NCMTA 55th STATE CONFERENCE
Mars Hill College
October 24-27, 2013
Thomas Swenson, NCTM, President-Elect
March 26, 2013
Greetings colleagues and friends! Although I am writing this on a wintery day at the end of March, I have a feeling that spring will be here this week, summer will come soon thereafter, and the fall will be upon us. One of the highlights of fall for us music teachers is the NCMTA State Conference. This year we will meet in the beautiful mountains of our state at Mars Hill College. Prepare yourself for another memorable, but busy time. As always, we hope to reconnect with other passionate music educators, make new friends, and be inspired by innovative ideas. I don’t know how it happened (actually, I do), but there will be sessions from around noon on Friday until mid-afternoon on Sunday. And you won’t want to miss a minute. Seriously! With the speakers and performers we already have scheduled, you definitely will want to find a substitute for your church gigs for this weekend.
I visited Mars Hill College in January to meet with Teresa Sumpter and other faculty members at the college. They are very excited to share their facilities and talents with us. I strongly encourage you to make your hotel reservations as soon as possible as this will be a peak time, for people from all over the country, to visit the North Carolina mountains in the splendor of autumn. Hotel information is available on the NCMTA website.
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2013 Conference Artists and Guests
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David Northington, Guest Artist
At his New York debut recital at Carnegie Recital Hall, the New York Times called David Northington “an immensely gifted musician…who combines the technical mastery of a virtuoso with the musical sensitivity of a poet.” Such critical accolades have followed Northington throughout the world in concerts and concerto engagements. His tours have included the United States, eastern and western Europe, Canada, China, and Russia. In addition to recitals and concerto engagements, he has given master classes at many of the leading conservatories in these countries. David Northington’s masterful pianism has won him first prizes in the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the East/West Artists Competition, the American Music Scholarship Association’s International Competition, the unanimous Judges Prize at the Fourth Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and selection to the Artistic Ambassador Program sponsored by the United States Information Agency. As an Artistic Ambassador for the United States, Northington has toured extensively in France, Spain and Portugal. In addition to broadcasts throughout Europe on the Voice of America, he has filmed recitals in the historic Tallyrand Theatre in Paris for telecast on French National Television. Recently, Northington celebrated the international release of a compact disc featuring of the waltzes of Chopin on the Centaur Records label. After this release, Dr. Northington was invited to perform solo recitals in the United States, Italy and Poland. Since receiving his degrees at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music, David Northington has taught on the faculties of several universities. His many teaching awards include the Tennessee Music Teachers Association’s Teacher of the Year Award and the Tennessee Governor’s School of the Arts “Outstanding Teacher Award’. Dr. Northington has also been the recipient of the Tennesssee Arts Commission’s Artist of the Year Award.
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Robert Duke, Guest Presenter
Robert Duke is the Marlene and Morton Meyerson Centennial Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is University Distinguished Teaching Professor, Elizabeth Shatto Massey Distinguished Fellow in Teacher Education, and Director of the Center for Music Learning. He is also an advisor to the Psychology of Learning Program at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles. The most recent recipient of MENC's Senior Researcher Award, Dr. Duke has directed national research efforts under the sponsorship of such organizations as the National Piano Foundation and the International Suzuki Institute. His research on human learning and behavior spans multiple disciplines, including motor skill learning, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. His most recent work explores procedural memory consolidation and the cognitive processes engaged during musical improvisation. A former studio musician and public school music teacher, he has worked closely with children at-risk, both in the public schools and through the juvenile justice system. He is the author of Scribe 4 behavior analysis software, and his most recent books are Intelligent Music Teaching: Essays on the Core Principles of Effective Instruction and The Habits of Musicianship, which he co-authored with Jim Byo of Louisiana State University.
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Andy Beck, Guest Presenter / Clinician
Andy Beck received a Bachelors degree in Music Education from Ithaca College and a Masters degree in Music Education from Northwest Missouri State University. Following his nine year appointment as Vocal Music Director at Johnson City High School in New York State, Andy joined the editorial team of Alfred Publishing Company where he currently serves as Managing Editor, School Choral and Classroom Publications.
A successful composer and arranger, he has authored several top-selling chorals and children's musicals for Alfred, as well as co-written the highly regarded method book, Sing at First Sight, Foundations in Choral Sight-Singing. Andy is in demand as a guest conductor, choreographer, and clinician for music educators and students throughout the country.
A fine tenor voice, he enjoys performing in and directing musical theater, singing with the North Carolina Master Chorale Chamber Choir, and has been an Alfred studio singer since 1992.
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J. Mark Scearce, NCMTA Commissioned Composer
J. Mark Scearce is one of North Carolina's most recognized and performed composers. Recipient of the 2010 Raleigh Medal of Arts and the 2009 International Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Music Composition, Scearce has sixty active titles in his catalogue, including musical settings of more than two hundred texts by forty poets. Scearce’s many works for orchestra, band, chorus, opera, chamber, and ballet have been performed throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. The recipient of five advanced degrees in music, philosophy and religion, including the doctorate in composition from Indiana University, Scearce has won six international music competitions and his music is available on seven commercial recordings. Having taught on the music faculties of the Universities of Hawaii, North Texas, and Southern Maine, he is presently Director of the Music Department at NC State where he is a tenured professor in the College of Design.
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Karen Thickstun, Piano Teachers Banquet Speaker / session presenter
Karen Thickstun has served as director of the Butler Community Arts School at Butler University since its inception in 2002. She coordinates the piano pedagogy program at Butler University and directs the Butler Piano Pedagogy Symposium and the Butler Piano Camps. She holds degrees from Duke University (piano performance, economics), University of Virginia (masters in business administration) and Butler University (masters in music education). She is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM).
Thickstun is past president of the Indiana Music Teachers Association and is the recently elected MTNA Secretary Treasurer. In 2008, Thickstun was recognized as "Teacher of the Year" by the Indiana Music Teachers Association. She authors a regular business column, "It's All Your Business," for the American Music Teacher periodical. Her articles have also appeared in Keyboard Companion, Junior Keynotes, and Indiana Music Teacher.
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