Mu Phi Epsilon International Professional Fraternity for the Advancement of Music in the Community, Nation and World.
VOLUME 115 I ISSUE 4 I WINTER 2022
UP TOWARD THE
Sky Birdsong in American music
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Mindfulness activities inspire creative discovery and exploration in movement while boosting social-emotional well-being in the elementary classroom.
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FEATURES 6 10
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ACME Spotlight: Oboist and educator Richard Kravchak inspires through music, mentorship by Mary Au Mindfulness and Movement: A guide to introducing social emotional learning in the elementary music classroom by Lisa Beyer and Ashley Bouras Up Toward the Sky: Birdsong in American Music by Rachel Evangeline Barham
COLUMNS 1 2 4
President’s Message: Music Builds a Bridge of Understanding by Kurt-Alexander Zeller Foundation News: Scholarships and Grant Season is Here! by Sophia Tegart Musings: Alumni Who Showed Me the Way by Donna Chrzanowski
DEPARTMENTS 18 22 24 25
Applause & Encore: Member and Chapter News Final Notes: Compiled by Ann Geiler District Directors Directory Executive Officers Directory
On the Cover: Printed between 1827 and 1838, John James Audubon's "Birds of America" contains 435 life-size watercolors of North American birds (Havell edition), all reproduced from hand-engraved plates, and is considered to be the archetype of wildlife illustration. Courtesy of the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon Pennsylvania; the Montgomery County Audubon Collection; and Zebra Publishing.
Fraternity Mission Statement: Mu Phi Epsilon International Professional Music Fraternity is a coeducational fraternity whose aim is the advancement of music in the community, nation, and world through the promotion of musicianship, scholarship and music education with emphasis on service through music. EDITOR Kat Braz editor@muphiepsilon.org DESIGN & PRODUCTION Paul Wilson thetriangle@muphiepsilon.org Send all material for publication to: Kat Braz, editor@muphiepsilon.org The Triangle welcomes story suggestions from Mu Phi Epsilon members and friends. Publication selections will be made at the discretion of the editor. Photos must be provided as the original digital file at high resolution. Please include photographer credit information. All photographs are published courtesy of the contributor unless photographer credit is provided. Deadlines for submissions: Fall — August 15 Winter — October 15 Spring — February 15 Summer — April 15 Change of address, renewals, notice of deceased members, requests for extra copies and subscription requests should be sent to: Mu Phi Epsilon International Executive Office 4011 N. Pennsylvania St. #100 Indianapolis, IN 46205 toll free: 888-259-1471 fax: 888-855-8670 email: executiveoffice@muphiepsilon.org The Triangle is published four times per year by Mu Phi Epsilon, International Professional Music Fraternity. Member, Professional Fraternity Association. (ISSN 0041-2600) (Volume 115, Issue 4) Subscription price is $20.00 per year. Single copies are $8.00. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the United States of America. POSTMASTER: Send all changes of address to: Mu Phi Epsilon, 4011 N. Pennsylvania St. #100 Indianapolis, IN 46205 © 2022 Mu Phi Epsilon. All rights reserved.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
KU RT-A L EXAN DER ZEL L ER, IN T ERN ATI O N A L P R E S I D E N T, M U C H I , AT L A N TA A LU M N I P R ESI D EN T@ M U P H I E P S I LO N .O R G
Leontura
MUSIC BUILDS A BRIDGE OF UNDERSTANDING ur current theme of “Building Bridges” may not seem terribly musical (despite the presence of bridges on many of our stringed instruments or in the compositional form of our songs). Yet there are few more effective ways to build a bridge of understanding or empathy between humans, to speak from heart to heart, than music. Music can span deep divisions of culture, class and creed; people who think they have few, if any, experiences or values in common can find themselves connected in music. Music even links people across the chasms of time and death — we still can be moved today to exaltation, to pity, to laughter, by music created centuries ago by people we otherwise might believe were nothing like us. Can there be any doubt that our fractious world desperately needs this bridge-building capacity of musicians? Each of you, as individuals and as chapters, has the ability to use the barrierspanning quality of music to bridge a gap in our society — to form a connection where there has been disconnection. Your SERV projects bring music, along with enjoyment, achievement and dignity, to individuals and groups sometimes denied all of them. Your performances may bring people who normally would go out of their way to avoid or even vilify each other together under one roof to share an experience — and your programming can connect audiences and performers alike with the creations and cultures of those to whom they previously had felt no connection. As you begin to plan your spring semester activities, I encourage you to consider how you can use music to build bridges between people in your communities. And I encourage you to be intentional about using your activities to build a bridge between your chapter and some other part of Mu Phi Epsilon. Reach out to unaffiliated members in your region. Use technology to connect to a chapter in another city — maybe share an online program. Contact alumni chapters where your graduates may be moving and make a bridge for them to cross over easily. One of my favorite poems is Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s “Ode,” which begins with the famous line, “We are the music makers,
and we are the dreamers of dreams.” With apologies to O’Shaughnessy, however, we music makers are not mere dreamers of dreams — we are builders of bridges, the brawny construction workers who forge the links between human hearts. Let’s get to work!
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FOUNDATION SO PH IA T EG ART, P R ES I D E N T, M U P H I E P S I LO N FO U N DATI O N , M U B E TA P R ES I DE N T@ M P E FO U N DATI O N .O R G
SCHOLARSHIP AND GRANT SEASON IS HERE! ow is the time to apply for Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation grants and scholarships! Most applications are due March 1, with summer scholarship applications due April 15. Visit our website to access the applications and watch videos on how to create successful applications and proposals. The Foundation has added new scholarships and grants, so there is even more money available to the members of Mu Phi Epsilon! Last year was the first time we offered our new Music Educator Grants. The inaugural winners were Cassandra Eisenreich (Delta Mu), Kathleen Jung (Gamma Gamma, Oklahoma Alumni) and Brandon Barnett (Zeta Xi, Indianapolis Alumni). Jung used the funds to purchase books and kits to teach in music in the elementary schools. She used these new resources to teach tempo, rhythm and drumming. “These resources and Students from the Slippery Rock University Early Childhood and Elementary Music materials have already enhanced my students’ Community Engagement Initiative funded by a Music Education Grant. musical learning,” Jung said. “I can see a deeper understanding with being able to use new and exciting manipulatives during large and small group instruction.” currently serve the Early Learning Connections Head Start Barnett used his grant to help fund his program at the Tindley Program where we are providing free music and movement classes Accelerated Schools in Indianapolis. “With the Mu Phi Epsilon with cross curricular themes that support physical, cognitive and Foundation Music Educator Grant, I was able to load my social-emotional development.” wonderful scholars with essentials to their music endeavors,” he This funding was made possible by the Mu Phi Epsilon said. “I was able to provide my beginner classes with our Foundation, but more importantly it was made possible because Standard of Excellence books, as well as purchase basic and Jung, Barnett and Eisenreich took that extra step and applied. You meaningful supplies such as reeds, valve oil, cork grease, neck can help sustain the future of music through your applications for straps, folders and percussion sticks! On top of all of that, I was any one of our scholarships. We are here for you. Apply, apply, apply! able to purchase a few pieces of music for the semester!” Eisenreich used funds to maintain a program that serves as outreach into her community. “The Slippery Rock University Apply Today! www.mpefoundation.org Early Childhood and Elementary Music Community Engagement Initiative is a program specifically designed for preschool through elementary age students,” she said. “Receiving this grant has allowed us to continue our program during uncertain times. We 2
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Anniversary! HAPPY
These Mu Phi Epsilon chapters celebrated milestone anniversaries in 2021. Years 115
Chapter Kappa, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana
Date November 3, 1906
110
Mu, Brenau University, Gainsville, Georgia Nu, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
February 6, 1911 March 3, 1911
105
Detroit Alumni
May 2, 2016
95
Mu Phi, Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, OH Mu Psi, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA
February 26, 1926 May 22, 1926
90
Dallas Alumni
February 26, 1931
85
Denver Alumni
June 16, 1936
80
Phi Pi, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
June 22, 1941
75
Phi Omega, Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA Wichita Alumni
April 6, 1946 December 29, 1946
70
San Jose Alumni
February 18, 1951
65
Fresno Alumni
June 2, 1956
60
Alpha Xi, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC Alpha Pi, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
January 12, 1961 October 29, 1961
55
Beta Zeta, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA Beta Eta, California State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA Beta Theta, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN Denton Alumni
April 23, 1966 May 14, 1966 May 29, 1966 April 16, 1966
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Gamma Sigma, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA
May 8, 1976
20
Delta Tau, Mercer University, Macon, GA
April 21, 2001
10
Zeta Kappa, Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA
April 5, 2011
5
Zeta Omega, Illinois College, Jacksonville, IL Eta Alpha, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
April 3, 2016 October 11, 2016
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MUSINGS
GUEST COLUMNIST DO N N A CH RZ A N OWS K I , P H I KA P PA , D E T RO I T A LU M N I
ALUMNI WHO SHOWED ME THE WAY A lifelong member reflects on the bonds of music, friendship and harmony
hen I graduated from Wayne State University in 1987 with a degree in music education, I had some idea of the life of a teacher, but not the life of a music teacher. Somehow the two seemed to be a bit different. Most teachers that I knew weren’t going off to rehearsals in the evening, performing or attending concerts on the weekends or giving private lessons whenever they weren’t in class: except the members of the Detroit Alumni chapter. I had met many of these women when I became a Mu Phi a few years earlier and they were very welcoming of all Collegiates, but because I was the president of Phi Kappa, I had a bit more communication with them. In these ladies, I saw the life that I was going to embark upon: wife, mother and of course, music teacher. Charlotte McCray (Gamma) was one of the first members that I got to know as we were both delegates from the Detroit area to the Atlanta convention. Back then, airfare was provided by the Fraternity and so our tickets had us sitting next to each other on the plane. Charlotte told me how she was able to teach music and raise her family by being able to work part-time until her children were in school themselves. When I, too, became an elementary general music teacher, it was Charlotte who took the time to go through her materials and give me songs and materials for the little ones. Charlotte also would perform for the alumni chapter at least once a year, as she said that it kept her practicing so that she could be the best for her students. Other inspiring members of the Detroit Alumni chapter included Patricia Junker (Phi Kappa) and Marian Alan (Phi Kappa, Detroit Alumni). These ladies had extensive private lesson studios and often taught most every night of the week, and yet they made time for their families and for Mu Phi. Pat was the district director when I was a Collegiate president and she hosted a few of our concerts at her home. My chapter hosted the ceremony for Marion following a special election. Both of these ladies were always giving to others in having monthly set times for sing-a-longs at senior centers and were the inspiration behind the Detroit Alumni song books. 4
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Donna Chrzanowski and Beth Shafe at Convention
Through Marian Wingert (Phi Kappa), I learned to maintain a level of professionalism and always strive to the best in performance and in everything you do. Marian raised three children while performing as a cellist in the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and living in Detroit, an hour’s drive away. Her son is currently playing in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as a cellist. After she retired, Marian put together programs for children and would travel to libraries to tell stories using her string bass. Her stories were charming and very engaging to children of all ages and I learned about performing and being ready to perform through Marian. It was Beth Shafe (Phi Kappa), the first recipient of the Eleanor Hale Wilson-Rosalie V. Speciale Lifetime Achievement Award, who showed me the wonderfulness of Mu Phi and all the friends and musical excellence that this Fraternity has to offer. She took
Beth Shafe
Charlotte McGray
DrAfter123
Congrats!
From Left: Marion Alan, Patricia Junkert and Marian Wingert
me under her wing and passed on many things that the Detroit Alumni chapter would do and demanded that in all things it was done correctly. And yet, Beth, too, raised a family and she and her husband were both music teachers. One of the biggest lessons from Beth was that we as Mu Phis should help to support our Fraternity and Foundation through donations to help others in their pursuit of music excellence. Beth showed me how to become a Golden Benefactor. My list of other members who gave advice or shared their favorite songs and activities for children would include most of the members of the Detroit Alumni chapter, many of whom have since passed. These ladies were encouraging and understanding when my young family kept me from meetings and from participating in events as much as I would have liked. I remember being once apologetic when I had missed meetings, and Ida Swigart (Gamma) said to me, “Donna, don’t worry about it. We’ve all been there and had those moments. We’re glad that you are here, now.” I feel that the biggest lesson that I’ve learned is to always include all Mu Phis and to be as welcoming and warm as you can be. Try to attend their performances and support them in their pursuits and careers, and to be the best in everything that we do, because we are Mu Phi Epsilon!
Mu Phi Epsilon is proud to announce the reactivation of the Delta Psi chapter at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia. Pictured (from left) are Cyndrea Lewis; Francisca Maxwell, faculty advisor; Sarah Marchant; Kristina Benoit; Kurt-Alexander Zeller, international president; and Akosua Adwini-Poku.
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ACME
SPOTLIGHT M ARY AU, AC M E CO - C H A I R , M U N U, LOS A N G E L E S A LU M N I AU H AU S @ G MA I L .CO M
‘A RESPONSIBILITY TO LIFT THE NEXT GENERATION’ Oboist and educator Richard Kravchak inspires through music, mentorship ichard Kravchak is an award-winning pedagogue, an internationally recognized scholar and performer and an experienced, student-focused academic administrator with a demonstrated successful history of working in the education field in a variety of roles from K-12 music teacher through leadership positions in comprehensive higher education institutions. He has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas as an oboe soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. He specializes in contemporary music, with over 100 compositions written for him. Kravchak’s experience as a performing artist includes solo performances in recitals and with orchestras, principal oboist in various orchestras and even playing in pit orchestras when he has time. Currently Kravchak is the Dean of Arts and Letters at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas and also serves on the board of directors for Opera Las Vegas, the city’s leading opera company. He concurrently continues his career as an oboe soloist as his very busy administrative life allows, recently performing the Bach Double Concerto with Las Vegas Philharmonic concertmaster DeAnn Letourneau.
Who would have thought that the son of a handyman with an eighth-grade education, the grandson of a janitor and farmer, the great-grandson of an immigrant from Central Europe, a child who grew up in a blue-collar area marked by truck and poultry farms, would earn degrees from Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music in oboe performance), the Juilliard School (Master of Music in English horn performance) and Florida State University (Doctor of Music in oboe performance), all paid for through the incredible sacrifice of his No. 1 fan — his mother, Leilani (Martin) Girdner. Throughout his career, Kravchak has sought to inspire the next generation of musicians. As a K-12 educator, Kravchak “embraced marching band as a mechanism to meet students where they were.” To make the ensemble experience meaningful to both 6
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Throughout his career, Richard Kravchak has held a variety of roles from K-12 music teacher through leadership positions in comprehensive higher education institutions.
the students and their community, he taught them from “a musicianship point of view” by “always learning to sing and perform their music in solfeggio before playing it.” His Canoga Park High School bands only played classical music arrangements on the field. Kravchak would then take his students to Los Angeles Philharmonic performances of the full version of the pieces those students played at halftime. Not only did his students benefit from hearing world class performances of the music that they were studying, but Kravchak would train his students in proper concert etiquette such as how to dress and behave in a professional manner. “This remarkable group of students won the Los Angeles Unified Band and Drill Team Championship in their division five out of seven years that I was fortunate enough to teach them,” Kravchak said. On the University level, Kravchak’s experience brought him to: Luther College in Decorah, Iowa (double reeds, saxophone and music appreciation); California State University, Dominguez Hills (chair of the Department of Music, leader of the music education program, studio woodwinds); Marshall University (professor of oboe and founding director of the School of Music and Theatre); University of Southern Mississippi (director of the School of
“ One never goes wrong following one’s passion so long as we are practical about how to monetize that passion.”
— Richard Kravchak
Music); and the College of Southern Nevada, our nation’s fifth largest community college.
Finding His Instrument Kravchak’s choice to learn the oboe “had little to do with the oboe or its sound!” He wanted to attend summer school with his friends and his only option was to learn an instrument. He picked the oboe because it was not a brass instrument and was available to a rising fourth grade student, unlike the saxophone or bassoon. “I didn’t select the clarinet, because I worried that the name sounded too much like ‘cornet’ and that it might somehow be a stealth brass instrument,” Kravchak said. “I was the only oboe player, which as an only child, I really liked.” WINTER 2022
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ACME
SPOTLIGHT
As a teacher and mentor, Richard Kravchak has inspired hundreds of students including Victor de los Santos (left) and Lulu Aguilar.
Kravchak said he feels very blessed to play on several fantastic modern oboes and English horns hand-made by Paul Laubin, the world-renowned oboe maker who died in 2021 at age 88. He also plays several historic oboes and all the modern woodwinds such as clarinets, saxophones, flutes and bassoon. “Music gives structure and meaning to my professional life. I am blessed to be both an educator and a performing artist and now an administrator. I believe that the ability to interpret and comment on the human condition through my art is a blessing and a responsibility,” Kravchak said. “I have always been interested in teaching — even when I was in high school. I am also moved by the social justice piece of education — I believe that all of us whom life has treated well have a responsibility to lift the next generation.” Kravchak views his experiences as a performing musician as complementary to his role as an educator. The two aspects of his professional life exist in harmony and his experience as a performer lends credibility to his work with students. As a performer, he understands the importance of marketing and believes it should be part of every music student’s training. He also encourages students to explore different genres and experiment with improvisation. “There is value to be found in music from a variety of genres,” Kravchak said “I have incorporated music from the ‘Great American Songbook’ into my own performances, often to great effect.” He encourages his students to include both classical and 8
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nonclassical music in their programs and bring the same rigor of preparation to the nonclassical offerings, including standards for intonation, sound quality and appropriate research regarding performance choices. “Actors are trained to take on all kinds of roles, so why shouldn’t musicians be trained to perform in multiple genres?” His own musical influences embrace popular genre singers, such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and the legendary classical baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau — “All wonderful storytellers who sang with great sound, perfect intonation and a clear artistic message.” As far as oboists go, “I learn something new every time I hear a recording of Marcel Tabuteau, for his tonal subtleties,” he said. Though he is reluctant to single out any specific student’s recital, Kravchak said he was particularly moved by Lourdes Aguilar’s 2012 senior clarinet recital at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Aguilar (Gamma Sigma) performed beautiful renditions of the Saint-Saens clarinet sonata and Vanhal clarinet concerto on the first half of her program, then in the second half, she performed as a tenor saxophonist with her ska band and sang with a mariachi style band to end the program. “This level of flexible musicianship has served Lulu well in her career as a music educator,” Kravchak said. “Under her leadership, the marching band at Reseda Charter High School won several Los Angeles Unified School District all-city band and drill team championships.”
ACME
SPOTLIGHT
His Teaching Philosophy Kravchak is fond of saying “There is nothing worse than going to a beautiful vocal recital where the singer stands on stage like a sack of potatoes.” He implores students to engage audiences and entertain them with a visual performance, much like pop artists do. He believes it is also critical to present performances that have meaningful emotional and intellectual content and not just a collection of pleasant sounds or fast notes, especially if a musician wants to remain relevant in the current performing arts landscape. “When I was a student, numerous symphonies, opera and ballet companies and theater groups offered employment to new graduates,” Kravchak said. “These opportunities have receded. Many educational institutions have emphasized technical mastery of repertoire and produced a generation of graduates who are good at winning auditions, but may lack an individual artistic voice and, importantly, lack the ability to monetize their passion for music, should they not be successful on the audition circuit.” He cites the delineation between music creators and music interpreters as one unfortunate aspect of contemporary music training at the college and university level. “I believe that it is vital for all music students to create original music, such as to improvise cadenzas in their lessons, even if they never perform this music in public,” he said. He advises students that programming for a solo recital should be approached just like building the menu for a dinner party, something Kravchak also enjoys doing. A cohesive program begins with an entry piece, is anchored by some main course selections and should finish with dessert. Kravchak also believes in including pieces from underrepresented composers and artists. While musicality is essential to maintaining a performing career, proper technique cannot be ignored. Kravchak plays scales every day with a metronome, including major and minor, modal, half-diminished, whole tone, chromatic and quarter tone. For oboe players, he recommends the great classic method books including Barrett, Ferling, George Gillet and Bozza — always with a metronome. “Technique is the means by which we bring our artistic vision to fruition,” Kravchak said. “Without sufficient technique, our vision cannot be transferred from our souls to the ears, hearts and minds of the listener.” All the advice, training and mentoring in the world can’t always prepare students for the life of a performing musician if they lack the discipline of practice. “I believe that natural consequences can often be the best teachers,” Kravchak said. “As teachers, we need to encourage students to practice. But the bottom line is that students who don’t practice will not build sufficient endurance and control and they will not be successful. Playing the oboe is not a natural act — we must build our muscles and intellect in order to do it successfully.”
George Osorio (Gamma Sigma) has fond memories of his time at California State University, Dominguez Hills with Dr. K, as Kravchak is affectionately known to his students. “He helped us become better students and musicians,” Osorio said. “When he saw us not practicing, he would tell us, ‘Why don’t you come into my office and we can change your major.’” Kravchak is beyond proud of the many hundreds of students that he has taught through the years. A handful of students ultimately followed Kravchak into the field of music. Many of them have joined Mu Phi Epsilon. “The only important measure of the success of an arts program is how it has positively impacted the lives of its students long after they leave our stages and classrooms,” Kravchak said.
Praise for Dr. K Kravchak takes a vested interest in the long-term success of his students. Here is what two said about his influence on their lives and careers: “As a young Latino student, going to school in the Valley came with the repeated experience of being overlooked, displaced, marginalized and disregarded. Dr. K was one of the few teachers who subverted that expectation and took a vested interest in seeing us succeed in breaking past those barriers. It’s an amazing experience to look back on, because it was his care and compassion that has made me the artist I am today. He has been the greatest influence on me as an artist and I look forward to the day that I can pay it forward to the next generation of musicians.” — Anthony Almendarez (Gamma Sigma), composer “Dr. K was much more than an instructor. He is a caring person who only gets the best from his students. He influenced the way I teach and now how I help lead a school of 3,400 students as an assistant principal. He helped me become a better musician, teacher, mentor and now administrator. He didn’t only believe in me, but he forced me to believe in myself.” — Victor de los Santos (Gamma Sigma, Los Angeles Alumni), Santa Ana High School, California
ACME Nominations ACME recognition highlights the strengths and accomplishments of our fraternity’s Artists, Composers, Musicologists and Educators. We encourage members to nominate deserving, actively affiliated candidates who have achieved national and/or international acclaim in their music fields for ACME consideration. Learn more at muphiepsilon.org.
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LISA B EY ER, P H I TAU, DA LLAS A LU M N I , A N D AS HL E Y BOURAS , P H I TAU, DA L L AS A LU MNI
Mindfulness
Movement AND
A guide to introducing social-emotional learning in the elementary music classroom
lementary teachers are in the business of teaching kids to be thoughtful humans that treat each other with kindness. Social-emotional learning (SEL) in education is becoming a more popular focus as our current teaching environment rapidly fluctuates, and music educators have a unique advantage with a curriculum that allows for purposeful social interactions through creative movement and folk dance. SEL and mindfulness activities allow students to identify and navigate their emotions. Academics should be a secondary priority, because students must be in a safe place physically and mentally to effectively learn. We took our Orff Schulwerk levels together at Southern Methodist University and became fast friends over those three summers. As we went through the intense professional development sessions and began experimenting in our classrooms, we both fell in love with teaching music through movement, especially creative movement. As we figured out what worked best for our young students learning to move and dance, we separately discovered how much of a difference mindfulness 10 MuPhiEpsilon.org
activities made with the children’s social-emotional well-being. Together, we have been working on a series of mindfulness activities that inspire creative discovery and exploration in movement, and seven years later we are still collaborators and great friends. These mindfulness activities can be used as individual lessons or can be scaffolded to combine the elements of folk dance. The resource that inspired our mindfulness journey is called “Mindful Kids,” published by Barefoot Books. Whitney Stewart and Mina Braun wrote and illustrated these cards, and we both begin our lessons with them. These mindfulness exercises are written specifically for kids, and the language is simple and gives space for kids to breathe and be in the moment. Some cards we read verbatim with our students, others we paraphrase or rearrange, and most include extensions that we’ve adapted to our movement needs. You might be asking yourself, “why take this particular path instead of teaching movement and dance the way it’s always been done?” One reason is that mindfulness and SEL exercises help children get in better touch with their thoughts and feelings. With increased awareness of how and what they are
feeling in the moment comes less emotional reactivity and a greater ability to listen and communicate more thoughtfully and effectively. Being able to self-regulate emotions is vital for many aspects of learning, and we’ve seen the impact in our classrooms and throughout the school as well. Students show respect for themselves, their classmates and their teachers because of their shared experiences. They attain more bodily awareness of personal space and shared space and they make quicker connections to dance vocabulary. The biggest difference we’ve seen is a greater willingness and vulnerability to try new things in the classroom. As a result, their musical growth skyrockets! One of the first dances we pieced together with mindfulness activities is a folk dance called “Sasha.” It involves interacting with other students and changing partners between repetitions of the dance. While the music sounds like a traditional Russian tune and most people label it as a Russian folk dance, like many other folk dances, its history is not clear. It uses counting words in Russian (“ras, dva, tri”) and the nickname Sasha (short for Alexander or Alexandra), but dances evolve as they get passed from generation to generation. We do know that the “Sasha” was first introduced in America by Bob Dalsemer from the John C. Campbell Folk School, but Dalsemer learned the dance from a Danish instructor who may have learned it from a German folk dance leader. The dance itself is fairly simple and developmentally apropriate for lower grade levels or beginning movers. It begins with partners scattered around the room facing each other and wagging their index fingers, saying, “Sasha! Sasha! Ras, dva, tri!” After counting to three in Russian, the partners perform a hand clapping sequence followed by clockwise and counterclockwise elbow turns. They wave goodbye to their current partners and have 36 beats of music to find a new partner to repeat the dance. We broke down teaching these elements with the following mindfulness activity cards.
MINDFULNESS ACTIVITIES Mindful Jungle Movements • Objectives: muscle awareness and imagination • Dance Application: mixer formation, scatter space, shared space, balance, weight, sway, swivel This first activity can apply to any folk dance or movement activity. Mindful Jungle Movements gets students to move around the room while imitating animals, keeping awareness of their surroundings and their foot contact with the floor. Being able to utilize shared space is vital to any movement activity. Honing this skill is necessary for safety, classroom management and the teacher’s sanity.
Words To Yourself • Objectives: replacing unkind words with kind words in your mind, empathy and positive social interactions • Dance Application: choosing a partner • Extension: finding a partner and sitting across from them on the floor, each partner takes turns sharing a compliment or encouragement While this activity doesn’t center around movement, it focuses on choosing and interacting appropriately with a partner. Making those connections with your partner builds empathy and understanding. Before finding partners, we have a conversation in our classrooms about not turning down someone who asks to be your partner. Tying awareness of creating positive interactions to something seemingly as simple as finding a partner helps students understand that words and body language have an impact. When the partners discuss compliments and words of encouragement with each other, we teach them how to be listeners. Students have different levels of comfort with eye contact and physical touch, so we have a conversation where students share different ways that show they are listening. At the end of every partner activity, especially one with high vulnerability, we emphasize the importance of thanking your partner. Without them, you would not have had your experience. WINTER 2022
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Kind Fives (inspired by “Loving-Kindness” card) • Objectives: empathy and positive self-talk • Dance Application: body percussion with a partner, choosing a partner within a set time frame • Extensions: start with card — extend: say mantra, walk around the room for 32 beats and at the end of the cadence find a partner This activity can be used for several folk dances and movement experiences as it teaches a type of patty-cake pattern. The students begin by speaking affirmations out loud to different groups of people: first themselves, then loved ones and then the world full of strangers. “May you be happy. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be kind.” At this point in the process, they have had lots of practice choosing a partner, allowing this to transition easily into a partner choosing game. The first goal of the new game is to find a partner after a certain amount of time passes, and the teacher shows the end of the cadence by altering the rhythm on the drum. Upon finding a partner, students speak the affirmations to one another in rhythm two times in a row, and then move around the room again. After that has happened successfully multiple times, introduce the hand connections for each phrase. “May you be happy.” — Students touch their right hands together with their partner. “May you be safe.” — Students touch their left hands together with their partner. “May you be peaceful.” — Students touch both hands together with their partner. “May you be kind.” — Students touch both hands to their thighs (partners do not touch). 12
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The same game is repeated and students find a partner, connect their hands during each affirmation phrase, and then walk freely around the room until the movement phrase ends and they find their next partner. Finally, instead of just touching on the affirmation phrases, partners pat their hands together three times each. “May you be happy.”— Students pat right hands together. “May you be safe.” — Students pat left hands together. “May you be peaceful.” — Students pat both hands together. “May you be kind.” — Students pat their thighs.
Cooking Up Connections • Objectives: finding connections in the world around you • Dance Application: finding a partner, connecting with a partner physically (ex. elbow to elbow), transition from connection to right to left arm swing • Extensions: find a partner and connect body parts as they move around the room, switch to a new body part at a sound cue (or after a designated number of counts) and continue to move while connected, repeat until connecting inside of right elbows then left elbows. This movement game is one that’s lived in our classrooms in different variations, and when we were brainstorming ideas this card and game made an immediate connection. (Pun intended.) The creativity of students during this mindfulness exercise never fails to astound and amuse us. We walk the kids through the process of cooking a meal, from the farmer planting seeds, to the driver delivering produce to the store, to the families buying and cooking dinner. We take time to appreciate and thank the many people who are connected to our daily routines. These connections
then translate to physical connections and students play the movement game! The teacher names a body part and the students must connect with their partner but still be able to travel around the room safely. Starting simple with connecting elbows or shoulders quickly becomes hips or knees, and it is rare for a class to play this game without giggling. We eventually lead students to connect the inside of their elbows together, which becomes a right or left arm swing. This moment is usually accompanied by a collective, “Oooh! We see what you did there!” Now all of the puzzle pieces have been created, and the last mindfulness activity brings them all together.
Everything Changes • Objectives: recognizing changes in the world around you and accepting the emotions that come with those changes • Dance Application: form, count structure • Extensions: review Kind Fives, add right arm swing then left arm swing, add “reminder” to your partner with “Sasha! Sasha! Ras, dva, tre!” then practice all parts with one partner before finding new partners and add music! In the final mindfulness activity, the students dive into how change affects their world. We acknowledge that change can make you happy, sad, excited or upset. The students get time to reflect on changes in their lives, and they are given the opportunity to share if they feel comfortable. The idea of changes happening throughout life is connected to changes that happen in our classrooms, and we take the movement concepts they discovered in previous lessons and combine them and change them until they morph together to create our final dance. The students’ joy is infectious when they realize their previous lessons are related, and their excitement to learn what comes next is a great reminder of why we love teaching. In the time that we have used mindfulness as a core tenet in our classrooms, we have witnessed students transform before us. The investment in a few minutes of mindfulness during each lesson has yielded incredible growth and using it as a jumping off point to learn movement makes those connections stronger. Students use techniques learned in music to calm themselves in difficult situations and to reflect on the world around them. Creating purposeful social interactions through creative movement and folk dance gives students the tools to succeed outside of school. It has been our greatest joy to watch children operate in empathy and awareness, especially during this time as we navigate this pandemic together.
Classroom Resources
Dance instructions: “Sasha” from Amidon, P., Brass, M. C., & Davis, A. (Eds.). (2007). “Sashay the Donut: Even More Dances for Just About Everyone.” Battleboro, VT: New England Dancing Masters Productions. Recording used: “Mayim” from “Rhythmically Moving 5,” High/Scope Educational Research Foundation “Sasha” from “Sashay the Donut,” New England Dancing Masters SEL Activities: Stewart, W., & Braun, M. (2017). “Mindful Kids: 50 Mindfulness Activities for Kindness, Focus and Calm.” Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books.
Lisa Storm Beyer has been teaching elementary music since 2014, and currently teaches in Richardson I Richardson Independent School District in Richardson, Texas. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Methodist University and is certified in Orff Schulwerk and Kodaly. She is the assistant director of summer music education Workshops at SMU. Ashley Bouras graduated from the University of North Texas in 2012 with a Bachelor of Music Education. She is an Orff Schulwerk certified teacher currently teaching in Richardson Independent School District in Richardson, Texas. She was initiated in the Phi Tau chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon in April 2010. As a Collegiate, she served as the chapter’s marketing committee head and vice president, as well as the 2011 delegate. She has served Mu Phi Epsilon as District Director for South Central 2 since the spring of 2013. Ashley was named District Director of the Year after her first complete year and has been chosen for the Honorable Mention several times. She is second vice president, Collegiate advisor for Mu Phi Epsilon. Beyer and Bouras have presented at TMEA and for multiple school districts.
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Illustration by American wildlife painter and illustrator Robert Bruce Horsfall (1869-1948).
UP TOWARD THE
Sky
Birdsong in American music RACH EL EVAN G EL IN E BA R HA M, D E LTA N U, WAS H I N GTO N D C A LU M N I
A couple of weeks after last July’s virtual International Convention, I headed to Vermont to visit family I hadn’t seen in two years because of the pandemic. We had some wonderful time together, but when I had a few moments to myself, I headed up the nearest mountain. I had one thing in mind: find a hermit thrush that was singing. A short hike up a trail and there it was, serenading anyone who would listen. I got a private 17-minute concert. This was not terribly far from where the composer Amy Beach (1867-1944) first encountered this bird’s varied and mesmerizing song, at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Beach transcribed the birdsong as she heard it, and used it in her Opus 92 for piano, two pieces called “A Hermit Thrush at Eve” and “A Hermit Thrush at Morn.” You can hear how she selects a long piano note followed by quick arpeg14
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giations to imitate the bird’s song, each iteration of which starts with a clear whistle before breaking into a pattern of quick notes that use natural harmonics. Hear birdsongs on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s allaboutbirds.org by searching for the name of the bird and then clicking “sounds.” You can also see range maps to find out whether these birds are found in your area. Most people rightly think of Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) when they think of birdsong in music. But birds have inspired people probably since the beginnings of music. It isn’t hard to imagine the player of the first bone flutes trying to imitate the songs of birds, nor is it unlikely that birds inspired the rhythms of dances. My solo American art song album, “Up Toward the Sky,” has a definite bird theme, from “My Crow Pluto” by Virgil Thomson
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her “Gaelic” Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. She was inducted into the Iota Alpha chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon at Chicago Musical College.
George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
(1896-1989), with an amazingly alliterative and fun text by Marianne Moore, to “My Phoenix” by Mu Phi Epsilon composer Winifred Hyson (1925-2019), a setting of a poem by Jean Starr Untermeyer as part of the set “Songs of Job’s Daughter.” The set was a prize winner in the 1971 Mu Phi Epsilon Composition Contest, and this is the first commercial recording. Hyson was active for years in the Washington DC Alumni chapter, and she coached me on the songs. The album, which was partially funded by the Brena Hazzard Voice Scholarship, starts with a song I’ve always loved as a recital opener: “Sweet Suffolk Owl” by Richard Hundley (1931-2018). It’s short, it doesn’t have a lot of technical challenges for me, and it has so much character that it puts audiences at ease and calms any nerves I might have at the beginning of a recital. The poem by Thomas Vautor immortalizes the nightly pursuit of owl and mouse, notating the song of the European tawny owl — like his contemporary Shakespeare in the Winter poem from “Love’s Labour’s Lost” — as “to whit, te whoo.” Vautor and Shakespeare got something wrong, though. Vautor says of the owl: “thou singest alone, sitting by night.” In reality, it’s not a single bird; it’s a duet! The female says “te-whit” and the male answers with “te-whoo.” What makes the song so much fun for me is that the composer Hundley imitates the actual song of the tawny owl in the vocal line. It’s almost like I get to stand in front of an audience in my recital finery and do bird calls. Thy note that forth so freely rolls With shrill command, the mouse controls, And singest a dirge for dying souls, To whit, te whoo! Listen to “Sweet Suffolk Owl,” “Meadowlarks,” “The Crucifixion,” and Rachel’s other music at youtube.com — search Rachel Evangeline Barham
Strix aluco (Tawny owl) illustrated by the von Wright brothers from the 1929 folio of Svenska Fåglar Efter Naturen Och Pa Sten Ritade.
In planning this album, I really wanted to include some songs by Beach, since she was a member of Mu Phi Epsilon. I had a problem, though: all of Beach’s songs that I had encountered were settings of poetry that was too romantic, too sentimental for me to perform with conviction. I’ve had the same problem choosing songs by Schubert, and I decided to use the same strategy: start by looking through texts and find the ones about nature. That’s something this tree-hugger can sell to an audience. It wasn’t long before I came across “The Thrush” and “The Blackbird,” neither of which was available in a commercial recording. I sang through them and found that “The Blackbird” — a delightful piece about a couple sharing their first kiss while
serenaded by a joyous but less-than-tuneful blackbird — fit my voice perfectly. The range of “The Thrush” was a little low, and I had it professionally transposed: Beach’s tender setting of a poem about the loss of a mate has been a favorite of audiences. (And since you’re wondering, this is probably a wood thrush rather than a hermit thrush, but the poem doesn’t specify!) In both “The Thrush” and “The Blackbird,” Beach creates a musical tribute to the song of a bird rather than trying to render the song exactly, a convention practiced much more widely than using exact transcriptions of birdsongs. The repetitive rhythmicmelodic gestures she writes for the piano could well represent flowing water or tumbling autumn leaves, but due to the poetic WINTER 2022
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Courtesy of the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon, Pennsylvania; the Montgomery County Audubon Collection; and Zebra Publishing.
Song Thrush
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content, it is clear that the motives are meant to suggest birdsong. Another example is found in Samuel Barber’s “The Crucifixion,” in which we hear a birdlike piano motive to the text “At the cry of the first bird.” But in the song “Meadow-larks” — like in the hermit thrush pieces for piano — Beach has made an exact transcription, as she heard it, of the song of the Western meadowlark. This is quite a feat! While the flutelike quality of the hermit thrush’s song lends itself easily to translation into Western musical notation, the Western meadowlark’s song is a fast, gurgly up-and-down arpeggiation. It almost doesn’t even sound like a bird — maybe a “Star Wars” character.
Did you know?
The Western meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming. Beach renders the Western meadowlark’s song into a complex two-part rhythmic gesture for the piano. The gesture opens the piece and then returns in various guises throughout. The birdsong gesture is nothing like the vocal line and is used more as an echo of the singer’s thoughts. However, as she does in the other bird pieces previously mentioned, Beach uses the melody of the birdsong to create the harmonic world of the piece. She then morphs the melodic gesture to support novel harmonizations, weaving together an accompaniment that not only supports but enhances the different character of each verse in the strophic poem. I would be a poor advocate if I weren’t to mention that North American birds are in trouble. Even though both the hermit thrush and the Western meadowlark are listed with a conservation status of “low concern,” it is estimated that 48% of Western meadowlarks have vanished since 1966. And its counterpart the Eastern meadowlark, with its song often rendered as “spring of the YEAR,” is in steep decline, having lost an estimated 89% of its population since 1966.
Illustration by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874-1927) of an Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna), from "The Burgess Bird Book for Children"
Visit www.ABCbirds.org to learn about the American Bird Conservancy and sign up for a bird of the week email. I have enjoyed getting to know these pieces and presenting them to audiences. Starting with familiar birdsongs has given me new insight into Beach’s compositional process in particular, for which I am grateful. Now that performing venues are reopening and recitals are possible again, I’m in search of my next birdsong sets. Who knows what might fly into view? Search online for recordings of a hermit thrush song at 1/2 speed and 1/4 speed. You will be amazed at what you hear!
Habitat destruction, pesticides, outdoor cats, window strikes and climate change are just a few factors threatening North America’s birds. But groups like the American Bird Conservancy, for whom I’ve done several recital fundraisers, are helping with education, advocacy and conservation efforts. There are easy ways that all of us can help birds. I do my part because I want every mountain to have a hermit thrush, forever.
Ed Benkowski
The poet Ina Coolbrith (1842-1928) who wrote “Meadow-larks” was the first poet laureate of California and indeed the first person named as a poet laureate in the United States. She had a very interesting life worth reading about.
Rachel Evangeline Barham is a classically trained singer, teacher, writer and editor. Her album “Up Toward the Sky” is available for purchase as a CD at www.guildmusic.com and is available on most streaming platforms. The album highlights the musical and poetic voices of women and LGBT Americans and features several premiere commercial recordings. www.RachelBarham.com www.UpTowardTheSky.com.
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APPLAUSE & ENCORE MEMBER AND CHAPTER NEWS
Amy Canchola (Kappa, Dallas Alumni) and Noe Garcia, who together form Duo Atesorado, performed a selection of songs by Mexican composers in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month during the Dallas Alumni chapter’s October meeting.
Alejandro Arroyo Alberto (Omega Omega) is the winner of the Colorado MTNA Young Artist Performance Competition, Piano (Ages 19-26). He is pictured here, at left, with Lei Weng (Alpha Alpha), professor of piano at the University of Northern Colorado where Alberto is a graduate student, during the October competition. 18
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Virtuoso pianist Jason Sia (Alpha Delta, Sacramento Alumni) performed a program of beloved works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and others at the grand Cotton Auditorium in Fort Bragg, California, in November.
Steinway Artist Tony Tobin and Martha Mortensen Ahern (Mu Theta, Austin Alumni) performed Spooky Piano Solos and four-hand works including selections by Beethoven, Gounod, Bolcom, Elfman and others during an Austin Alumni chapter event in October.
Indianapolis A number of alumni chapters hosted Founders Day celebrations on November 13.
Chase Crispin (Beta Pi, Lincoln Alumni), music teacher at Scott Middle School in Lincoln, Nebraska, received the Golden Apple Award in recognition of excellence in teaching. Born blind, the Blair, Nebraska, native began at Scott as an accompanist before being hired as a full-time teacher this year. One of Crispin’s students, sixth-grader Ainsley Gouldie, nominated him for the award.
St Louis
Kristin Jónína Taylor (Alpha Kappa, Lincoln Alumni) was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame, a prestigious designation recognizing the work of North America’s most committed and passionate piano educators, in October. Taylor is an assistant professor of piano in the University of Nebraska Omaha School of Music.
In September, the Boston Alumni chapter honored Maria-Pia Antonelli (Phi Upsilon) for 75 years of membership in Mu Phi Epsilon. Antonelli has enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a pianist and piano teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts. Pictured (from left) are Valerie Stark (Beta), treasurer; Antonelli; and Carolyn Frost (Beta Epsilon), president of the Boston Alumni chapter. WINTER 2022
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APPLAUSE & ENCORE MEMBER AND CHAPTER NEWS
Marlon Daniel (Mu Xi, New York City Alumni) became the associate conductor of the Florida Grand Opera in Miami in January. He will also be a guest lecturer at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music next season where he will speak on the music and life of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and perform with one of the university’s orchestras in a concert of music of the 18th century, featuring the music of Bologne.
Please send your Applause & Encore news items with photo to: editor@muphiepsilon.org. 20 MuPhiEpsilon.org
Christ Church Detroit hosted a concert performance by the Flute Specialists Flute Choir of Wayne State University in a benefit concert for Mu Phi Epsilon in November.
Beta Omicron participated in the Adopt-a-Street program by keeping Orchard Street clean in Macomb, Illinois!
A number of Collegiate chapters initiated new members this fall.
Welcome to all new initiates! Beta Alpha, California State University, Fullerton
Zeta Epsilon, Randolph-Macon College [Virginia]
Beta Eta, California State University, East Bay
Alpha Kappa, University of Missouri-KC
Lambda, Ithaca College [New York]
Beta Mu, Texas A&M Commerce
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FINAL NOTES ANN G EIL ER, T HIR D V IC E P R ES I D E N T/A LU MN I A DV I S O R , P H I T H E TA , ST. LO U I S A LU MNI A LUM NI A DV I S O R @ M U P H I E P S I LO N .O R G
Helen (Cramer) Simpkins Mu Alpha, March 22, 1944 Died February 19, 2020 Pianist, organist. Helen received her Bachelor of Music in piano performance with a minor in organ at Simpson College. She met her future husband, Warren G. Simpkins, a tenor from Rose Hill, at the college and they were married on June 8, 1947. Together, they continued their studies at the University of Michigan, where she earned a Master of Music in piano performance in 1950. She served as piano accompanist for her husband’s vocal solos and they were a great musical team for many years. Helen taught piano privately in her home studios in Granite City and Grayslake, Illinois, and produced many excellent, award-winning piano students, many of whom became piano teachers. Betty Jean (Blessing) Fredrickson Mu Pi, February 4, 1948 Urbana Champaign Alumni Died June 26, 2021 Organist, educator. Betty earned her Bachelor of Music from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1950. She married shortly after graduation and relocated with her husband to the Champaign-Urbana area, where she began teaching English, choir and band at St. Joseph High School. She began her long career as an organist in Urbana, but a few years later became the organist for weekly services at the First United Methodist Church in Champaign, where she served for 34 years. She gave organ lessons, advised brides on their wedding music and was 22 MuPhiEpsilon.org
an integral part in the selection and encouraging the proper maintenance of the pipe organ that was installed in the church in 1965. Betty was active in many professional and social organizations, including Mu Phi Epsilon, Score Club, Tuesday Morning Music Club and the Illinois Club. She loved to bake, was a voracious reader and enjoyed her bridge club, which included some of her closest friends. She will be especially remembered for her musical talent and love of her family. Barbara Louise Stearns Phi Nu, May 24, 1953 Fullerton Alumni Died July 21, 2021 Barbara earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music at UCLA. In the later years she was able to enjoy activities near to her, including: Mu Phi Epsilon, the Friendly Hills Women’s Club, the Book Club and the Dirt Diggers Garden Club. Ellen Winifred (Rosin) Jones Phi Kappa, November 17, 1935 Detroit Alumni Died September 2, 2021 Educator, pianist, vocalist. Ellen died at age 104. Her life was lived primarily in Detroit, Michigan. She was a loving, devoted and delightfully fun wife and mother. As a teacher of music, a pianist and a professional vocalist, she was an active part of the Detroit music scene, on stage, on the radio and in many churches and concert halls. Ellen was an active member of Mu Phi Epsilon and was a member of the Detroit Alumni chapter where she served in many different positions
including president. Ellen was a music teacher and a longtime musician in her church. Beatrice Mary (Nagl) Moore Phi Lambda, June 3, 1948 Died September 8, 2021 Educator. Beatrice graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon in 1950 with a degree in Public School Music. While she was in college, she was a member of Pi Beta Phi National Women’s Sorority and Mu Phi Epsilon. She taught music in Springfield Public Schools, Springfield, Oregon, and Mountain View School in Seattle, Washington. She was an active member of Bethany Presbyterian Church in Seattle. Stacy Renae (Stevenson) Bertolozzi Gamma Gamma, April 1, 2011 Died September 20, 2021 Vocalist. Stacy was born in Nashville, Tennessee to Sam L. and Leslie Diane Stevenson on October 17, 1991. Stacy worked in the banking industry, working for Midfirst Bank as a Bank Teller Supervisor. Stacy was a loving, warm-hearted person who loved to sing. She studied vocal performance at Southwestern Oklahoma State University and was an active member of Mu Phi Epsilon. She joined Gamma Gamma in 2011 and held many positions including president. More than anything else in this life, Stacy loved her family, and she loved spending time with her little girl, Lilyth, and the love of her life, her husband, Tony. Stacy will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered by her family, friends and all of the people she made a positive impact on in this life.
Doris Ruth (Kays) Kraushaar Gamma, May 22, 1979 Ann Arbor Alumni Died September 24, 2021 Vocalist, educator. Doris learned her love of singing at a very young age. She sang her first solo in church at the age of 5 and continued singing in choirs and musicals throughout her school days. During World War II, while working at the Willow Run Bomber Plant, she would occasionally sing over the plant radio. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in vocal performance and a minor in drama in 1949. She directed church choirs in the Michigan towns of Napoleon and Saline while her husband Don pastored churches there. In 1967, she began teaching at Saline Area Schools and continued there for 19 years as a music teacher and choir director. She earned her Master in Music Education at Eastern Michigan University in 1973. Along with two friends, she formed JazzElegance, a musical trio specializing in 1940s music. They performed regularly in hospitals and retirement homes for many years. She combined her love of music with her love of travel by performing with the European Festival Chorus and Symphony Orchestra for four summers in several European cities. Doris was a loving, joyful and vibrant person who was always ready to burst out in song. She will be greatly missed. Doris was a member of the Ann Arbor Alumni chapter for more than 30 years, serving as the corresponding secretary for many years and hosting meetings at her home. She was the 2012 recipient of the Orah Ashley Lamke Distinguished Alumni Award.
Lucinda B. “Cinda” (Beard) Krug Phi Pi, November 9, 1947 Died October 1, 2021 Vocalist. Cinda was a member of the choir of Pathway Church for 47 years. She was an avid quilter and a member of the Prairie Quilt Guild. Jeffrey Lee Hoover Beta Omega, December 7, 1979 Died October 11, 2021 Educator, composer, musicology, saxophone. Growing up in northern Indiana, Jeffrey started playing the clarinet in fourth grade and began playing the saxophone when he entered high school. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Ball State University in 1981. He earned a master’s degree from Ball State in 1985 in music composition and musicology. He then earned an interdisciplinary PhD in music and arts from Texas Tech University in 1991. He established a career as a music teacher in public and private schools and was a university professor in music and arts at Sterling College, Sterling, Kansas; Illinois Central College, Peoria, Illinois; University of Baltimore; California State University, Sacramento; and Sacramento City College. Over his career, his body of compositions, ranging from music for vocal soloist to symphony orchestra, received recognition through the prestigious Trieste prize, the Russolo competition, awards from Mu Phi Epsilon, the Lancaster Fine Arts Festival, grants, publications, fellowships and more than 20 commissions. His music has been performed by many great artists and his book, “The Arts and Society: Making New
Worlds,” is a commonly cited university textbook. Ollie Jane (Stohlman) Hancock Mu Rho, February 13, 1949 Denver Alumni Died October 26, 2021 Pianist. Ollie Jane earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. She began teaching piano lessons at age 13 and playing and teaching piano became both her passion and life’s work. She was the first president of the newly reinstated Mu Rho chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity at Denver University and was a lifelong member of the Denver Alumni chapter. One of her great joys in life was when former students kept in touch — especially if she learned that they were still playing piano or passing it along to their children. She taught piano for over 40 years and left a legacy of students. Ollie Jane will be greatly missed by the Denver Alumni members and all who knew her. Betty Lou Nelson Epsilon Alpha, April 17, 1988 Minneapolis/St. Paul Alumni Died November 7, 2021 Pianist, vocalist. Betty did her undergraduate work at St. Olaf College and continued with her graduate work at the University of Minnesota. She was a beloved piano teacher for 60 years and was a music specialist for Wayzata Public Schools. Betty was an active member of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Alumni chapter where she held many offices throughout the years and sang regularly at meetings. WINTER 2022
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DISTRICT DIRECTORY
ATLANTIC DISTRICT A1 Stephanie Berry 574.596.8285 bmpenguin69@hotmail.com
SOUTHEAST DISTRICT SE1 Marshall Pugh 252.599.2492 se1dd@muphiepsilon.org
NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT NC1 Carmen Chavez (952) 460-0708 nc1dd@muphiepsilon.org
DISTRICT A2 Susan Todenhoft 703.323.4772 H 703.509.0224 C todenhoft@gmail.com
DISTRICTS SE2 & SE3 Arietha Lockhart 404.284.7811 ariethal@hotmail.com
DISTRICT NC2 Emma Bauerle 308.883.2625 nc2dd@muphiepsilon.org
DISTRICT SE4 Adriana Ezekiel 256.443.5339 adrianalezekiel@gmail.com
WEST CENTRAL DISTRICT WC1 Ashley Roever 580.822.5682 amroever@hotmail.com
EASTERN GREAT LAKES DISTRICTS EGL1 & EGL2 Hannah Flowers 814.897.6531 mrs.hannah.flowers@gmail.com DISTRICT EGL3 Nancy Jane Gray 330.688.7990 bobgrayz@aol.com GREAT LAKES DISTRICT GL1 Pat Butler 734.751.9069 liv2sail2@aol.com DISTRICT GL2 Linda McNair 314.494.7472 c1dd@muphiepsilon.org EAST CENTRAL DISTRICTS EC1 Herbert Jackson 678.577.3637 herbertjackson5@gmail.com DISTRICTS EC2 & EC3 Brandon Barnett 317.557.3443 indianapolis@muphiepsilon.org
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SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICTS SC1 & SC4 Isabel De La Cerda idelacerda@hotmail.com 210.204.6425 DISTRICT SC2 Sam Melnick 512.673.3822 samelnicomposer@gmail.com DISTRICT SC3 Anissa Martinez 806.217.4445 anissamartinez2013@icloud.com DISTRICT SC4 Isabel De La Cerda 210.204.6425 idelacerda@hotmail.com CENTRAL DISTRICT C1 Linda McNair 314.414.7472 lmsign4me@gmail.com DISTRICT C2 Paula Patterson 417.773.1176 paulapatterson@missouristate.edu
DISTRICT WC2 Kirsten Forbes 720.232.6450 kirsten_forbes@msn.com PACIFIC NORTHWEST DISTRICT PNW1 Sophia Tegart 509.991.4906 sophia.tegart@gmail.com DISTRICTS PNW2 & PNW3 Michael Lasfetto 971.275.3800 pnw3dd@muphiepsilon.org PACIFIC DISTRICT P1 Jessica Nguyen 858.231.5545 jttnmusic@gmail.com DISTRICT P2 Patrick Aguayo 408.991.4011 patrickanthony551@gmail.com PACIFIC SOUTHWEST DISTRICT PSW1 Tanner Wilson 951.515.9680 tannerwilson263@gmail.com
OFFICERS DIRECTORY
2021-2024 INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller, Mu Chi Atlanta Alumni International President 770.961.4400 president@muphiepsilon.org Liana Sandin, Beta Pi Lincoln Alumni 1st VP/Extension Officer 402.560.7126 extensionofficer@muphiepsilon.org Ashley Bouras, Phi Tau Dallas Alumni 2nd VP/Collegiate Advisor 972.765.3252 collegiateadvisor@muphiepsilon.org Ann Geiler, Phi Theta St. Louis Alumni 3rd VP/Alumni Advisor 314.691.7648 alumniadvisor@muphiepsilon.org Dr. Rebecca Sorley, Kappa Indianapolis Alumni 4th VP/Music Advisor 317.885.1103 musicadvisor@muphiepsilon.org Terrel Kent, Esq., Beta Zeta Baton Rouge Alumni 5th VP/Eligibility Advisor 225.772.7384 eligibilityadvisor@muphiepsilon.org Jess LaNore, Beta Psi Indianapolis Alumni Executive Secretary-Treasurer 888.259.1471 executiveoffice@muphiepsilon.org Kat Braz International Editor editor@muphiepsilon.org
HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Rosemary Ames, Omega Boston Alumni 508.498.4669 rosemarykames@gmail.com Katherine Doepke, Phi Beta Minneapolis Alumni 763.513.0381 katdoepke@gmail.com Lee Clements Meyer, Phi Xi Austin Alumni 512.345.5072
INTERNATIONAL CHAIRMEN ACME Arietha Lockhart (Chair) Beta Gamma, Atlanta Alumni 404.284.7811 ariethal@hotmail.com Mary Au (Co-Chair), Mu Nu Los Angeles Alumni 323.666.2603 auhaus@gmail.com
BYLAWS & STANDING RULES Kurt-Alexander Zeller, Mu Chi Atlanta Alumni 770.961.4400 zellertenor@aol.com
FINANCE Evelyn Archer Omega Omega, St. Louis Area Alumni 458.562.9177 archerbe@sbcglobal.net
INTERNATIONAL Marlon Daniel, Mu Xi New York City Alumni 212.641.0305 marlondanielnyc@gmail.com
MUSIC LIBRARIAN & ARCHIVES Wendy Sistrunk, Mu Mu Kansas City Alumni 816.836.9961 SistrunkW@umkc.edu
2020-2021 FOUNDATION BOARD Dr. Sophia Tegart, President Mu Beta 509.991.4906 president@mpefoundation.org Dr. Matthew Hoch, Vice President Lambda vicepresident@mpefoundation.org Dr. Katsuya Yuasa, Secretary Phi Mu secretary@mpefoundation.org Sean Kilgore, Treasurer Kappa treasurer@mpefoundation.org Zachariah Carlson Zeta Lambda Minneapolis Alumni admin@mpefoundation.org Kira Dixon, Artist Concert Manager Grants and Scholarship Chairman Phi Mu, Palo Alto Alumni grants@mpefoundation.org Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller Mu Chi Atlanta Alumni president@muphiepsilon.org
WINTER 2022
I the triangle
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International Executive Office 4011 N. Pennsylvania St. #100 Indianapolis, IN 46205 executiveoffice@muphiepsilon.org 888-259-1471
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