News

Jan 2005:

ASTA WITH NSOA's National Conference
John Ascuaga's Nugget Hotel & Conference Center in Reno, Nevada
Go to www.astaweb.com to register.

ASTA is busy planning the 2nd National String Conference, which will be held in Reno, Nevada, February 23 - 26, 2005. Reno, a center of commerce and culture in northern Nevada is a high desert valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Mountains.

The 2005 Conference Includes:

* Master classes from leading clinicians
* Performances by Rachel Barton Pine and the Regina Carter Quintet performing
with the Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra
* Workshops and sessions led by the profession's finest teachers and clinicians
* An exciting exhibit hall featuring the latest products and services in the industry
* Alternative Styles Awards
* Performance by the National High School Honors Orchestra
* The 2nd Annual National Orchestra Festival
* The 2nd Annual Silent Auction
* Performing groups from around the country
* The sights and sounds of Reno, Nevada a fun and exciting conference destination

Oct. 2004:

The 32nd IAJE Annual Conference returns to Long Beach, Calif. Convention Center on Jan. 5-8, 2005. Most clinics and events begin on Thursday January 6. A variety of hotels in the close vicinity of the convention center are available. You can locate them at http://www.iaje.org/ac_travel.asp  

 You can find out more about the conference here:  http://www.iaje.org/ac_intro.asp

 The deadline for Early Bird Registration (lowered fees!) is November 12, 2004.

 With a mission to ensure the continued growth and development of jazz through education and outreach, the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) serves 8,000 members in 40 countries. A voluntary non-profit organization, IAJE initiates programs which nurture the understanding and appreciation of jazz and its heritage, provides leadership to educators regarding curriculum and performance, and assists teachers, students, and artists with information and resources. The IAJE Annual Conference, held each January, is acknowledged as the largest annual gathering of the global jazz community.

 The IAJE String Caucus is a subset within that jazz community. The conference itself is gigantic – with many concerts, panels, and clinics on all aspects of jazz – teaching performing, technology, publicity, media, and so on.

 Strings must  have a presence at this Long Beach Conference. Please plan to be there, especially if you live anywhere near the west coast! As always,  there are many clinics which will appeal to string players –playing in Latin bands, bass techniques, many improvisation clinics for every level and so on.

 Violinists Lesa Terry and Yehudit are arranging for a jazz string jam one evening near the host hotels. String players are also welcome to join in any of the jam sessions put on by other organizations. Usually there are a Latin jam, a music educators jam, a student jam, a jam put on by the African American Jazz Caucus, and other jams that spring up around the various host hotels. Keep checking the IAJE Conference site for more specifics.

Violist Tanya Kalmanovitch will offer her clinic: "Jazz transcription for strings: Unlock the lessons in your record library"  

Also featured at the conference will be our New Music for Jazz Strings Reading Session. Christine Harrington, coordinator. We need new music to read. Please send your published jazz string music for string orchestra (elementary school through college level) to Christine Harrington; Cellobrate@aol.com  Make sure that you include sufficient parts for the complete ensemble. We need string volunteers for this session as well as a conductor and rhythm section. Please contact Renata Bratt, renatabratt@earthlink.net if you would like to perform. In the past this group has performed on Saturday from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

Our IAJE String Caucus meeting is usually scheduled sometime Friday morning. If you would like to make your voice heard in our community, please plan to be there. We will be revising our organizational procedures as well as discussing our exciting plans for a jazz arrangement (including strings) competition and a scholarship award for a student string jazz player.

  Tribute to Claude Williams is now scheduled for February 20th 2005
(in time for his birthday on 2/22) at Saint Peter's Church in NYC at 7 p.m.

Thanks to the work of Julie Lyonn Lieberman, a tribute to Claude Williams is
now scheduled for February 20th 2005  (in time for his birthday on 2/22) at
Saint Peter's Church in NYC at 7 p.m.

Julie Lyonn Lieberman is working closely with Blanche (Claude's wife) on the
programming. We are interested in establishing a scholarship fund in his name at the
IAJE. This would be the first scholarship in recognition of a jazz performer
through the IAJE. The IAJE  String Caucus board needs to find a committee to
handle this if this is something we as a group want to take on. The IAJE will require a proposal explaining how the money will be used and a bio on Claude. Perhaps we could petition for  a concert each year  at the conference by young players, and select one player
to receive a small cash award in Claude's name. Contributions to the fund could be made out to the IAJE String Caucus and deposited in our joint bank account.

Another  possible scenario could be competition pre-selection for string
competitors with a panel of judges who select one winner and bring them to
the conference to perform and receive a cash  award. We could also tie this
in with the ASTA competition (bi-yearly) and have the jazz winner of that
competition be awarded an IAJE prize. The size of yearly cash awards will
depend on how much we can raise at  this concert divided by x number of
years) The IAJE board needs to approve  this, which means that we must get
this idea going forward immediately because Ms. Lieberman needs to  print up
envelopes that are inserted into the tribute program by early February.

January 2003:

The Jazz String Caucus and Latham Music release String Quartet collection. All royalties go directly to the caucus. See http://www.latham-music.com/ for more info.

Title: Jammin' Jazz Standards for String Quartet
Composer/Arranger: arr. Caputo, Ligon, Norgaard, Sharp and Turner
Categories: String Quartet
Item #: VX-61 (parts), VX-61S (score)
Description: Geared to satisfy both classical AND jazz players, solos written out, moderately difficult. It's Only a Paper Moon, It Had to be You, Blue Moon, Bye Bye Blackbird, Take Five, How High the Moon, Black Orpheus.

January 8-11, 2003:

IAJE 30th Annual Conference in Toronto, Canada (see www.iaje.org ):

IAJE String Event Schedule

Thursday, Jan 9th 12:00 noon. Confederation Room 4/5/6, Fairmont Royal York
Hotel. Clinic: Sequencing Jazz Improvisation in the Studio and Classroom.
clinicians: Martin Norgaard. Many instrumental music
directors don't know how to incorporate jazz improvisation into their
curricula. Mel Bay's "Jazz Wizard" series, provides a structured approach to
sequencing jazz improvisation skills from middle school through high school.
Bring your instrument!

Thursday Jan. 9th 3:00 P.M. Reception Hall 104, Metro Toronto Convention
Centre. Performance: John Blake, Jr. and Sara Caswell. John Blake, Jr.,
violin; Sara Caswell, violin; Sumi Tonooka, piano; Boris Koslov, bass;
Johnathan Blake, drums; Rachel Caswell, voice.

Friday Jan 10th 9:00 A.M. Tudor Room, Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Clinic:
Writing with Strings: They're not Just for Pads Any More! clinicans: Darol
Anger
and Bert Ligon. Composers and arrangers can incorporate strings in new and
modern ways with the 21st century string player's knowledge of jazz styles.
Shout choruses, string leads, and accompaniment methods will be discussed
and analyzed, from the very different perspectives of two acknowledged
masters in the field.

Friday Jan 10 10:30 A.M.-12:00 noon Royal York British Columbia Room: String
Caucus Meeting. Renata Bratt presiding

Saturday, Jan 11th 8:00-10:00 A.M. Ballroom, Fairmont Royal York Hotel. New
Music Reading Session: Strings. Conductor: Bert Ligon, Columbia, SC.
Coordinator: Christine Harrington, North Kingstown, RI. Jeremy Kittel,
Martin Norgaard, Chris Church, Paula Zeitlin, Susie Hansen, Julie
Lyonn Lieberman, Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry, violins; Tanya Kalmanovitch, Eadie
Anelli, violas; Christine Harrington, Renata Bratt, cellos; Joe Parillo,
piano; Kristin Korb, bass..

June 2002:

Celebrating Alternative Strings:

The First Alternative Styles Awards

  The American String Teachers Association WITH National School Orchestra Association announces an exciting initiative for performers of alternative, “non-classical” styles of string music:  Celebrating Alternative Strings:  The First Alternative Styles Awards.  This celebration will be incorporated into the ASTA WITH NSOA National Conference, “Celebrating Strings: All Together Now!” to be held at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, March 27-29, 2003.  The event will include players of violin, viola, cello, and bass in both Junior (through age 18) and Senior (ages 19-25) divisions, and seeks to identify, celebrate, and encourage young practitioners of alternative string styles such as (but not limited to) all folk music traditions, jazz, fusion, and rock music. Four separate $1,000 awards will be presented to performers in the Senior division and four separate $500 awards to performers in the Junior division who best exemplify improvisation, the best “groove,” originality, and recognition of established traditions within their chosen style(s). Merchandise awards will also be presented. Further information and application materials are available on the main page of the ASTA with NSOA website:  www.astaweb.com under “ASTA with NSOA 2003 National Conference”. All application materials must be postmarked no later than midnight, September 2, 2002.  Finalists will be determined and notified by November 1, 2002. For further information, contact Dr. Andrew H. Dabczynski, Professor of Music Education, Brigham Young University, HFAC-E569, Provo, UT 84604; (801)378-2317;  email: adab@byu.edu

 Alternative Style Awards Organizing Committee

Renata Bratt, Scotts Valley, CA

Stanley Chepaitis, Indiana, PA

Andrew Dabczynski, chair, Provo, UT

Robert Gardner, Rochester, NY

Matt Glaser, Boston, MA

David Littrell, president-elect ASTA with NSOA, Manhattan, KS – ex-officio

Julie Lyonn Lieberman, New York, NY