Where the Music Begins!
June 2010
Gold Cup | Family Night | Traveling Teacher | CCC Winner | Ensembles | Mozart | Register
Junior Music Festival & Gold Cup Awards
18 WMS students performed
for evaluation and awards in
the Sunset Junior Festival
held locally May 5-8: Enzo
Alfonso, Jego Alfonso, Anya
Anand, Shruti Aundhe, Irene
Calvin, Devon Castagno,
Anusha Dixit, Chloe Ghattas,
Geneva Hall, Yash
Mahawar, Swetha Malineni,
Gabriella Mazziotti, Julianna
Mazziotti, Arno Porter,
Khushali Roy, Tharun
Sankar, Brandon Thai, and
Abigail Weiss. The students
were rated by an adjudicator
based on the following:
memory, accuracy, rhythm,
technique, and musicianship.
They received certificates
and ribbons based on the
evaluations. They also
received points which can be
accumulated toward s Gold
Cup trophies. The following
students participated in a
special recital on May 16 at
the Rose Schnitzer Manor
and received their Gold Cup
trophy awards: First Gold
Cup (15 points accumulated
over a minimum of 3 years
participation): Irene Calvin,
Khushali Roy, and Tharun
Sankar; Second Gold Cup
(30 points accumulated for a
minimum of 6 years): Geneva
Hall.
CONGRATULATIONS to all who participated!!
June "Family Night" Programs draw crowds to WMS
Westside Music School student musicians delighted audiences of parents, grandparents, families and friends during the four traditional end-of-semester “Family Night” recital programs held on Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6. These programs give students and parents another opportunity to celebrate their continuing musical accomplishments. Highlights of these programs, according to students, parents, and other audience members include outstanding solo performances, inspiring ensembles performed by students and teaching staff, and of course the delicious refreshments provided by the families of the students.
Westside Music School teacher Claudia Reinsch was invited to teach a beginning piano class for adults aboard the Crystal Serenity cruise ship during a World Cruise. She taught 2 classes a day on each of the sea days as part of the Crystal Learning Institute.
Between the many sea days
(crossing the Atlantic
Ocean, Indian Ocean, and
Arabian Sea), she had the
opportunity to visit ports in
Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina,
South Africa, Zanzibar,
Kenya, India and Oman.
Highlights of the ports she
visited include a tour of
Buenos Aires; including a
visit to the grave of Evita
Peron; a tram ride to the top
of Table Mountain in Cape
Town, South Africa; a tour to
Robben Island, the former
prison where Nelson
Mandela and other political
prisoners were held for
years; a visit to a Zulu
village in South Africa;
viewing wildlife such as
giraffes, impalas, zebras,
lions, baboons, monkeys,
wildebeest, on
photo safaris to
game reserves in
South Africa and
Kenya; a visit to a
spice plantation in
Zanzibar; seeing a
snake charmer in
Cochin, India;
visiting the Gandhi
Museum in
Mumbai, and so
many other sights.
Ms. Reinsch has previously taught the Yamaha Passport to Music course aboard the Crystal Symphony during cruises to New England and Canada, Scandinavia and Russia, and Los Angeles to Hong Kong, and looks forward to future travel and teaching.
Mahsheed Massarat Named Clavinova Composition Challenge Winner
Westside Music School
student Mahsheed Massarat
performed in the Southridge
High School musical “Peter
Pan,” and was one of the 6
national winners of the
Clavinova Composition
Challenge (Mahsheed’s
piece “Taking Over Me” has
been published by Ogilvy
Music of Denton, Texas, and is available online at gomusicmedia.com). She
was excited to be
interviewed by reporter
Cindy Hudson for an article
in the Oregonian Live (Read
the article).
Residents at Edgewood Point Assisted Living Center were treated to a special program of keyboard ensembles and solos presented by the following students: Tess Gellert, Savannah Justen, Kristina Nguyen, Amanda Tran, Tiffany Tran, Aliya Residents at Edgewood Point Assisted Living Center were treated to a special program of keyboard ensembles and solos Mahmoud, Zachary Iddings, Jordan Ashmore, Andrew Lang, Corey Aing, Devon Castagno, Swetha Malineni, Mahsheed Massarat, Julianna Mazziotti, Anne Phan, Tharun Sankar. Ensembles performed included: Fiddler on the Roof, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Theme from Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, Crystal Chandelier, Coconut Beach, and Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Several of the students also performed piano solos.
Music and the Brain: Is Listening to Music Enough?
The Mozart
Effect
Revisited
Nearly 20 years after the
publication of Don
Campbell’s book The Mozart
Effect: Tapping the Power of
Music to Heal the Body,
Strengthen the Mind, and
Unlock the Creative Spirit and many related national
and international research
projects, Melissa Healy (of
the McClatchy Tribune)
wrote an article which
appeared this spring in the
Oregonian and many other
newspapers, reminding us
of the actual conclusions of
the research. Though
listening to music does have
many benefits – it brings
pleasure, enhances wellbeing,
and can even ease
pain. While listening to
classical music may provide
temporary improvement of
brain function and mental
skills, these effects generally
last for about 10 minutes
after the music stops. The
researchers remind us that
the permanent benefits
occur not just from listening
to music but by actually
learning to make music.
Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, a Harvard University neurologist, found that “learning to make music engages and demands coordination among many brain regions, including those that process sights, sounds, emotions and memories. Dr. Schlaug and his colleagues found that the musicians who had begun their musical training before the age of 7 showed the most pronounced differences – which suggested that an early start might “rewire the brain” most dramatically.
Ms. Healy concludes: Learning to make music changes the brain and boosts broad academic performance. ...For all its beauty, power and capacity to move, researchers have concluded that music is little more than ear candy for the brain if it is consumed only passively. If you want music to sharpen your senses, boost your ability to focus and perhaps even improve your memory, the latest word from science is you’ll need more than... a loaded iPod.
Register Now for Summer and Fall Terms
We’re quickly closing in on Summer, so now’s the time to register for Summer term classes (see page one Calendar for a list of sessions). Also, you can plan ahead for the Fall and reserve your space in Fall Term classes by registering early. There are always many returning students, and classes tend to fill up throughout the Summer months, so getting a jump on it is always a good thing to do! There’s a full range of classes and time available so we can fit in to your busy back to school schedule. For both Summer and Fall registration, you can call the office at 503-626-7181 or download registration forms from our website and bring them in.