting of the Board, probably in February or March. Preparations and arrangements will soon be underway. Host homes for about 10 Board members (for Thursday evening through Sunday morning of the selected weekend), and a suitable site for the business meetings of the Board on Friday and Saturday, will be needed. If you have ideas or can offer a meeting site or a host home, contact any Austin Chapter board officer.
News - November 2007
On Saturday, Dec. 1, members of the Austin ARS chapter will be participating in Christmas festivities for the child development center at the Austin Mennonite Church, our meeting venue. Parents and children will be entertained by holiday music as they enjoy activities and refreshments.
The Austin chapter is looking forward to presenting a workshop with Nina Stern (recorder) and Mauricio Molina (percussion), sometime in May 2008. Stay tuned for more information!
In September, 2008, we will be honored to host the Fall meeting of the national ARS Board. Preparations and arrangements will soon be underway. Host homes for about 10 Board members (for Thursday evening through Sunday morning of the selected weekend), and a suitable site for the business meetings of the Board on Friday and Saturday, will be needed. If you have ideas or can offer a meeting site or a host home, contact any Austin Chapter board officer.
Eva Legêne Recorder Workshop
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Event report:
The Austin chapter was privileged to present a day-long recorder workshop by Eva Legêne on Saturday, February 17, 2007. Inspired by the book "Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment (P.S.)" by James R. Gaines, we looked at all that was happening in music when Bach met his son Carl Philip and Frederick the Great in Potsdam. Many of the arrangements for the workshop were made by Marianne Weiss-Kim, Kate Bracher, Derek Wills and David Melanson. (Click the thumbnail to see the larger picture in a separate window. Eva is center front, in gray jacket.)
The workshop was a wonderful success! There were 18 participants (although a few could not be there for the whole time). We played through a marvelous variety of music and received not only technical tips (tonguing, tone production, etc) but also historical, cultural and philosophical insights from Eva.
The pieces we played (I'm sorry I didn't take down the order in which we went through them, but it gave us an interesting contrast as we went from piece to piece) are:
- Perpetuum mobile aus der gleichnamige Suite by Georg Philip Telemann; SATB, from the Quartett-Spielbuch published by Noetzel, N 3964. A great warmup piece to get the fingers moving and the 16th notes clicking away!
- Opening by Philip Glass; transcribed and arranged by Bruce Larkin, raised a step for recorders; no publisher information given. This is also a kind of "perpetuum mobile" (perpetual motion). Minimalist language but still very listenable; lots of 3-against-2 figures to produce that "wash of sound" feeling.
- Fuge C-Dur 'Dona nobis pacem' aus der h-Moll Messe by Johann Sebastian Bach; SATB, from the Quartett-Spielbuch published by Noetzel, N 3964.
- Turkish Dance, a study in alternate fingering; unison, no composer or publisher information given. We did not actually use this for alternate fingerings, but simply to wake up our brains with some multi-meter counting at faster and faster speeds! "This study is based on the Turkish rhythm 3 x 2 + 3..."
- Larghetto Cantabile from Trio F-Dur by Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach; ATB, arranged by Ulrich Hermann, published by Noetzel N3919. A beautiful trio, and Eva says the other movements of this piece are just as lovely -- and more difficult!
- Aria and Rigaudon from an F major trio for 3 flutes by Johann Joachim Quantz; AAA, no discernible publisher information. The "bass" line was low enough that it was easily playable on tenor, lending some nice gravity to the sound.
- Rondo from 'Pantalon und Columbine' KV 446 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; SATB, from the Quartett-Spielbuch published by Noetzel, N 3964. This was so much fun! Mozart's puckish sense of humor comes out loud and clear.
- Spring Dance by Andrew Challinger; SATB, published by Oriel Library OL147. Modern "jazzy" piece, with an ostinato-ish accompaniment throughout.
Lunch on your own from noon - 1:00
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive,
Austin, Texas -- See map
Music of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and Frederick the Great
Workshop fee only $25 (payable at the door)
Inspired by the book "Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment (P.S.)" by James R. Gaines, we will look at all that was happening in music when Bach met his son Carl Philip and Frederick The Great in Potsdam. Music examples, suitable for intermediate/advanced players, will illustrate the subject.
Recorder players from low intermediate through advanced are welcome to attend. It is possible that a limited number of private lessons may be arranged ahead of time; when you RSVP to the email address below, please let us know that you would like to contact Eva to try to make arrangements.
Please try to send email to eva_workshop@toot.org by February 8, so we have an idea how many people to expect. It's OK to send us an RSVP later, or even just to show up -- but we'll be better prepared the more people we hear from.
Please remember to bring a music stand and any recorders you wish to play. There are eating establishments near the church, or bring a sack lunch with you.
An Afternoon with
Weiland Kuijken, Eva Legêne and Cory Jamason
Sunday, February 18, 4:00 pm
St. Cecilia Music Series is pleased to host a rare performance in Austin, Texas by three exceptional musicians: Weiland Kuijken, playing the viola da gamba, Cory Jamason, playing the harpsichord and Eva Legêne, playing the recorder. The concert will take place at First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin TX (see map). Tickets are $15/$12 (seniors and students).
Wieland Kuijken has become the world's leading performer and teacher of the viola da gamba. Since 1971, he has taught gamba at the Conservatoires of the Hague and Brussels and has served frequently on the juries of international competitions held in cities such as Bruges (Brugge), Paris, Boston, and Utrecht. Mr. Kuijken is a founding member of La Petite Bande and has, since 1987, been cellist with the Kuijken String Quartet. Since 1988, he has appeared regularly as conductor with the Collegium Europae, giving concerts and making recordings in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Mr. Kuijken frequently performs the complete suites for cello solo by J. S. Bach and - together with Jan Vermeulen - the sonatas and variations for cello and piano by L. von Beethoven.
Corey Jamason, harpsichordist, is an active soloist and chamber music collaborator throughout the United States and Europe. He is Artistic Director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque, a chamber music ensemble that is a part of the ensemble Camerata Pacifica, now in its tenth season and called by the Los Angeles Times "the best chamber music reason to get out of the house in these parts". Jamason has appeared several times on National Public Radio's "Performance Today" and has been a guest artist at the Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He has appeared with ensembles such as Musica Angelica, BOMB, and the Erato Ensemble. With recorder player Astrid Andersson he has performed in Germany, England, Denmark, Belgium and the United States as a member of Duo Affetto.
Eva Legêne is a former student of Frans Brüggen in The Hague, and has been a faculty member of the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Ms. Legêne served as the director of the North American Recorder Conference at Indiana University. She concertizes extensively as a soloist and in collaboration with Frans Brüggen, Wieland and Bart Kuijken, John Gibbons, and the Rosenborg Trio. Legêne's recordings can be found on the Telefunken label, the Brüggen Consort label, and as soloist on the Denon label.