Special Events Calendar
Fall | Winter | Spring | Summer
Fall
September
Minnesota Orff Chapter Workshop - Children's Games, Songs and Drumming from West Africa
J.S. Kofi Gbolonyo
Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
The session will start with the learning, analysis and performance of children's songs and games from West Africa. Participants will gain an understanding of music making as defined among Ghanaians through basic drumming techniques, dance steps and songs. Participants will leave with a cultural insight to the pieces with comprehensive handouts.
Kodály Chapter of Minnesota Workshop - Curricular Connections: Core Repertoire for Grades K-5
Leigh Ann Garner
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007
8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
McNeely Hall, Room 100
Have you ever wondered how one single folk song can be pedagogically relevant for your kindergartners as well as your fifth graders? This workshop will explore core pieces of repertoire and their applications as they repeatedly appear within a sequential, spiral curriculum. Attendees will sing, dance, play and learn how to integrate provided repertoire into the three stages of a Kodály curriculum: preparation, make conscious, practice and assessment. Teachers of all grade levels will come away from this interactive workshop with new ideas to implement in their existing curricula.
October
Minnesota Orff Chapter Workshop - Orff A La Mexicana
Oscar Munoz
Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
Come and savor the hot and spicy taste of Mexican music playing and dancing prehispanic tunes; singing and playing children games and performing mariachi music on recorder and barred instruments. Please wear comfortable clothing for movement and don't forget your recorder.
November
Kodály Chapter of Minnesota Sharing
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007
8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Brady Educational Center, Auditorium
Join us for an exciting workshop filled with ideas and strategies from teachers who work in the trenches. Some of the early planning includes a make and take session, a choral reading session, and a worksheet exchange. Each board member will share something that worked in their classroom.
Winter
January
Kodály Chapter of Minnesota Workshop - The Challenges and Joys of the Choral Ensemble
Georgia Newlin
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008
8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
In this workshop, Georgia Newlin will help choral directors make the most of each rehearsal and bring out the best in every choral ensemble regardless of age or ability level of the singers. Topics covered: auditioned versus non-auditioned groups, choosing repertoire, concert programming, repertoire lists, resource/bibliographic information, and rehearsal planning guides. Choral packet provided.
Spring
February
Minnesota Orff Chapter Sharing
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
Specific details are not available at this time. Plan on coming, however, because it is a great day. In the past, members have led mini sessions on a lesson or idea they want to share with everyone.January
Undergraduate Music Major Audition and Scholarship Day
Saturday, February 23
8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Brady Educational Center
Please visit the Undergraduate Auditions page for more information.
March
Minnesota Orff Chapter Workshop - Sing-Dance-Listen-Play!
Denise Gagne
Saturday, March 1, 2008
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
This session will give you practical ideas for developing the child's singing voice, new dances, and singing games for K-6. Denise will include listening activities to engage students and help them become perceptive listeners. She will share ideas for recorder ensembles in the classroom. There will be a book display at this session.
Undergraduate Music Major Audition and Scholarship Day
Saturday, March 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Brady Educational Center
Please visit the Undergraduate Auditions page for more information.
Kodály Chapter of Minnesota Workshop - A World of Movement
Bob Walser and Julie Young
Saturday, March 15, 2008
8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
Come use your body to explore multicultural music. In this workshop we'll explore musical traditions of a number of cultures through singing games and dances appropriate for various elementary grades. We'll explore both the process and product of teaching movement traditions across cultural differences. You'll come away from the day with several things you can use on Monday morning as well as some ideas and challenges to ponder for some time to come!
May
Undergraduate Performance Level and In-House Scholarship Auditions
Monday, May 12
9 a.m.
Brady Educational Center Auditorium
Please visit the Undergraduate Scholarships page for more information.
Summer
June
Welcome Back Barbecue
Monday, June 23, 2008
4:45-5:45 p.m.
Brady Educational Center Front Lawn
All master's students and faculty are invited to a social and barbecue as a kick-off to the start of evening core classes. This event is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends and colleagues and meet new master's students.
July
Research Roundtable
Thursday, July 10, 2008
11 a.m.
McNeely Hall, Room 100
RSVP to gradmusic@stthomas.edu
Students who have recently completed their theses give a formal presentation of their research. This required event allows beginning and continuing master's students to observe the variety and types of research being conducted. A free box lunch (reservations required) and discussion on the patio of McNeely Hall follow the Roundtable.
Jane Frazee Distinguished Scholar/Artist Series
Featuring Libby Larsen
Sunday, July 20, 2008
1-4:30 p.m.
Murray-Herrick Campus Center, Room 304
Required for master's students living on campus and in the Twin City metro area.
Free admission for students; $10 fee for general public.
RSVP to gradmusic@stthomas.edu
Since 1990, Graduate Programs in Music Education has sponsored a summer seminar in which distinguished figures in music and arts education present their work to the community of music educators in the Twin Cities. Participants are invited to join in a discussion of pertinent ideas and issues.
Our 2008 distinguished scholar/artist is noted Minnesota composer, Libby Larsen, one of America's most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of more than 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral and choral scores. Grammy Award winning and widely recorded, including more than 50 CD's of her work, she is constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory.
As a vigorous, articulate advocate for the music and musicians of our time, in 1973 Larsen co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, which has become an invaluable aid for composers in a transitional time for American arts. As the former holder of the Papamarkou Chair at John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, Larsen also has held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. She is currently completing a book, The Concert Hall That Fell Asleep and Woke Up as a Car Radio and her next major opera work on the play Picnic by William Inge.
Ms. Larsen's topic for the seminar is What is the Mission of Music Education? Thoughts from a Composer. As a parent, Libby has had ample opportunity to consider this question. In her own words: "With the advent of technology, the year 1992 has been hailed as the beginning of a new definition for music educaton in the public school systems of the United States of America. The fundamental mission of public education has shifted from the preparation of a student to become a skilled and useful worker in a production oriented commercial culture to a skilled, creative, and spontaneous problem solver in a culture of fluid economic interaction. Music education has kept step with the mission of public education for the last 105 years. As we shape this next millennium we must ask ourselves: What is the mission of music education? Join us to hear Libby's thoughts on this critical question.
"Music exists in an infinity of sound. I think of all music as existing in the substance of the air itself. It is the composer's task to order and make sense of sound, in time and space, to communicate something about being alive through music."
- Libby Larsen
Performance Assessment Hearings
Friday, July 25, 2008
4-6 p.m.
Brady Educational Center Auditorium
Please visit the Performance Assessment Hearing page for more information.
Performance Assessment Hearings
Saturday, July 26, 2008
9-11 a.m.
Brady Educational Center Auditorium
Please visit the Performance Assessment Hearing page for more information.
