Music Literacy Program: Happy New School Year!

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Melanie Stroud, WSMTA Music Literacy Program Chair

Happy new school year, my amazing colleagues!

Our State Vocal and Instrumental chair, Jane Melin, has been hard at work this summer with a group of awesome string teachers to add to our offerings for the MLP! See her article with more exciting information on that. I hope you are all excited for a new year of teaching. One of my favorite things is pulling out my brand new calendar and filling it with my new schedule, lesson plans, dates for recitals, etc.

One of the things I include in my lesson plans for the year is MLP prep! Once a month I have each student rotate through practicing for each of the MLP testing areas. They clap through a couple of exercises at their level for this year’s tests, practice sight reading, do some ear training exercises, theory practice, scale review, etc., so by the time we get to the date for my chapter’s MLP, they’re all prepared and feel ready! Honestly, though, even if the MLP did not exist, having a plan for continuous review in these areas can only be a good thing. That is part of what I love about the Music Literacy Program. It takes things I should be doing anyway and puts them in the forefront of my planning, gives me a scaffold for my curriculum for the year.

I had a wonderful time visiting three chapters last year, so if you’d like to have me out to share more about the MLP with your group, send me an email! I’m here to support you and your chapters in any way I can, as you venture forth into this new year of Music Literacy!

Happy Teaching, all!



2023 WSMTA Leadership Seminar

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Kira Theine, WSMTA President Elect

Are you a Chapter President, District Director, State Program Chair, Education Board Member, or Board of Directors Member? You are invited to the 2023 Leadership Seminar, September 16-17 (Noon to Noon) at the Hilton Garden Inn in Yakima, WA.

Expanding Horizons is the focus of the 2023 WSMTA Leadership Seminar. This interactive hybrid conference is available both in-person and online, for your convenience and personal safety preference.

This year will feature some of WSMTA’s own. District III Director and Membership Chair Susan Speicher will present on “Membership Initiative.” WSMTA President Elect Kira Miller, NCTM will present on how to “Reconnect with Yourself”.

The seminar will feature roundtable discussions, explore outreach, and include important updates on your favorite programs.

Anyone holding a local, district or state leadership position is welcome.

Registration Cost: $65 in-person; $35 virtual. $80 for each additional chapter representative.

Register here.

Hotel reservations may be made by contacting the Hilton Garden Inn at: 509-454-1111 or booking online.

Room reservations must be made by August 15, 2023 to receive the WSMTA discounted rate.

WSMTA helps to underwrite the cost of the Leadership Seminar by reimbursing one-half the WSMTA special rate of a double occupancy room at the hotel. If you are looking for a roommate, please contact me for possibilities. Many chapters will also reimburse their leaders for the registration fee.

The registration deadline for those attending the Leadership Seminar in-person is September 4. If attending virtually the registration deadline is slightly later, September 11. Don’t delay!

Music Artistry Program: Interview with Visiting Artist Jill Schneider

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Jason Kuo, WSMTA Music Artistry Program Chair

Interview with Dr. Jill Schneider by Joann Richardson

Dr. Jill Schneider is a Visiting Artist (VA) who is highly qualified in both piano and organ. Jill is fairly new to the roster of VAs, but she is a VA I can highly recommend. I have had the privilege to have Jill be the VA for my organ studio’s Music Artistry Program (MAP) for the past two years. I am impressed by Jill’s ability to share her years of expertise with the student (and the teacher!) in an encouraging and professional manner. In order for WSMTA members to get to know Jill better, Jill has graciously agreed to answer some questions.

You are highly qualified as a VA in both piano and organ. Would you briefly share some of your background in both instruments?
I started piano at age 7 and organ at age 16. I have played both piano and organ in churches since the age of 16. Being able to play both instruments has been helpful as I sought church and academic positions in different areas of the country. I have a Bachelor of Music in Organ from the University of Colorado and a DMA in organ from the University of Georgia. I also hold Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music Education. I have taught piano and organ for over 40 years.

Why did you decide to go through the process of becoming a VA?
I was finishing 20 years of teaching at Washington State University and wanted to stay involved with students and teaching. I also knew that it would be a good way to meet teachers and share ideas.

How might participation in MAP be beneficial for the student and/or teacher?
It is a great way to provide motivation and encouragement. Because of the structure provided through MAP, students and teachers have time to plan and prepare. Working toward a goal helps the student achieve at a new level each year.

How might you work with a student who may have given a disappointing performance (for example, due to: nervousness, insufficient preparation, unfamiliarity with the instrument, or any other reason)?
When teaching and adjudicating, I like to use the “sandwich” approach. That means that I start and end by highlighting something that the student has done well. There is always something about the student’s performance that shows their strengths; usually this will shine through even if they are nervous or underprepared. Then, in between, I ask questions and give suggestions for improvement. I like to focus on the “how” of improving by working on a short passage in a new way or suggesting practice strategies for the future.

What have been some of your best experiences as a VA?
It has been amazing to see students that really want to be playing and improving as musicians. This was particularly evident in the past few years as students played in masks and/or did a virtual performance for MAP. I met numerous teachers with amazing organizational skills and pre-performance routines. I have learned a lot!

Many organ teachers have not yet entered students into the MAP for organ and are therefore unfamiliar with the program. How would you explain the benefits of MAP participation to: (1) a highly-trained organ teacher or (2) a church organist who is primarily a piano teacher?
It is very helpful for students to get a chance to play for someone new who shares a passion for music and the organ. In addition to having a reason to practice and prepare their pieces to the best of their ability, they should get some fresh ideas about practicing, interpretation, performance practice and repertoire. Coaching is definitely a part of the process!

In addition, there is no pressure to play difficult organ repertoire. Many students may wish to play a piece first learned on the piano (such as a Baroque piece). If a student is relatively new to the organ, they can play a solo piece or hymn with manuals only.

How might the adjudication process be different for an organ MAP than from a piano MAP?
It is important to have a chance to practice on the organ used for the Music Artistry Program. Organists often play with music rather than from memory. In addition, organ students are encouraged to play a hymn in addition to a solo piece since that is an important skill often required of organists.

Do you have anything else that you’d like to share?
I hope more teachers will help their students prepare for an Organ Music Artistry Program. It is great that the WSMTA is getting this started! There is definitely a shortage of organists and piano students often enjoy taking their keyboard skills to a new instrument.

Thanks again to Dr. Jill Schneider for answering a few questions so we may get to know her better. We truly appreciate all of the time and effort that Jill and our other VAs put into working with the music students and teachers of Washington State.

Music Literacy Program Theory High Honors 2022-2023

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Congratulations to the following students and teachers! Students scoring 98% or higher on the Written Theory portion of the Music Literacy Program are awarded High Honors.

Clarkston-Lewiston Chapter

Tracy Henriod: Aletheia Cole (6), Ella Bouterse (3), Grant Wilcox (2), Ryan Gottschalk (1)
Stephanie Hill: Hailey Bond (4), Charlie York (3)

Lynden Chapter

Emily Bailey: Sam McGough (1), Hannah Van Winkel (1)
Bethany Hilt: Molly Smit (1), Cole Hilt (2), Luke Hilt (4), Lane VanderWoude (4)
Lulu Johnson: Lani Brooks (1), Avery Rennie (1), Dylan Van Driel (3)
Meg Krieg: Cooper Morris (3), Logan Pinkham (9)
Tammy Rutgers: Clara Bajema (1), Sophie DeWaard (1), Macy Faber (1), Karen Jones (1), Ruth Klein (1), Vance Elton (4), Helena Lindsay (4), Macie Miller (4), Addison Puckett (4), Grace Stevens (4),
Fischer Blok (5)
Karen Scholten: Lexi Dykstra (1), Liam Foote (1), Kenzie Lankhaar (1), Emma Davis (2), Kamsen Kottelenberg (2), Rylea Lodder (2), Jude Samora (2), Cassie DeMooy (3), Natalie Elenbaas (4), Andie
Lowe (4), Meleah Kottelenberg (6)
Amy Vandenberg: Ella McKee (2), Jenny Stober (3)
Sherry VandenBos: Corah Vander Mey (2), Brysen Korthuis (3), Ava Tyler (5)
Alissa Veeneman: Kennedy DeBruin (1), Jaclyn Som (1), James Den Hartog (3)
Karen Visser: Naomi Stuart (1), Paisley VandenBos (1)

Pullman Chapter

Jill Schneider: Kaitlin Chi (3)
Jani Stoehr: Elliott Heckman (3), Quinn Hughes (3)
Michelle Mielke: Anton Chen (1), Cannon Cordova (5), Claire Chen (1), Colin Liu (3), Gage Boren (1), Georgia Colvig (7)

South King County Chapter

Joanne Corr: Shyam Ramesh (4)
Mary Kaye Owen: Lucas Dumitrescu (1), Drew Chmielewski (1), Mark Pittenger (4), Alyssa Shull (4), Lia Yi (3)
Julie Swienty: Rose Myers (2), Sarah-Jane Sherwood (4)

Bellingham Chapter

Barbara Borries: Sophia Johner (3)
Kim Bowman: Jared Manookin (1)
Debra Chang: Sam Canepa (3)
Lorraine Earle: Sia Ericksen (2), Rae Parks (2), Amanda Buck (4)
Andrea Rackl: Zoe Steyn (1), Zakary Jansen (5), Caleb Knapp (7), Alena Naviaux (8), Shayla Rehfeldt (9), Liam Connor (10)
Kaitlyn Ronstadt: Bennen Majors (1), Soren Pruett (1), Sierra Widman (2), Noah Jaffer (4), Mary Packard (4), Jenna Lind (4), Emma Wilson (7)
Eva Sauve: Braden Le (1), Willa Fitzenrider (1)
Judy Widrig: Ema Horja (8), Maria Horja (9)

Kitsap Chapter

Becky Beckwith: Ada Morton (2), Daysha Davis (2), Emma Knight (3)
Rachel Doornink: Amaia Martinez (4)Haywood Hicks (2)
Debra Florian: Ally Soetaert (4), Julie Castillejo (6), Kail Taylor (6), Luca Castillejo (8), Scarlet Griesemer (4)
Mary Grant: Chloe-Evelyn Chong (4), Dalton Abrams (2), Emmett Bates (Levvel 2), Francesca Zaballa (5), Jake Pentzer (5), James Hunt (2), Meena McConnaha (4), Regan Voss (4), Sebastian Zaballa (5), Tiange Li (5)
Megan Hennings: Aria Tirohn (2), Gwen Williams (1), Kajsa Haas (1), Sabella Crus (3), Sadie Simpson (2), Shelby Hamilton (1)
Dianne Johnston: Daisy Gemmer (8), Jacob Kushner (7), Madeline Zacher (8), Nathan Kelley (5)
Melanie Kurtzbein: Caley Haydu (5), Dario Oishi (2), Hailey Vaught (6), Mikayla Samonte (5), Misky Raska (4)
Carmen Larson: Corabella Gray (1), Elowyn Steele (4), Loyce Rodriguez (1), Seraph Adkins (1), Serena Martin-Kogan (3)
Diane Layton: Gabe Watson (4), Erin Sy (3), Daphne McClendon (3), Grace Nelson (5), Roger Shi (7)
Julene Martin: Daniel Quinn (5), Luke Nielsen (1), Melissa Martin (6), Stephanie Burden (4)
Jane Melin: Coral Marsh (7), Ellie Vergara (2), Gregory Griesemer (1), Heidi Jordan (1), Leelia McKeel (1), Rylie Carr (2)
Farida Roberts: Austin Roberts (3), Callie Rogers (2), Clara Boulch (1), Gianna St.Hilaire (2), Peter St.Hilaire (2)
Krista Seely: Lillian Bell (4), Sofia Kochevar (4)
Melanie Stroud: Alice Johansen (2), Caroline Stottlemyer (1), Chloe Schneider (1), Miriam Burns (1), Nataly Martin (2), Peter Martin (1), Rachel Fuller (2), Rebecca Fuller (2), Sienna Parmalee (1)

Lake Washington Chapter

Selina Chu: Megan Bobby (1)
Laurie Ketron: Einar Peterson (1), Elise McNamara (3), Marissa Wang (4), Audrey Wang (6)
Cherry Li: Evan Song (2)
Makiko Meyer: Isabella Omori (2), Julia Kataoka (3), Vihaan Prakash (3), Ananya Kota (4), Aishwarya Kota (8)

Snohomish Chapter

Tien-yin Chen: Luke Hu (2), Emily Fan (4), Lori Ma (4), Charie Chang (5), Sophia Hu (6)
Natsuko Goldman: Clayton Lawardy (2), Mitchel Lin (2), Enzo Salcedo (3)
Sarah Hall: Aasini Thyagarajan (1), John Tran (3), Veda Duvvuri (4)
Arlene Hicks: Quang-Thai Nguyen (4)
Maria Khavin: Maya Wolff (1)
Karin Larsen: Janelle Gustamente (1), Misheel Myagmarbat (1), Mildred Peterson (1), Minjin Myagmarbat (3)
Chanelle Lucero: Maria Hoff (6),
Patti McElroy: Brady Falconer (1), Allyana Gray (1), Anya Lin (2), Talon Lin (3), Gracelyn Griffith (4), Raelyn Oetzel (5)
Jacqueline Pierson: Jace Johnsen (1)
Rachel Preston: Lewis Kieley (1)
Amy Riffle-Kouyeas: Peyton Robens (3), Gabi Gonzales (4)
Maria Sier: Mila Li (2), Katia Madison (2), Ellis Morey-Leber (2), Vincent Westerman (3), Carolyn Xu (4)
Jan Toy: Kenneth Guidon (1)

Eastside Chapter

Samantha Yeung: Sydney Castillo (2), Audrey McAlee (2), Will Goldsworthy (2), Jasper Wood (2), Saisha Kashyap (3) Olivia Galang (3), Owen Hatsukari (3), Sameera Kashyap (3), Juni Clouse (4), Evan Humphrey (4), Aiden Hatsukari (5), Olivia Scott (5), Anna Chou (6), Kendan Guest (7), Kylen Guest (10)
Betsy Randolph: Uma Bhushan (4), Jai Bindlish (7), Meet Khare (2)
Holly Seneker: Ananya Kkrishnan (2)
Yimo Zhang: Adela Hemingway (3), Mariska Vasniak (4)
Paul Turel: Prishna Mody (4), Anjalika Mukherjee (4)
Eliana Yi: Natalie Lemelson (1), Gabriel Steijn (1)
Gloria Tzuang: Rowan Goldman (4), Charlotte Foster (3), Daniel Sohail (3)

Olympia Chapter

Tina Wang: Elaine Hai (1, 2), Koyuki Sakae (1, 2), Bella Maio (1), Jessica Zhang (1, 2)
Sharon Crain: Rylee Braucht (1), Jake Burch (1), Eli Burch (1)
Ramona Allen: Alexander Morgan (7), Sally Gong (1), Charles Gong (4)
Maureen Johnson: Annalie Matthews (2), Sophia Lee (), Michelle Yarbrough (3)
Sue Dick: Kreigh Benedict (2), Kaden Blair (4), Violet Moreno (2)

Seattle Chapter

Jessica Andrews: Michael Bendickson (4), Caleb Byam (4)
Judy Chuvan: Emma Moore (3), Kite Robinson (3), Owen Saunders (1), Jinhan Xue (2), Steven Yin (2)
Mona Elsing: Emily Carr (5), Lucy Gilroy (5), Megan Gross (8), Thea John (3), Ria Keeney (6), Kenny Lewis (3), Jordan Slettebak (4), Roshni Tulsyan (5)
Abigail Habegger: Cecily Dobry (2)
Katie Levine: Beatrice Gould (2)
RoseMarie Tamburri: Iris Kaufman (8), Alan Xu (5), Karson Xu (5)
Gloria Tzuang: Danielle Kao (5), Madeleine Kao (5), Evan Lan (6)
Thom Stuart: Albert Keng (6), Haiyi Li (6), Grady Moore (3), Emily Sehn (1), Melini Sehn (5), Pia Sheth (4), Ruimin Su (7), Larry Zhang (8)

Mt. Rainier Chapter

Erin Oliver: Claire Strobel (1), Micah Gorham (2), Levi Gorham (4)

Tri-City Chapter

Carissa Cox: Eleanor Carlisle (1), Hudson Hatcher (4), Madelyn Ng (4)
Julianne Barnaby: Dorothy Jacob (5)

Clark County Chapter

Brenda Staub: James Kunz (2), Soren Keen (1), Elise Keen (3), Lane Wood (1), Zach Gillespie (3), Indi Jennngs (1)
Cinda Redman: Tray Filbert (1), Kevin Vo (1), Kyleen Vo (1), Tray Filbert (2), Veronica Woo (2), Kevin Vo (2), Samuel Liu (4), Emily Liu (7)

Edmonds Chapter

Brandi Bassett: Jenny Ivie (2)
Cathy Baylor, NCTM: Landon Cheung (2), Addison Wu (2), Ethan Melvin (3)
Frances Goei, NCTM: Harper Howell (2), Inga Marston (3), Caleb Buker (4), Colin Ip (4), Annie Marston (4), Janelle Ekpo (7)
Jennie Holland: Dina Samuel (2), Theodore Logan (2), Mira Jyoti (3), Jerome Logan (3)
Dr. Susan Hurley: Thaliana Schwager (2)
Roxanne Kar, NCTM: Jozef Kocaj (5), Logan Wardell (6), Ian Kinsella (8)
Mary Lieberman: Trystan Gallison (1)
Laurie McFarland: Jason Logan (2), Samuel Lambert (4), Aden Hitchcock (4), Daniel Buchholz (5), Mabel Hume (6)
Angela Michael, NCTM: Hayden Ingold (1)
Jeffrey Pettijohn: Lilly Laurente (1), Eashaan Gangwal (1)
Mary Beth Rogers: Angel Anthuwan (1), Arianna Langub (1), Anna Lee (1), Sharvaa Motghare (1), Grace Ngo (2), Bavanth Rajaseker (3), Nakul Kumar (5), Shravan Kumar (5), Auditri Das (5)
Tamara Wagle, NCTM: Annabelle Consiglio (3) Atlas Chua (5)
Stan Watkins: Alex Lau (2), Ezra Fields (3), Sridhar Raamakrishnan (3)
Kathy Wolf: Ananya Raghavan (2)