NWSMTA meets monthly, September through May. Meetings are held at various locations. Please check the location for each month. In December we have our holiday party, and in May we have our spring luncheon. Our business meeting begins at 9:45, followed by a special program at 10:30. Come join us!
Program Listing 2023-2024
Program Listing 2023-2024
Monday, September 18, 2023, 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library/hybrid Zoom format for business meeting only - the “program” is an in-person only event
Rolling Meadows Library/hybrid Zoom format for business meeting only - the “program” is an in-person only event
"Spring Cleaning in September”
“Spring Cleaning in September” will be a social event/ music sale to kick off our 2023 -2024 NWSMTA monthly meetings schedule. There will be refreshments (please BYOB!), time to browse music, information about our wonderful events, and a fun activity that will help us all get better acquainted.
For music sellers:
For music buyers:
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone for the start of another great year!
“Spring Cleaning in September” will be a social event/ music sale to kick off our 2023 -2024 NWSMTA monthly meetings schedule. There will be refreshments (please BYOB!), time to browse music, information about our wonderful events, and a fun activity that will help us all get better acquainted.
For music sellers:
- Label all music with price and your name
- Bring an envelope with your name on it to collect payments. Buyers will be on the honor system.
- Let me know approximately how much music/number of boxes you will be bringing so I can plan ahead for set up nancyd4461@gmail.com
For music buyers:
- Please bring cash (lots of singles!) or check
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone for the start of another great year!
Monday, October 16, 2023 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
All that Jazz Committee
Maureen Flood, Justyna Weirich, Deborah Lynch: "Jazz Combo Experience"
Maureen Flood, Deb Lynch, and Justyna Weirich will talk about -
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
All that Jazz Committee
Maureen Flood, Justyna Weirich, Deborah Lynch: "Jazz Combo Experience"
Maureen Flood, Deb Lynch, and Justyna Weirich will talk about -
- the history of the “Jazz Combo Experience” event
- the benefits of the Jazz Combo Experience
- show videos of live performances
- discuss proven ways to work with students on preparation for the event
- how to prepare a lead sheet
Monday, November 20, 2023, 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Fumi Nakayama: “Developing Piano Skills with the Dalcroze Method”
Music-making requires our fingers, wrists, arms, and our entire bodies engaged to play in a way that reflects your mind, how you want to play, and how you want to express the music. But, do we always practice with our entire bodies? Are we aware of how we are using our bodies when we play? In general, we tend to focus on our finger movements in isolation as we practice etudes or other technical exercises. Jaques-Dalcroze developed a method of music education that focuses on facilitating students’ instinctive movement-based responses to music. When we hear music, how can we convey the dynamics, tonal qualities, melodies, etc. through our bodily gestures? We might rise up on our toes when the melody rises in pitch or punctuate the accents with sharp punching motions. We may respond to swinging rhythms by moving side to side, or swinging our arms back and forth. By learning how to move our entire bodies to music efficiently and expressively, drawing upon Dalcroze principles and techniques, we can allow our bodily movements to inform how we play melodious lines — to make dramatic contrasts in performance, create a variety of tone colors utilizing finger touches and gestures, and, most importantly, perform with ease.
Please join us in clothes you feel comfortable moving in! We will be moving around for most of the class. If you can, bring dance shoes (e.g., leather or canvas ballet/jazz shoes) — if you don’t have any, a similar pair of soft-soled shoes or bare feet will work just as well.
Fumi Nishikiori-Nakayama earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano and Harpsichord degree from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, and Master of Music in Piano and Early Music/Harpsichord from Indiana University, where she was the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Rudolph Ganz Memorial Award, and Willi Apel Scholarship. She has studied piano with Ludmila Lazar, Shigeo Neriki, harpsichord with David Schrader, Elisabeth Wright, fortepiano with Elizabeth Wright and Kenneth Drake, chamber music with Rostislav Dubinsky, early chamber music with Stanley Ritchie, and conducting with Thomas Baldner and Imre Pallo.
As a conductor, she has conducted Indiana University Symphony Orchestra, IU Ad-hoc Orchestra, IU Opera Workshops. Her love for vocal music and theater led her to remain as one of the opera coaches for Indiana University Opera Theater for 6 years.
Currently Ms. Nishikiori is an adjunct faculty member of the Carthage Music Department and the UW-Parkside. She has received the Dalcroze Certification from Juilliard School Dalcroze Institute, and the Dalcroze license from Dalcroze School of Music and Movement, Dallas, Texas, where she currently serves on the teaching faculty. She often gives demonstrations and lectures to music teachers and students in the Midwest. She frequently collaborates performing music as a pianist, as well as a harpsichordist, with greater Milwaukee and Chicago area artists.
Music-making requires our fingers, wrists, arms, and our entire bodies engaged to play in a way that reflects your mind, how you want to play, and how you want to express the music. But, do we always practice with our entire bodies? Are we aware of how we are using our bodies when we play? In general, we tend to focus on our finger movements in isolation as we practice etudes or other technical exercises. Jaques-Dalcroze developed a method of music education that focuses on facilitating students’ instinctive movement-based responses to music. When we hear music, how can we convey the dynamics, tonal qualities, melodies, etc. through our bodily gestures? We might rise up on our toes when the melody rises in pitch or punctuate the accents with sharp punching motions. We may respond to swinging rhythms by moving side to side, or swinging our arms back and forth. By learning how to move our entire bodies to music efficiently and expressively, drawing upon Dalcroze principles and techniques, we can allow our bodily movements to inform how we play melodious lines — to make dramatic contrasts in performance, create a variety of tone colors utilizing finger touches and gestures, and, most importantly, perform with ease.
Please join us in clothes you feel comfortable moving in! We will be moving around for most of the class. If you can, bring dance shoes (e.g., leather or canvas ballet/jazz shoes) — if you don’t have any, a similar pair of soft-soled shoes or bare feet will work just as well.
Fumi Nishikiori-Nakayama earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano and Harpsichord degree from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, and Master of Music in Piano and Early Music/Harpsichord from Indiana University, where she was the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Rudolph Ganz Memorial Award, and Willi Apel Scholarship. She has studied piano with Ludmila Lazar, Shigeo Neriki, harpsichord with David Schrader, Elisabeth Wright, fortepiano with Elizabeth Wright and Kenneth Drake, chamber music with Rostislav Dubinsky, early chamber music with Stanley Ritchie, and conducting with Thomas Baldner and Imre Pallo.
As a conductor, she has conducted Indiana University Symphony Orchestra, IU Ad-hoc Orchestra, IU Opera Workshops. Her love for vocal music and theater led her to remain as one of the opera coaches for Indiana University Opera Theater for 6 years.
Currently Ms. Nishikiori is an adjunct faculty member of the Carthage Music Department and the UW-Parkside. She has received the Dalcroze Certification from Juilliard School Dalcroze Institute, and the Dalcroze license from Dalcroze School of Music and Movement, Dallas, Texas, where she currently serves on the teaching faculty. She often gives demonstrations and lectures to music teachers and students in the Midwest. She frequently collaborates performing music as a pianist, as well as a harpsichordist, with greater Milwaukee and Chicago area artists.
Monday, January 15, 2024, 9:45 AMRolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Dr. Susan Osborn: Using Photography and Architectural Imagery to Enhance our Teaching”.
In an artistic world that places increasing value on interdisciplinary study, we as teachers can enhance our teaching by the use of other creative genres. As a musician, photographer and architectural docent in Chicago, I encounter many opportunities to see how these genres overlap. As a result, I have started to think about how the use of visual images can enhance our teaching of music. Using photographic images and architectural references in a lesson can enlighten the learning process of students in many ways. In this presentation, I will demonstrate the similarities of music with the visual arts - areas including composition, storyline, style, and form. I will give practical examples as to how to incorporate visual images into the lesson, and to incorporate photos and architectural images in order to
1) communicate the emotion behind a piece
2) teach the form of a piece
3) teach the style of a piece
4) engage the student in the process of creating images to express a piece
Dr. Susan Osborn is the Director of the Northwestern Music Academy, the community music division of Northwestern University. She has taught private and group piano to students of all ages and levels for over 30 years. Dr. Osborn is also on the college Keyboard Skills faculty of Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. During the summer, she teaches piano at Interlochen Arts Camp. Dr. Osborn is an active performer, adjudicator and clinician, both locally and nationally. She received her D.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University and holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Smith College, and The New School for Music Study. Her pedagogy teachers included Frances Clark, Louise Goss, Same Holland, Frances Larimer, and Elvina Pearce. Additionally, she studied at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, France, and Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris, as a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship. Dr. Osborn studied performance with Robert Miller, Serge Petitgirard, Michael Zenge, Phyllis Rappeport, Fritz Whang, and David Kaiserman. As a photographer and Chicago architectural tour guide, she specializes in interdisciplinary topics that combine these passions with music. Among these topics are “Teaching: What We Can Learn from the Actor,” and “Imagery and Artistry: Using Photography and Architecture to Enhance Your Piano Teaching.”
In an artistic world that places increasing value on interdisciplinary study, we as teachers can enhance our teaching by the use of other creative genres. As a musician, photographer and architectural docent in Chicago, I encounter many opportunities to see how these genres overlap. As a result, I have started to think about how the use of visual images can enhance our teaching of music. Using photographic images and architectural references in a lesson can enlighten the learning process of students in many ways. In this presentation, I will demonstrate the similarities of music with the visual arts - areas including composition, storyline, style, and form. I will give practical examples as to how to incorporate visual images into the lesson, and to incorporate photos and architectural images in order to
1) communicate the emotion behind a piece
2) teach the form of a piece
3) teach the style of a piece
4) engage the student in the process of creating images to express a piece
Dr. Susan Osborn is the Director of the Northwestern Music Academy, the community music division of Northwestern University. She has taught private and group piano to students of all ages and levels for over 30 years. Dr. Osborn is also on the college Keyboard Skills faculty of Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. During the summer, she teaches piano at Interlochen Arts Camp. Dr. Osborn is an active performer, adjudicator and clinician, both locally and nationally. She received her D.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University and holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Smith College, and The New School for Music Study. Her pedagogy teachers included Frances Clark, Louise Goss, Same Holland, Frances Larimer, and Elvina Pearce. Additionally, she studied at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, France, and Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris, as a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship. Dr. Osborn studied performance with Robert Miller, Serge Petitgirard, Michael Zenge, Phyllis Rappeport, Fritz Whang, and David Kaiserman. As a photographer and Chicago architectural tour guide, she specializes in interdisciplinary topics that combine these passions with music. Among these topics are “Teaching: What We Can Learn from the Actor,” and “Imagery and Artistry: Using Photography and Architecture to Enhance Your Piano Teaching.”
Monday, February 19, 2024
Virtual Business Meeting only (or snowdate for winter programs)
Virtual Business Meeting only (or snowdate for winter programs)
Monday, March 18, 2024, 9:45 ***Countryside Church, 1025 N Smith St., Palatine/Zoom
Dr. Peng Krol: “Humor and Irony in Beethoven's Prometheus Piano Variations, Op. 35”.
In 1802, Beethoven wrote Fifteen variations and Fugue (Op.35) based on the theme of the finale in The Creatures of Prometheus. In Beethoven’s letter to his publisher, he mentioned that there are thirty variations in Op.35 (but the publisher can only find fifteen), which is his first joke to the publisher. The presentation will not only show the audience how to count all thirty variations in the variation set, but also explore how high comedy results in Beethoven’s hands through the use of silence and the use of parody. Furthermore, this author will explain her proposal of Beethoven’s ironic allusion in Op.35 to Anton Reicha’s 36 Fugue für Klavier, “a new method of fugue composition.”
Dr. Peng Krol has served as a teacher and scholar in Illinois since 2015. She was the recipient of the Longford Keyboard Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received her Artist Diploma and Doctor of Musical Arts. She was often invited as a guest artist to give lectures and masterclasses in the Guangzhou Opera House and the Steinway Gallery in Guangdong (China). Her students have been awarded prizes in the Champaign-Urbana Music Competition, the Illinois State Piano Competition and the American Protégé International Piano Competition, to name a few. Her thesis, The Combination of Diverse Musical Styles – the Research on Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata Op. 26, has been published on the China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database. MTNA e-Journal published the abstract of her doctoral thesis in 2022. A chapter of her doctoral dissertation, The Whimsical Character in Beethoven’s Piano Variations WoO 73, is published in Beethoven The European: Transcultural Contexts of Performance, Interpretation and Reception By Brepols (Belgium) in 2023.
Dr. Krol has performed internationally as a soloist and collaborative pianist. Her musicianship has been recognized in many competitions, including the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition of Paris, the Golden Key International Music Festival, the Deutscher Irmler Piano Competition, the Asian Yamaha Scholarship Competition and the Germany Wiesbaden International Piano Competition. Her performance venues include the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois, the Artist Presentation Society at St. Louis in Missouri, Steinway Hall in the Guangzhou Opera House, the recital halls at North Texas University, Texas Christian University, La Sierra University, China Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Normal University, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music and the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, as well as the Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, Hongtai Concert Hall in Xiamen and the Parsons Music Centers in Shenzhen and in Hong Kong. In 2011, she played Brahms D Minor Piano Concerto with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra at the Shenzhen Opera House. In 2016, she gave performances as a young artist in the prestigious PianoTexas International Academy and Festival and the Montecito International Music Festival. In 2020, Her recordings of Brahms’ Klavierstücke (Op. 76 and Op. 117) were selected and published through the National Young Piano Teacher Support Project by the People’s Music House in China. Her mentors include William Kinderman, Timothy Ehlen, Tamás Ungár, Christos Tsitsatos, Qifang Li and Songwen Li.
Dr. Krol joined the faculty at the Illinois Summer Youth Music Festival and Piano Laboratory Program as of 2018. She was appointed as a collaborative pianist at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music (Guangzhou, China) and Carroll University (WI), and the Coordinator and Lead Instructor of the Piano Laboratory Program at the University of Illinois. Dr. Krol joins the CE Program as a piano faculty at Harper College in 2023.
Dr. Krol shares her passion for Classical music with her husband Jack and her son Max. In the spare time, she enjoys yoga and running.
Website: http://www.pengdukrol.com
In 1802, Beethoven wrote Fifteen variations and Fugue (Op.35) based on the theme of the finale in The Creatures of Prometheus. In Beethoven’s letter to his publisher, he mentioned that there are thirty variations in Op.35 (but the publisher can only find fifteen), which is his first joke to the publisher. The presentation will not only show the audience how to count all thirty variations in the variation set, but also explore how high comedy results in Beethoven’s hands through the use of silence and the use of parody. Furthermore, this author will explain her proposal of Beethoven’s ironic allusion in Op.35 to Anton Reicha’s 36 Fugue für Klavier, “a new method of fugue composition.”
Dr. Peng Krol has served as a teacher and scholar in Illinois since 2015. She was the recipient of the Longford Keyboard Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received her Artist Diploma and Doctor of Musical Arts. She was often invited as a guest artist to give lectures and masterclasses in the Guangzhou Opera House and the Steinway Gallery in Guangdong (China). Her students have been awarded prizes in the Champaign-Urbana Music Competition, the Illinois State Piano Competition and the American Protégé International Piano Competition, to name a few. Her thesis, The Combination of Diverse Musical Styles – the Research on Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata Op. 26, has been published on the China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database. MTNA e-Journal published the abstract of her doctoral thesis in 2022. A chapter of her doctoral dissertation, The Whimsical Character in Beethoven’s Piano Variations WoO 73, is published in Beethoven The European: Transcultural Contexts of Performance, Interpretation and Reception By Brepols (Belgium) in 2023.
Dr. Krol has performed internationally as a soloist and collaborative pianist. Her musicianship has been recognized in many competitions, including the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition of Paris, the Golden Key International Music Festival, the Deutscher Irmler Piano Competition, the Asian Yamaha Scholarship Competition and the Germany Wiesbaden International Piano Competition. Her performance venues include the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois, the Artist Presentation Society at St. Louis in Missouri, Steinway Hall in the Guangzhou Opera House, the recital halls at North Texas University, Texas Christian University, La Sierra University, China Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Normal University, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music and the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, as well as the Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, Hongtai Concert Hall in Xiamen and the Parsons Music Centers in Shenzhen and in Hong Kong. In 2011, she played Brahms D Minor Piano Concerto with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra at the Shenzhen Opera House. In 2016, she gave performances as a young artist in the prestigious PianoTexas International Academy and Festival and the Montecito International Music Festival. In 2020, Her recordings of Brahms’ Klavierstücke (Op. 76 and Op. 117) were selected and published through the National Young Piano Teacher Support Project by the People’s Music House in China. Her mentors include William Kinderman, Timothy Ehlen, Tamás Ungár, Christos Tsitsatos, Qifang Li and Songwen Li.
Dr. Krol joined the faculty at the Illinois Summer Youth Music Festival and Piano Laboratory Program as of 2018. She was appointed as a collaborative pianist at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music (Guangzhou, China) and Carroll University (WI), and the Coordinator and Lead Instructor of the Piano Laboratory Program at the University of Illinois. Dr. Krol joins the CE Program as a piano faculty at Harper College in 2023.
Dr. Krol shares her passion for Classical music with her husband Jack and her son Max. In the spare time, she enjoys yoga and running.
Website: http://www.pengdukrol.com
Monday, April 15, 2024, 9:45 AMRolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Dr. Jeff Kleinsorge: “How to Treat a Five-Year-Old as a Pianist Rather Than as a Student”
What if I were to treat a beginning pianist – from the very first lesson – not as a student, but as a pianist? That thought experiment changed the nature of my teaching. The result was a novel sound-before-symbol approach that emphasizes artistic interpretation, sight reading, playing by ear, and an especially heavy emphasis on technique, while slipping in strong doses of ear training and paving the way for important theory follow-ups. It creates independent and informed learners who are capable of polished, gold-medal performances. The presentation will lay out the lesson structure, and then deep-dive into several levels of detail on each of the items: interpretation, sight reading, etc. Examples will come mostly from the first two years of lessons, since these – in the right hands – lay the foundation for everything a pianist will ever do. We’ll nonetheless make important excursions into upper levels, through advanced high school, to see this lesson strategy’s end game.
Dr. Jeff Kleinsorge is the Director of the Preparatory and Community Music Program at Concordia University Chicago, where he also teaches Piano Pedagogy and Keyboard Skills. He spends his summers as a member of the Piano Faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp. He blends his eclectic academic background in performance, pedagogy, and composition into a unique approach to teaching that produces informed, creative, expressive, and accomplished pianists. Dr. Kleinsorge is currently the president of ISMTA.
What if I were to treat a beginning pianist – from the very first lesson – not as a student, but as a pianist? That thought experiment changed the nature of my teaching. The result was a novel sound-before-symbol approach that emphasizes artistic interpretation, sight reading, playing by ear, and an especially heavy emphasis on technique, while slipping in strong doses of ear training and paving the way for important theory follow-ups. It creates independent and informed learners who are capable of polished, gold-medal performances. The presentation will lay out the lesson structure, and then deep-dive into several levels of detail on each of the items: interpretation, sight reading, etc. Examples will come mostly from the first two years of lessons, since these – in the right hands – lay the foundation for everything a pianist will ever do. We’ll nonetheless make important excursions into upper levels, through advanced high school, to see this lesson strategy’s end game.
Dr. Jeff Kleinsorge is the Director of the Preparatory and Community Music Program at Concordia University Chicago, where he also teaches Piano Pedagogy and Keyboard Skills. He spends his summers as a member of the Piano Faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp. He blends his eclectic academic background in performance, pedagogy, and composition into a unique approach to teaching that produces informed, creative, expressive, and accomplished pianists. Dr. Kleinsorge is currently the president of ISMTA.
May (TBA)
Helen Marlais: : The Essentials for Success: self-directed and intelligent practicing
Joint workshop and masterclass with North Shore MTA
Joint workshop and masterclass with North Shore MTA