Music Educators Association of New Jersey

The 2022 January issue of The Glissando has been published! You can view or download the PDF HERE.

Many thanks to new Glissando Committee Chair, Judy Kessler, and her great committee for working so diligently to have this ready for our enjoyment!

Peter will explore various aspects of musical time, such as tempo, meter. pulse, and phrasing, with musical examples from our great piano repertoire.

Peter Takacs Website

Latin America boasts a rich catalogue of music informed by a colorful mix of indigenous, folkloric and classical traditions. This program will focus primarily on the piano music of Ecuador with a few “guest composers” from this hemisphere. Pieces range from beginning piano to   advanced; some of these works are pedagogic gems.

Women have been composing music for centuries, much of it ignored, underestimated, or simply undiscovered. Five outstanding composers were featured at the October 21st MEA General Meeting - Margaret Bonds, Lili Boulanger, Florence Price, Germaine Tailleferre, and Maria Szymanowska.  Highly regarded in their own lifetimes but mostly overlooked today, it is time to give their music the attention it deserves.  Brief biographies will be given, and selections of their music will be featured to show the diversity and depth of these talented women.

This fascinating topic was presented by MEA members Rebecca Eng, Victoria Griswold, Youn-Hee Kim, Barbara Landi Hause and Anna Katznelson.  Also featured will be Beatrice Long, performing “Troubled Waters” by Margaret Bonds. 

The Annual Piano Competition Committee is proud to present the 2022 APC interactive syllabus. The theme is "Discovering Women Composers". We hope you will find the repertoire fresh and exciting. Since much of this music is lesser known and difficult to find, detailed information on where you can get the scores is included in the syllabus.  Just click on this link 2022 APC Interactive Syllabus and enjoy!

Welcome back to live music!

On Thursday, September 23rd, live performances of the solo and duet repertoire for the 2022 Annual Piano Competition were given by the Annual Piano Competition Committee.

This syllabus features the little known but wonderful music of some outstanding women composers, including works by Lili Boulanger, Cecile Chaminade, Germaine Tailleferre, Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Agnes Backer Grondahl, Marianne von Martinez and more.

The performer were: Ana Berschadsky, Rebecca Eng, Vicky Griswold, Barbara Landi Hause, Anna Katznelson, Jongsun Lee, Beatrice Long, Kai Pangune Kim, Youn-hee Kim, Ruth Kotik, Michelle Kuo, Naomi Takagi, and Yuka Yanagi.

The 52nd MEA-NJ Annual Piano Competition Syllabus

There are two periods to register students for theory; October 1-21 and March 1 - 21. You can receive the tests via email or hard copy via snail mail and administer them at your leisure. You can register students online using the interactive registration form listed under Member Documents on your Member Homepage or you can mail in a downloadable registration form which can be be found under the link Forms/Downloads from our MEA Homepage Here.

For more info contact Marcia Maull, MEA Theory Chair:  Theory@mea-nj.org

Congratulations to:
Rebecca Hsiao, pupil of Florence Liu
and
Conor Hampton, pupil of Sophia Osokov

The Original Composition Festival was held on April 25th, via the zoom platform, with 32 student composers altogether from the ESOCC and the Festival representing 13 teachers.  The program included compositions for piano solo, piano four  hands, and piano with ensemble.   All student composers received a certificate.  The judges of the ESOCC were also able to attend and speak to the students.  Committee member Joan Bujacich acted as host on the upgraded zoom and conducted sound checks prior to the start of the program to optimize the audio experience.  All teachers were also sent audio tips/recital protocol, prior to the Festival to disseminate to their students.  Committee member Lisa Gonzalez took screen shots of the composers.  The program was a huge success and there were many positive comments from teachers, parents and the students themselves. Congratulations to all the student composers!  Stay tuned for next year, you will not want to miss this!

 Original Composition Committee, Kathy Knittel, Chair

The 2020-2021 Membership Directory can be found on your Member Homepage. Log on and take a look. It is listed under Downloadable Documents. You can view or Download. 

Thank you Lisa Gonzalez, Membership Chair, for putting this together for the membership each year!