Spring Newsletter 2004
Dear Friends and Families,
For years I've heard parents, students and concert-goers say to me, "The New School is such a hidden gem. Why don't more people know about you?" In fact the Cambridge Chronicle wrote an article about that a few years ago - all about us being a hidden gem. And while I appreciated the "gem" part, I wasn't nuts about the "hidden" title.
Well, that era is over - we've come out of hiding. Our enrollment is up 27% this year, and we're bursting at the seams in our building. Word has finally hit the streets about the outstanding caliber of our faculty. Whether you're coming to the school for classes with your newborn, your child is beginning Suzuki lessons, or you're an adult coming back to an instrument that you have always loved, you'll find what you want at our school.
Since NSM opened in 1976 it has been our mission to match student with teacher, audience member with performer. We're proud to announce that the Massachusetts Cultural Council officially concurs. This winter they named NSM one of their Creative Teaching Partners - a prestigious list of exceptional artist-educators with extensive experience working with public school students. The MCC has also acknowledged NSM's excellence with an Organizational Support grant for the past three years.
In addition to our lessons and classes, we are committed to serving the greater Cambridge community and making our music accessible through scholarship programs, MusicReach in the public schools, and our free concert series. Please see information on page 3 about our annual fund, and be sure to reserve your Mother's Day concert tickets early - last year we sold out!
Have a happy spring,
Anne Riesenfeld
Executive Director
Sharon Wayne teaches Lisa Jackson.
FACULTY NOTES:
Chester Brezniak's new CD, "Clarinet Now," was released by Centaur on April 1. The album features a premiere of Morton Gould's duo for flute and clarinet, Boston composer Elizabeth Vercoe's Four Humours for clarinet and piano, Jeffrey Chappell's Melancholy Moon, Bernstein's Sonata for flute and clarinet, and Brezniak's transcription for clarinet and piano of Bartok's 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs. On April 4, Chester's group, the Blackstone Trio, performed with renowned mezzo-soprano D'Anna Fortunato and pianist Malcolm Halliday at the Purlang Arts Complex. Chester is currently collaborating on an article with pianist Jeffrey Chappell and flutist Robert Stallman.
Oni Buchanan released her first solo piano CD in March 2004. The CD includes works by Bach, Bartok, Applebaum, and Prokofiev and is available for sale online at http://www.cdfreedom.com/onibuchanan. On April 21, Oni performed a solo piano recital at NSM and at other venues, including recitals at Harvard, New England Conservatory, Moravian Academy (Bethlehem, PA), and the Crown Concert Series (Lancaster, PA). Her first book of poetry, What Animal, was published in October 2003 by the University of Georgia Press. Since its release, Oni has been the featured poet at readings in Boston, New York City, Chicago, Iowa City, and elsewhere. She currently has poems forthcoming in the Best American Poetry 2004; Isn't It Romantic: 100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets; and Verse Magazine.
Jacqueline Devoe is serving her second year as the Artist Teacher in "From the Top & Young Audiences," a MA schools combined project. She performed Carmina Burana with the Masterworks Chorale in late February and St. Matthew Passion with the Cantata Singers in mid-March. Jacqueline will hold a Flute Class Recital at NSM on Sunday, April 25 - all are welcome to participate - call NSM at 617-492-8105.
Shu-Fang Du is teaching a class for undergraduate string players at BU. She performed chamber music concerts in Taiwan in January and will travel to Japan for additional concerts in April.
In January, Elizabeth Landman's students held a benefit recital and raised $400 for Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Kids in Need Foundation, and Lexington Food Pantry. Elizabeth performed in the mixed faculty recital at NSM in February and will return in April to perform with Thomas Mark Fallon, countertenor. On Memorial Day weekend, she will attend the Suzuki Association of America's teacher conference in Minneapolis as President of Suzuki Music Schools of MA.
On March 24, Tali Morgulis' recording of Beethoven's Sonata op. 101 was broadcasted on WQXR 96.3FM in New York, the classical music station of the New York Times. On March 21 and 25, Tali performed solo piano recitals at the "Close-up" recital series in Allston and at Steinert Hall in Boston. Her first piano solo CD featuring music of Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Lutoslawski will soon be released under the IPA label in Vienna.
The New Piano Quartet, NSM's ensemble-in-residence, played to a packed house at NSM, at the West Parish Church in North Andover, MA, and at the Newton Free Public Library. They look forward to their next concert at NSM in late May when they will perform works by Mozart, Frasch and Brahms. The group is comprised of Esther Ning Yau, piano, Jennifer Schiller, violin, Andra Voldins, viola, and Judith Glixon, cello. NPQ's website is www.newpianoquartet.com.
Guitar faculty member David Patterson has a new website: www.davidpattersonguitar.com. Check it out!
In January, Patrice Williamson attended the International Association of Jazz Educators Convention in NYC. So far this year, Patrice has performed with the African-American Jazz Caucus Band, Alexei Tsiganov (vibraphone) at the Boston Athenaeum, and with the Gilson Schachnik Brazilian Jazz Group at Ryles Jazz Club. Patrice's group will return to the Regattabar on June 10, so mark your calendars!
NSM STUDENT PROFILE
Louisa Winchell, age 7, and Sarah Lay, her mother, take piano lessons with Oni Buchanan.
"I am so grateful to Oni and NSM for giving us the incredible gift of learning to play piano. The whole process is so rewarding: from struggling to learn to read the notes, to translating the notes on paper to the piano keys, to trying to hit the right keys at the right time, to practicing it over and over to get it right, to feeling the satisfaction of mastering it, and lastly, to experiencing the joy of hearing ourselves and each other play, what pleasure…Such a gift."
- Sarah Lay
How many years have each of you been taking piano lessons?
Louisa started spring of 2003. I started in Fall Term, 2003.
Have you enjoyed learning an instrument at the same time as your daughter/mother? Why?
Yes! It's our Saturday "date", one of our mother- daughter bonding times. It's something we share, something we both do. I generally love to practice, so her watching me, I think helps Louisa be more committed. I try to set a good example for her. Initially, I didn't think it was fair asking her to be disciplined about learning an instrument, if I wasn't. Louisa says, "I've always enjoyed playing the piano", (whether or not I was learning with her.) She says she sometimes likes it when I can help her practice.
What do you like about Oni as a teacher?
Oni is soft and firm in all the right ways. She's creative in her teaching - showing me how to hold my wrists and hands, helping me to imagine the paths my fingers need to trace to play something. She explains the phrases of a piece and how they fit together, as if in a conversation. She has lots and lots of practical concrete suggestions for learning how to practice and perform piano. As her student I can sense her own love for the instrument and the music. She's never impatient or scary, and makes us feel good for our effort, even if we still don't have it right. She's a very compassionate, patient teacher. Louisa says she likes Oni, "because she says its OK if you don't play a song right at first, that you can take time to learn it, and that the most important thing is that you enjoy what you are doing."
What drew you to take piano lessons at NSM? What makes NSM special in your mind?
I had heard good things about NSM from past and current students. I liked how Anne answered the phone and answered all my questions. I'm glad that NSM could work with our schedules. I like that the school is a 10-minute drive from our house. I like the building; it reminds me of my old elementary school. I like all the rooms with the pianos, and enjoy practicing on the different pianos before my lesson- they all have their own character. But mostly, I feel so lucky to have found such a fantastic first teacher. I imagine a first teacher can make a break a music career.
What other NSM events/concerts have you attended?
We have participated in two of Oni's group class recitals, and my husband and I went to her own recital in the Fall 2003, which was fantastic. I would like to go to more faculty recitals.
NSM FACULTY PROFILE
Piano faculty member Oni Buchanan writes about her own piano lessons as a child and NSM. How old were you when you began taking piano lessons?
I was almost four years old.
As a student, what do you remember most about your first teacher? Did this teacher influence your teaching techniques?
My first teacher taught the Suzuki method. I remember huge, laminated, construction-paper notes and clefs, and a poster with the grand staff drawn on it where we could arrange everything. There were words and phrases to go with all the rhythms to make them easy to remember, such as "Mississippi hotdog," "ice cream cone," "blueberry popsicle," and many more that I'm certain are common parlance in the world of Suzuki. I remember group classes where all of us kids would crouch down and whisper "pianissimo," then leap up and shout "FORTISSIMO!!!" There were many years of performing for the other children, and always a lot of individual listening to cassettes of the pieces we were learning. I remember having endless tapes playing while I went to sleep at night, so that I went to bed hearing music and woke up hearing the same music, which would then play in my head all day long. I remember the dissemination of a LOT of stickers!
My teacher was always very positive and patient, traits I try to replicate in my own teaching. She smiled a lot and was full of praise. The Suzuki method has many, many advantages, and I feel that one of my strengths--a highly developed ear-- is a direct result of my Suzuki training. So I try to incorporate the strengths of the Suzuki method in my own teaching approaches. However, being a Suzuki student from age three until the fifth grade had one major drawback for me, which was that my sight-reading skills remained horribly underdeveloped for a long period of time! This deficit in training still haunts me today. As a result, I try to work on a lot of sight-reading with my own students so that they do not have to face the same problem later on in their training.
This may sound strange, but I have many more memories of how music and practicing were treated in my home than I do of my first teacher. For instance, I remember the many initiatives my mother devised in order to entice me to practice every day, the innumerable recitals that my father took me to, composer coloring books, composer board games, and the huge record and cd collections to which my sister and I were invited to listen closely. The importance of parental involvement, of listening to music, of attending live performances, and of establishing a regular practice regimen cannot be overstated! I try to encourage the parents of all of my younger students to help their children develop a consistent practice routine above all else, so that the student, through daily practice, can achieve the feeling of being well-prepared, and gain the confidence that preparation ensures.
You are also a writer - what similarities are there between writing and performing music? Do these skills cross over? How?
There are many, many similarities between writing poetry and performing music, and it would take several books even to begin enumerating the most crucial connections between the two arts! Probably the most obvious similarity would be the kind of imagination that is central both to preparing a piece of music and to putting words together on a blank page, the kind of openness and attentiveness that one must have when encountering both sounds and words and the contexts in which they reside. Poetry, specifically, is more closely connected to music than other kinds of writing. It is layered in the same way that music is, with a heightened focus on the sounds of words, the rhythms of words, the syntactical arrangement (or derangement!) of words, connotations, associations, images, tones of voice... In poetry, all of these arenas of meaning and significance equal if not surpass the significance that is derived from the denotative meanings of words. All of the meaning is put forth at once, from the converging streams of each of these sources, and the result is a whole that cannot be reduced, cannot be paraphrased. In music, of course, the same is true, as the language of music, its alphabet of sounds and rhythms that ever expands and includes, does not have the luxury (or perhaps the hindrance) of denotative clarification.
As Victor Hugo is often quoted as having remarked, "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to remain silent." The complication of music in this respect--its simultaneous voicing of countless vectors of meaning that are so specific and yet elusive, each contributing to the whole, each affecting the other voices, everything sounding at once, irreducible and full, infinite--is the same complication to which poetry (and perhaps all art) aspires. The complication itself could approximate many things to many people, but perhaps one thing it approaches is the complexity of life itself. Thus the artist's attempt to work preserving this kind of complexity, listening to all of the contributing voices in their different hierarchies, is an effort to be so true to an ideal of life as to create life in the endeavor, as to become life.
What drew you to teach at NSM? What makes NSM special in your mind?
A good friend and colleague of mine, Luba Poliak, was a piano teacher at NSM, and she introduced me to the school. While she was away for two weeks participating in a piano competition in Italy, I had the opportunity to teach her New School students in her absence. It was so much fun! Her students were terrific, and I spent so much time smiling and laughing with them that my cheeks hurt on the evenings after I had taught.
Through Luba, I also become aware of the outstanding faculty recitals that took place at the New School, and I attended several very exciting events. This rare combination of a high-calibre faculty teaching in an environment that is fun, relaxed, and encouraging was what ultimately drew me to teach at NSM, and this combination is what makes NSM totally unique in my mind. It is extremely unusual to find a school which fosters excellence, motivation, and discipline at the same time that it preserves a positive environment and a sense of community.
NSM'S ANNUAL FUND
Due in large part to the support of our generous donors, NSM has kept our prices the lowest in the area, while providing music lessons and concerts from among the finest musicians in the city.
This year, NSM was thrown a curve. Our rent fees have essentially doubled. Despite this staggering increase in our operating expenses, we made bold choices that would not compromise our mission: to provide high quality and affordable musical instruction to all who seek it, and to share the musicianship of its faculty and visiting artists with the community. We decided not to decrease our scholarship awards, do away with MusicReach, or raise tuition for the most popular lesson plan - weekly thirty minute lessons. Instead, we set the goal of increasing our contributed revenue from 10% to 15% of our annual budget. With your help, we will raise $14,500, enabling us to keep our costs low, our programs accessible, and the number of scholarship recipients increasing. We will be able to continue MusicReach, spending time in the increasingly arts-depleted public schools in our city, and we can continue to offer free monthly concerts.
Diverse offerings, financial accessibility, free concerts, and a unique, non-competitive atmosphere make the New School of Music a community school, and an important part of the cultural life of its students and the Cambridge area. We are asking our most loyal supporters to help us stay true to our mission, while maintaining a fiscally sound institution that can weather this unexpected storm. Please know that whatever you give, your donation will be deeply appreciated. Each and every gift makes a difference.
Susan Skelley, Board President
NSM NAMED AN MCC CREATIVE PARTNER!
This winter, the Massachusetts Cultural Council announced that the New School has been chosen as one of its Creative Teaching Partners - a prestigious list connecting outstanding arts organizations from across the state with schools, cultural groups and social service organizations. Call NSM to find out how we can work with your school system.
The New School of Music gratefully acknowledges the individuals, foundations and corporations whose generous contributions provide critical support for our music education efforts.
FOUNDER'S CIRCLE ($1,000 +)
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
Cambridge Community Foundation
Gwill Maeder-York & Paul Maeder
Massachusetts Cultural Council
Dr. Ellis J. Van Slyck
Trudi Van Slyck
CONTRIBUTORS ($25 - $99)
Helen Lathrop Brooks & Harvey Brooks
Alison Cromer
Ms. Grace M. Dingee
Marcia Dworkind & Charles R. Merzbacher
Carmen Fields
Arthur & Lois Finstein
Susan & Karl Frieden
Catherine Krupnick & Reiner Kraakman
Jacob & Mary Leed
Luisa San Juan & Marcelo Marchetti
Neva Goodwin & Bruce Mazlish
Patricia Nolan & David Rabkin
Fran & Robert O' Reilly
Linda & Jan Pechenik
Elizabeth Ann Altman & Steven Perlmutter
Heather Russell
Betty Orrick Sapp & Wade Sapp, Sr.
Daniel & Paula Schiller
Celia Schulhoff
Anne Stamas
Donna Viola
Dr. Robert F. & Jane Weiss
Kaela Wasnich
John C. Willis, Jr.
Mary Wixted & David Farnsworth
William Zucker
PATRONS ($500 - $999)
Holly & David Ambler
Lucy Arrington & Rick de Filippi
Eleanor & Levin Campbell
Emily & Rick Rhinelander
Ms. Abby & L. S. Halprin Rockefeller
Susan Skelley
SUPPORTERS ($250 - $499)
Cambridge Trust Company
Corinne Davis
Daniel B. Green
Nancy & Bob Hurlbut
Ann & Ed Kania
Bennett & Mary Jaffee
Elizabeth Saudek
Sarah Lay & David Winchell
FRIENDS ($100 - $249)
Mary Akerson & Steven Cohen
Chung Yiu Cheng
David H. Gallant
Harriet & David Griesinger
Barclay Henderson
Catherine B. & Keith L. Hughes
Lynn B. Kargman
John E. Mack
Jane & Michael Martin
Jack Nichols
Anne Riesenfeld & Jesse Flack
Barbara Riesenfeld
James Riesenfeld
Lucy Scanlon & Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr.
James E. Walsh
The individuals listed above have made donations between March 2003 and April 2004. For any errors or omissions in this list, please notify our office and accept our sincere apology.
