by Dr. Monica Martinez

At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), the transition to online instruction has been successful but challenging. The support and effort provided to faculty, staff, and students by UTRGV was swift and reliable. The initial shock from having to transition so quickly to distance learning was stressful for all of us, especially those of us who are accustomed to the one-on-one studio teaching and ensemble settings that we are used to attending in person. As any educator and musician does in the moment, we roll with the punches and stay flexible, patient, and understanding. Not all performances go as planned, and this performance is unlike any we will face again.

Keeping students motivated can be challenging, especially when one’s own motivation comes into question. Finding ways to remain active, engaged, collaborative, and mindful of our education, even at this moment, is still part of the greater journey in our careers. It is not easy, but it is part of our journey nevertheless towards something much larger.

We are fortunate that UTRGV has had distance and online learning tools available as part of other course curricula and that it offered multiple tools to engage students and continue the learning. I took advantage of the online trainings for Blackboard, Zoom, Panopto, Respondus, and took a deep dive into learning about other platforms that could help to enhance my studio such as Flipgrid, SmartMusic, and Adobe Creative Cloud. So many products, so little time to digest it all. It was quite overwhelming, but I took it as a challenge knowing that down the line, we will all benefit from this as technology becomes even more present within the performing arts academic curriculum.I am grateful to have so many tools made available to me and for my students. Many of these platforms realized that there was an immediate need for access, and several provided them to educators and students at no cost. I use Zoom, Flipgrid, and SmartMusic at the core of my online instruction. Zoom is used for weekly lessons and studio class. Recognizing that my students’ at-home technological resources are different, I took what was available and adapted to it. They use Flipgrid and YouTube to submit recorded assignments. Zoom allows me to share my screen, and we are both able to play back video recordings while following along with a PDF of the music on the screen simultaneously. I also use SmartMusic for assessing my students’ fundamental proficiencies such as sight-reading.

by Yoshimasa Kasahara

 日本語で

The COVID-19 situation in Japan drastically started to change in late February. I gave a recital on 20 Feb. (there, among other pieces, I performed the Japanese premiere of Laurence Lowe's Earthsongs, the recording of which is also on my YouTube channel). In that week, a small number of concert cancellations already occurred. However, they were mostly because of some performers from abroad who couldn't make the trip, so we weren't that upset. Things suddenly changed on the 26th, when the prime minister called on citizens to avoid events with large number of people. Almost all concerts were cancelled by second week of March. Until the middle of the month, some concerts took place as livestreams without audience (including a monumental production of “Götterdämmerung” in Biwako Hall), but soon faded away when crowded orchestral seating itself became an issue.

While performing arts events shut down quickly and obediently, the government was slow to restrict other economic activities. A large percentage of office workers continued (and, yes, still continue) to commute in notoriously packed (and punctual) trains, at least in mid-April. I might add that two orchestral auditions (not in Tokyo) for which I was applying, took place as scheduled, with much care placed on appropriate social distancing and hand sanitizer...

It was not until the Olympic/Paralympic games were officially postponed (24 Mar.) that both the PM and Governor of Tokyo started to persuade people to stay home (there's more to talk about on this topic, but it gets too political for this forum).

The Laudatio video was shot on April 7th, the day a state of emergency was declared by the PM for large cities, with an advance notice the day before. A scheduled rehearsal was cancelled, so I took advantage of the free time to make a video recording of this piece (in mid March I had relearned the piece for a lesson to a student who was preparing it for the IHS52 solo competition). Shibuya was definitely not uninhabited, but looked somewhat different. Less than usual, but still many people continue to come to work. Is this really an emergency? Who knows? Anyway, this solemn and heartfelt music seemed to fit the unreal mood of the day.

Stay safe, and keep on annoying your neighbors with the sound of your horn!

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Prizes: $1250 for Each Division

1. The Featured Composition Division:  Compositions in this division are works of moderate difficulty.  “In the featured DIVISION, the horn part should be playable by the entire spectrum of Hornists within the International Horn Society:  Students, Amateurs, and Professionals.  It should have musical content that would have the integrity to honor the professional hornists—yet within the pitch and technical range of the panorama of student and amateur players. 
2. The Virtuoso Composition Division:  Compositions in this division have no difficulty limitation and are from one of the following instrumentation categories.

INSTRUMENTATION

FEATURED DIVISION:

• Compositions for Horn Ensemble (two or more players, all horns) 

VIRTUOSO DIVISION:

• Solo Horn featured with large ensemble. (The large ensemble may include any group of electronic, acoustic instruments and/or voices.)
• Horn with chamber ensemble of three or more performers (one horn part only)  (The chamber ensemble may include any combination of electronic instruments, acoustic instruments and/or voices.)
• Compositions for solo horn and keyboard instrument. (Keyboard instruments may include piano, harpsichord, organ, electronic keyboard, or mallet percussion. 
• Compositions for Solo Horn (alone/unaccompanied)
• Compositions for Solo Horn with Vocal Ensemble

For more information, rules, and electronic submission see the Composition Contest Portal at The International Horn Society website.

ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED by DECEMBER 1, 2020

If you have any questions about any of the rules, write for clarification: re-faust@wiu.edu.

Randall E. Faust, COORDINATOR, COMPOSITION CONTEST