In July Dr. Wayne Bailey, professor of conducting and associate director of bands traveled to Sophia, Bulgaria to conduct a recording session with Belgian clarinet virtuoso Eddy vanOsthoyse and the Sofia Soloists, a professional chamber orchestra.  Dr. Bailey also conducted a recording session in Tempe for Dr. Robert Spring’s new CD and then conducted the same work with Spring in August at the International Clarinet Association meetings in Atlanta.  Bailey’s music education textbook Teaching Brass; a resource manual was published in its second edition in September and his article “Choosing a Music School” was published in the October issue of The Instrumentalist.  Bailey traveled to Singapore in October to serve as consultant to the National University of Singapore’s Yong Soh Tiew Conservatory of Music. He served as adjudicator for the University of Missouri “Champion of Champions” marching festival and the Rainbow Invitational at the University of Hawaii where he also presented a conducting clinic.  In December, he conducted two concerts in Belgium and presented a clinic session to the teachers of the music conservatories of Belgium on ensemble rehearsal techniques. During the fall semester, Bailey also served as consultant and reviewer for both the Oxford University Press and McGraw-Hill for their music appreciation textbook and online series. Dr. Bailey continued to serve as a member of the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music.  

In July 2007, baritone Robert Barefield returned to Italy to teach and perform the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Operafestival di Roma (last summer he performed Danilo in Die Lustige Witwe with the same program).  In January 2007, he performed for the first time with Arizona Opera as Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.  In February, he had the great pleasure of joining students and faculty in a delightful ASU Lyric Opera Theatre production of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss (role of the Musiklehrer).  Barefield’s article “Passionate Listening – Teacher as Role Model in Cultivating an Appreciation of Classical Music” has recently been published in The International Journal of the Arts in Society. In August, he presented the paper in Edinburgh, Scotland at the society’s international conference.  An ongoing collaboration with soprano Carole FitzPatrick and pianist Eckart Sellheim (both members of the music faculty) has focused on the study and performance of duets specifically written for soprano, baritone and piano.  A faculty recital in April featured this repertoire and was followed by a May performance at the opera house in Nuernberg, Germany and a professional recording produced by Cavalli Records of Bamberg, Germany.  In March and April, Barefield had the honor of performing two concerts with soprano Sarah Rice, a former ASU student and the creator of the role of Johanna in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.  The March concert at ASU was in collaboration with ASU students and faculty member Bill Reber at the piano.  The April concert in Troy, New York featured Rice along with renowned Metropolitan Opera soprano Leona Mitchell. Later in April, Barefield traveled to Pennsylvania to perform as baritone soloist in the first performance of a new edition of the Requiem by John Knowles Paine with the Reading Choral Society.   Additional performances during the school year have included a November opera/musical theatre program with colleagues Carole FitzPatrick (soprano), Judy May (mezzo soprano), Dale Dreyfoos (tenor) and Andrew Campbell (piano) and an April performance as the cantor in Bloch’s Sacred Service, conducted by David Schildkret and featuring the ASU Symphony and combined choruses.  Students of Robert Barefield are recent recipients of the local Mu Phi Epsilon scholarhip (soprano Allison Stanford), the Central/Northern NATS Chapter’s Ann Child McCaleb Scholarship (baritone Matthew Montana) and mutiple awards at the NATS Student Auditions.  During the summer of 2007, students of Robert Barefield participated in a range of performance and study programs including Operafestival di Roma, Canta in Italia (Florence, Italy), the Neil Semer Vocal Institute (Coesfeld, Germany), the Oxford (MS) Shakespeare/Gilbert & Sullivan Festival and the Quisisana Opera/Musical Theatre Program in Maine. 

Nancy Buck is preparing for the 2008 International Viola Congress, which will be held at Arizona State University June 4-8, 2008.  The Congress will feature Valley artists, and will represent artists from every international chapter of the International Viola Society.  Also taking place at the same time will be the next Primrose International Viola Competition, which will bring one hundred aspiring students from all over the world to compete for top prize.  The Congress hopes to draw 500 viola enthusiasts of all ages and levels to campus for concerts, lectures, masterclasses and special events.

Other highlights of her year included a masterclass and concert at the Interlochen Arts Academy (along with colleagues Jonathan Swartz and Thomas Landschoot) and multiple presentations at the American String Teachers Association National Conference held in Detroit, Michigan.  At the 2008 ASTA Conference (in Albuquerque in February), professor Buck was one of two featured viola masterclass clinicians.  Additionally, she was selected to be the masterclass clinician for the 2007 National Orchestra Festival (held during the ASTA Convention) and more locally, coached the Tucson Junior Strings Chamber Orchestra.  This summer she taught again at the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where she has been an artist faculty member for the past four years

Dr. Jeff Bush finished two very busy years as state president of the Arizona Music Educators Association, and now assumes the role of past-president. He co-chaired the organization’s annual in-service conference in Mesa, and also represented AMEA at meetings of the Western Division of the Music Educators National Conference in January. Dr. Bush published an article entitled “Importance of Various Professional Development Opportunities and Workshop Topics as Determined by In-Service Music Teachers” in the May issue of the Journal of Music Teacher Education, and two articles in Arizona Music News. In March, he presented a paper in Venice, Italy, at the International Internet, Processing, Systems for e-education/e-business and Interdisciplinary Symposium, “Informing Others: Using Student teacher Electronic Correspondence in Undergraduate Music Education Coursework,” as well as “Curriculum Evaluation: A Canadian Model” at the Symposium on Assessment in Music Education in Gainesville, Florida. At the Hawaii Music Educators Conference in January, Dr. Bush also presented a workshop, “Garbage Can Bands,” and sat on a panel, “Recipes for Success.”

Andrew Campbell, assistant professor of collaborative piano, had a busy and varied year of performing and teaching. Dr. Campbell was pianist for the Arizona Opera master classes with Sir Thomas Allen, world renowned baritone. He served as principal pianist and coach for the San Diego Opera’s April 2007 production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, in which he was featured on-stage as the tavern pianist. As a result of this collaboration, he will be hosting Metropolitan Opera Star Dean Peterson, the Doktor in Wozzeck, for a residency at ASU in 2008. He recently completed two recordings for release in 2007 and 2008: “Breakdown Tango” with Robert Spring, Katherine McLin and Thomas Landschoot and Beau Soir with Dr. McLin. March of 2007 saw the release of his recording of Rachmaninoff’s cello sonata with Catalin Rotaru, which received a rave review from the International Society of Bassists.  He performed with ASU colleagues Joseph Wytko, Jonathan Swartz and Catalin Rotaru at the International Saxophone master class festival at the Univeristy of Minnesota, with Trio del Sol (Robert Spring and Katherine McLin) at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and in a guest artist recital with mezzo-soprano Kristin Dauphinais at the University of Arizona. He is soon to perform at the International Double Reed society conference in Ithaca with colleagues Martin Schuring and Albie Micklich, and has several performances this summer at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, where he is on the artist faculty and the director of the collaborative piano program. He performed on several ASU faculty artist recitals with colleagues Robert Spring, Albie Micklich, Joseph Wytko and Katherine McLin. He continued his relationship with the Phoenix Symphony, performing as orchestral keyboardist on six concerts.  In addition to his active career as a performer, Dr. Campbell is a committed teacher, giving guest artist master classes at UNLV and the University of Arizona.  He organized and coached a series of three recitals featuring 20th Century French duos for winds and piano, a joint project between the wind and collaborative piano studios at ASU.  Dr. Campbell also hosted the Gagnon-Larsen piano duo from the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts in a residency at ASU, which saw the duo perform in recital and give masterclasses in solo and collaborative piano.

Professor Walter Cosand was named to the interntional Steinway Artist roster in March 2007.  He is the subject of an interview in the June issue of the national Korean piano magazine. He taught masterclasses at Grace College, Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin at Platteville and played recitals at Wheaton College, among others.

Activities for James DeMars in 2006-2007 included the composition of “Guadalupe,” a music drama commissioned by Canyon Records, a collaboration between the Native American and Hispanic communities, for December 2007; a new work commissioned by the Soloisti da Zagreb and an arrangement of his Violin Concerto (They have also committed to producing a CD of his music for strings in 2009.); and a new work commissioned by the Phoenix Boys Choir for 2009.  This year a DVD of his work Arias was released by the St. Louis Brass Quintet and a recording was issued of his "Dedicaçe," featuring performers Tom Bacon and Caio Pagano. A CD of Sabar (African Drums and Orch.) and Native Drumming (Native American drums and Wind Ensemble) is pending release on Canyon Records. Two commissions for 2008 are pending with the ACDA and the Sedona Arts Festival Committee.

Dr. Jerry Doan was accepted to present a paper for the 2007 CMS National Conference. He presented a lecture entitled “Vocal Anatomy for the Choral Director”  to the ACDA Convention, co-presenter:  Brook Larson.  Dr. Doan was invited to adjudicate the “Ed Baird NATS Artist Auditions” for the Tex-Oma Region of NATS, a major competition leading to the national auditions of the National Association of Teachers of Singing at Baylor University, Waco, Texas.  He was invited to lead a panel discussion on vocal pedagogy for the Arizona NATS.

John Ericson performed at the Western Horn Symposium in Las Vegas, conducted and performed at the Arizona Weekend Horn Bash and Reunion in Tucson, saw a book chapter published on the great 19th-century horn teacher Friedrich Gumpert in Brass Scholarship in Review (a series published by the Historic Brass Society) and was elected this spring to the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society. He performed in recital and teach this summer in Shanghai and Taiwan.

In August 2006, soprano Carole FitzPatrick was featured soloist in a concert of works by Mozart (conducted by Dr. David Schildket) with the Mount Desert Summer Chorale in Bar Harbor, Maine.  In late August she sang Brahms’ Liebesleider Walzer in St. James Cathedral’s Rush Hour Series in dowtown Chicago.  Together with her colleague, baritone Robert Barefield, she presented a recital and master class at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette in October.  November performances included a collaborative faculty artist recital, featuring exerpts from opera and musical theater, and a return to Illinois for the Liebesleider Walzer with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. In February 2007, Ms. FitzPatrick sang the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos with ASU’s Herberger College School of Music Lyric Opera Theater.  An April Faculty Artist Recital saw the first stage of an ongoing duet recital collaboration with Robert Barefield and pianist Eckart Sellheim, in preparation for an upcoming cd recording for a German label.   Also in April, she was soloist in Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony with the ASU Chorus and Orchestra.  At the conclusion of the spring semester, she travelled to Germany to sing the soprano solos in the Verdi Requiem with the Chorus of the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik and the Prager Philharmoniker in Kulmbach.

Sabine Feisst won a $ 40,000 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for 2007-2008 to complete research and write a book on Schoenberg in America, and was a Fellow of The Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory on “Arnold Schoenberg and His Musical Legacy” at the Mannes College of Music in New York City in June, 2007.

In collaboration with Severine Neff (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), she edited Schoenberg’s choral setting of the Appalachian folksong “My Horses Ain’t Hungry,” which he had left unfinished and which was recently completed by Allen Anderson, for Belmont Music Publishers, Pacific Palisades. She was invited by NewMusicBox, the Web magazine from the America Music Center, to write an article on Dika Newlin commemorating her death in July 2006. She also published articles on the American composers Morton Subotnick, Richard Teitelbaum and Christian Wolff in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart edited by Ludwig Finscher (Kassel, Germany, 2006 and 2007), the German equivalent to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

In September 2006 she gave an address in commemoration of Newlin at the “Dika Newlin Life Celebration” in Richmond, Virginia. In November 2006, she read a paper on Schoenberg and Romanticism at the International Conference: “Engaged Romanticism: Romanticism as Praxis“ organized by the English literature department at ASU. In February and March 2007 she presented the paper “Arnold Schoenberg – American” at the meetings of the Society for American Music in Pittsburgh and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Musicological Society at ASU. In April 2007 she gave a guest lecture on Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire at Columbia University, and in July 2007 she read a paper on Schoenberg’s negotiation of three identities at a conference of the International Musicological Society in Zurich, Switzerland.

Together with Glenn Hackbarth, Christopher Mehrens, and Heather Lineberry she organized a weeklong residency of Alaska composer John Luther Adams featuring two concerts, roundtables, a sound installation at the ASU Art Museum, a meet-the-composer event, an exhibit in the music library and a Hayden Library Channel podcast. 

Rich Haefer presented a paper, "O'odham Songs: An examination of song texts, ritual orations, and spoken texts," for the southwest chapter of Society of Ethnomusicology in Denver. He also presented "Music and Meaning in the Chants of Pentecost” for the Research Institute for Catholic Liturgy in Plymouth, MI. Haefer presented a workshop and lecture on Gregorian Chant focusing on Complines at the national meeting of the Latin Liturgy Association in St. Louis, MO, presented “Chants of Holy Mother Church Through the Ages: The Western Traditions (Gallican, Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Beneventan, Sarum, Bragan, Anglican, Carthusian, Cistercian, and Dominican)” for Our Lady of the Annunciation Priory at Clear Creek, “O'odham Song Language: song texts and ritual spoken texts” at the SEM national convention in Honolulu, and published six performance editions of music by Mozart, Lotti, and de Lasso.

Regents Professor David Hickman published a 503-page Trumpet Pedagogy Compendium of
Modern Teaching Techniques.  Hickman guest conducted the Naval Academy Brass Choir and was a clinician at the Rocky Mountain TrumpetFest at the University of Denver.

Professor of music and director of bands, Gary W. Hill, enjoyed his return to full-time teaching following a productive spring 2006 sabbatical leave.  Under Hill’s direction, the Herberger College School of Music’s Chamber Winds and Wind Symphony gave performances throughout the Valley, including concerts for the Mayo Hospital and Summit School.  Collaborations with guest artists and composers featured: James DeMars, composer (ASU faculty), with The Black Lodge Singers (from Washington); DJ Radar; ASU alumnus, Raul Yanez and his band, the Latino Power Revival; composers-in-residence, Roshanne Etezady and John Mackey; and clarinetist-extraordinaire, Robert Spring (ASU faculty).

The highlight of the wind bands’ season was a performance by both ensembles for the national conference of the American Bandmasters Association in San Luis Obispo, California in March.  In addition to professor Hill, the band was led by seven guest conductors: Dr. Wayne Bailey (ASU’s associate director of bands); ASU alumni, Dr. Richard Mayne (associate director of bands, University of Northern Colorado), Dr. Allan LaFave (Dean of Fine Arts, Northern State University), and Lt. Col. Michael Colburn (director, The President’s Own US Marine Band); Dr. David Whitwell (world-renowned band conductor and scholar); and ASU emeritus professors, Dr. Robert “Coach” Fleming (former associate director of bands) and Dr. Richard Strange (former director of bands).  The concert received rave-reviews from throughout the band world!

In addition to his on-campus duties during 2006-2007, Hill conducted honors bands in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Utah; led conducting workshops in Louisiana, Texas, Washington, and New Zealand; and served as a clinician for many bands and orchestras.  Hill continues work on a monograph about the wind band that he began while on sabbatical.

Jere Humphreys, professor of music education, has begun work as the contributing editor for music education for the second edition of the New Grove Dictionary of American Music (Oxford University Press), and he is being cited for a second time in the Marquis Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Education. He presented papers and made several other presentations at the International Society for Music Education biennial conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He then served as a visiting professor at the University of CAECE in Buenos Aries, Argentina. Next, he presented the keynote speech for the Australian Association for Research in Music Education in Melbourne, and then presented guest lectures at the University of Arizona and the University of Louisville. He and a doctoral student, Jui-ching Wang of the University of Northern Illinois, presented their jointly authored paper at an educational conference in Shanghai, China.  Dr. Humphreys’ “2006 Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address: ’Observations about Music Education Research in MENC’s First and Second Centuries’” (Music Educators National Conference) was published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, and his invited “Points for Debate” article on creativity appeared in the British Journal of Music Education. An article with Lelouda Stamou of the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece) and Charles P. Schmidt (Indiana University) appeared in the British journal Music Education Research, and a reprint of another jointly authored article, with former doctoral student Sezen Özeke of Uldag Universitie of Bursa, Turkey, appeared in the Turkish journal E?itim Ara?trimalari Dergisi (Educational Research Journal). As national chair for the MENC History Special Research Interest Group, he is the organizing chair for Keokuk II: The MENC Centennial Symposium (1907-2007) was held May 31-June 2, 2007.

Assistant professor of violin, Danwen Jiang toured in Asia, Europe and North America in 2006.  By invitation, she gave numerous recitals and master classes in Poland, Germany, Iceland, China and the United States at distinguished music schools such as the Krakow Academy of Music, the Musikhochschule Stuttgart, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Peking University, the Academy of the Arts in Iceland and the University of Illinois.  Several of her performances were broadcasted by national and local television and radio networks such as BTV (Beijing), WAMC (New York), WILL (Illinois) and KBAQ (Arizona).  Among many news paper and magazine reviews she received in 2006, the Ditzinger Anzerger (Germany) described her performance as “With your eyes closed, you could imagine yourself listening to the concert at the Carnegie Hall in New York, or at the Royal Albert Hall in London – but this was in Ditzingen!” and China’s Beijing Music Weekly wrote “It is rare to hear such thorough and beneficial master classes.”  Between other performing and teaching activities, Prof. Jiang was an artist/ faculty at the Manchester Music Festival in Vermont, where she taught six weeks in the summer and performed chamber music and solo concerts throughout the year.  Prof. Jiang’s 2007 engagements include recitals, concerto appearances and guest master classes in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Iceland and the United States.

Pianist and director of Jazz Studies Michael Kocour released a new CD on the Tempest label called Speaking In Tongues and it features the music of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk.  The CD hit the Jazzweek.com jazz chart in March and prompted and invitation to perform on NPR’s award winning program Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz.  Kocour recorded with Marian in February and the program will be aired sometime in late fall 2007.

Thomas Landschoot has been involved in an international public service project in an underdeveloped part of South East India. The Tamil Nadu Project started with the Building of an orphanage in 2005 that is now occupied by 60 children. A hospital that was funded by the proceeds of a multicultural, interdisciplinary series of concerts in the fall of 2006 in Belgium is nearly finished and will soon serve 50 villages in South East India. Landschoot played seven concerts and made a recording in Taiwan with six master classes at the major universities in Tainan, Taipei and Kaohsung. He played solo recitals and with his piano trio Taman performed at several cities in Belgium and Vancouver, Canada.

This year, he appeared at the Utah Music Festival, the Kilington Music Festival, Mammoth Music Festival, Park City International Music Festival and additional concerts in Vermont, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, California and Colorado. During the academic year, he gave Master Classes at the University of Michigan, Interlochem, Conservatory of Ghent, University of Utah, Mesa Stated University, Bratley University, Illinois University, Western University and San Dominico. The topic of his presentation at the ASTA National Convention this year was Teaching Vibrato, and he has been invited to give the collegiate master class at the National Convention in New Mexico next year. This year, Landschoot commissioned and premiered two pieces by Franck Nuyts and Elizabeth Hoffman.

Locally, he played with the Tempe Symphony, played three Jewish music informances at various temples and performed numerous times at several arts organizations around the Valley.

Dr. Brook Larson had a successful year with the re-established Sun Devil Mens’ Chorus, with several enthusiastic and well-received performances. Dr. Larson also served as guest conductor and clinician for Tucson’s first-ever Boys to Men Festival in April. In addition, he presented a lecture on “Sightreading: Kindergarten to College” at the Arizona Music Educators State Conference.

Judy May’s studio maintains an active performing schedule. The annual concert honoring Black History Month, “I, Too” coordinated by Judy May drew a large crowd in February. Professor May sang several performances of songs by Leonard Bernstein as part of the series Ways of Happiness, Paths of Peace: Bernstein, Bloch and the Jewish Tradition.  In May at the 2007 Classical Singer Convention and Expo in San Francisco, professor May presented a lecture “Causes of Voice Strain.”

During the 2006-2007 academic year, Kimberly Marshall has presented concerts on a variety of organs, including the mean-tone Brombaugh in Fairchild Chapel at Oberlin Conservatory and the neo-barqoeu von Beckerath at Trinity Lutheran Church, Cleveland.  She has also played recitals locally, at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Phoenix, and on the new Richards-Fowkes organ at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale.  Her ASU concerts featured the Traeri baroque organ: "The King of Instruments meets the Instrument of Kings, " with David Hickman, and "Order versus Beauty, an Exploration of the German and Italian Styles.”  In April, Dr. Marshall performed on two reconstructions of 16th-century English organs as part of the Oxford Conference, The Organ in Tudor England.

Photo Credit: Tim Trumble. Photo Caption: From left: Tanya Gabrielian (third prize Bösendorfer winner); Elizabeth Schumann (first Prize Bösendorfer winner); Grace Fong (second Prize Bösendorfer winner); Sergei Babayan (Competition’s guest artist) and Baruch Meir (Chairman of the Jury)

In November of 2006, associate professor of piano Baruch Meir performed a recital at Katzin Concert Hall together with ASU double bass faculty Catalin Rotaru. This was a follow up to a CD project, recently released by Summit Records, where both recorded Brahms’ sonata in e-minor originally for cello and piano. In January 2007, Meir headed the 2nd Bösendorfer and Schimmel USASU International Piano Competitions held at ASU. He also served as chairman of the jury that included such reputable pianists and pedagogue as Phillip Kawin (Manhattan School of Music), Idith Zvi (Director of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition), Faina Lushtak (Tulane University), ASU professor Robert Hamilton and famed pianist Sergei Babayan who was also the competition’s guest artist.

On January 28 Meir performed an All Chopin Recital in memory of the great 20th century pianist Arthur Rubinstein on his 120th Birthday. Also performing on that recital were prizewinners of the 2006 Bösendorfer & Schimmel international competitions: Anastasia Markina (Gold Medalist and winner of the David Katzin Award), Israeli pianist Ilia Ulianitsly (who will attend ASU next year as an undergraduate student), and local pianists Helen Jing and John Octavian Dobos.

Most recently, Meir has presented recitals and master classes at Utah State University and at the Lucy Moses Special Music School in New York City. Additionally, he presented in two sessions at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Atlanta.  In May, Meir presented a recital at the Kerr Center which showcased a number of his outstanding students, winners of local, national and international competitions.

Janice Meyer Thompson, pianist, performed in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin,Vermont, California and Arizona this season, collaborating with Transcontinental Piano Duo partner Elaine Greenfield and members of The Kent Camerata vocal/instrumental chamber music ensemble. Highlights included a homecoming recital in Grafton, Wisconsin; an inaugural concert at Cliffside Contemporary Gallery, Hinckley, Ohio; a recital and masterclass at The Ohio State University; and a benefit concert at Seton Hill University, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. In addition, Thompson performed with ASU colleagues Rob Barefield, Nancy Buck, and Martin Schuring on the Faculty Artist Concert Series and with singers Mary Sue Hyatt and Vicki Moffatt as "The Desert Divas." This summer, Dr. Thompson was a presentor at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Oakbrook, Illinois, and returned to Vermont for two duo piano recitals.

Regents Professor Caio Pagano made two CDs in collaboration with ASU School of Music colleagues: Discovery with music by A.Prado (with Tom Bacon and Katie McLinn), and Pagano plays the music of DeMars.

Catalin Rotaru served as  chair of the solo division of the 2007 International Society of Bassists Double Bass Competition.  His first solo CD entitled Bass*ic Cello Notes was released by Summit Records. Professor Rotaru performed as guest artist and clinician at three international music festivals in Brazil – Brasilia, Londrina and Garanhuns.  You can read his interview for the Phoenix Art Space online magazine at http://www.phoenixartspace.com/
viewarticle.php?ID=127

Rotaru released his first solo CD: Bass*ic Cello Notes

Robin Rio with Sun Joo Lee at the “Power Music Therapy” international conference.
 
Robin Rio, associate professor of music therapy, and Sun Joo Lee, MA Vocal Performance 2007, and candidate for Master’s in Music Therapy, attended the “Power Music Therapy” international conference in Seoul, Korea, in October, 2006. The ASU team led an experiential music improvisation presentation on “Strength Based Music Therapy” for an audience of several hundred students and professional music therapists. Members of the demonstration groups analyzed their improvisations for their meaning on many levels- psychological, symbolic, musical, and interactive. One of the professional music therapists who performed in the experiential improvisation and analysis was alumni Jin Lee, who received his BM in Music Therapy at ASU in 1999. The faculty member and graduate student were sponsored in part by grants from the Herberger College of Arts.

Catherine Saucier received a Herberger College Research Grant for a three-week research trip to Belgium to study archival and liturgical sources for her book in progress on sacred music and civic society in medieval Liege.

David Schildkret, chair of the choral program, coordinated the month-long series Ways of Happiness, Paths of Peace:  Bernstein, Bloch, and Music of the Jewish Tradition.  Offered in cooperation with the ASU Jewish Studies Program and the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix, the series presented a concert of Jewish music by the ASU Chamber Singers under Schildkret’s direction and School of Music faculty featuring a premiere of Jody Rockmaker’s Yiddish Choruses; informances featuring Judy May, Thomas Landschoot, and Robert Hamilton with commentary by Schildkret; a symposium with Barton Lee of ASU, David Schiller of University of Georgia, and Marvin Sweeney of Claremont University; screenings of a film about Leonard Bernstein; and a library exhibit coordinated by Rachel Leket-Mor of the Hayden Library.  The series concluded with a performance under Schildkret’s direction of Bernstein’s Jeremiah and Bloch’s Sacred Service with the ASU Choral Union, Chamber Singers, Symphonic Chorale and Symphony Orchestra and faculty soloists Carole FitzPatrick and Robert Barefield.

Eckart Sellheim made a CD recording with Dian Baker of Carl Reinecke’s works for piano four hands for the Naxos label, to be released later this year. He also prepared a CD recording with Carole FitzPatrick and Robert Barefield of 250 years of duet repertoire for the Cavalli label.  In November 2006, he gave a workshop for piano and voice students of the Musikhochschule in Cologne: Art songs by Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven on historic fortepianos.  Professor Sellheim presented a number of solo, art song and chamber music faculty recitals at ASU throughout the year, and presented duo recitals with Dian Baker in Germany and in the US. Their recital in Kleve, Germany was boradcast throughout Germany in January 2007.  He also performed the peaking role of the Haushofmeister in the LOT production of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in February and March 2007.

Ted Solis organized and chaired a two-part panel entitled “Ethnomusicology Pedagogies” for the November 2006 Society for Ethnomusicology meeting in Honolulu and as part of the panel,  read the paper "Academic Infill: World Music in the Music Major Professional Curriculum”; chaired the panel on musical romanticism for the November 2006 international “Engaged Romanticism” conference; presented  “Javanese and Balinese Gamelans: Relative Popularity and Mutual Perceptions” at the Southwest/Rocky Mountain AMS/SEM in Denver on April 1, 2006; and “The Year of Living Musically: Musical Textuality in Peter Weir’s Filmic Indonesia,” for the  Far West Popular Culture and Far West American Culture Associations Meeting in Las Vegas, January 28, 2006.

Sandra Stauffer, a faculty member in music education, gave one of the keynote addresses at the Charles Leonhard Legacy Symposium held at Teachers College, Columbia University, in January 2007.  The symposium, entitled "Policies and Practices: Rethinking Music Teacher Preparation in the 21st Century," honored the contributions of Charles Leonhard (1915-2002), chair of the graduate program in music education at the University of Illinois from 1951 to 1986 and director of the research for the National Arts Education Research Center from 1988 to 1994.  Stauffer's address, "Place, People, Purpose: Persistent and Productive Tensions in Music and Teacher Education," posed a series of challenges to the symposium participations
regarding an expanded vision of music teacher preparation that is sensitive to the context of communities and the various music making practices that can be found in them.  Her address will be published in the proceedings of the symposium.

Two studies by Dr. Margaret Schmidt were accepted for publication in international journals: “Mentoring and Being Mentored: The Story of a Novice Teacher’s Success” was published in Teaching and Teacher Education and, co-authored with master’s degree student and Mesa Public Schools orchestra teacher Jelani Canser; “Clearing the Fog: Constructing Shared Stories of a Novice Teacher’s Success” appeared in Research Studies in Music Education. Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Canser also presented a paper, “Shared Journey: A Novice Teacher’s Struggle to Improve,” at the international conference of the American Educational Research Association in Chicago.

At the same conference, Dr. Schmidt presented another paper, “First-year Teachers and Methods Courses: Is There a Connection?” Dr. Schmidt made three presentations at the national conference of the American String Teachers Association in March in Detroit: “Who’s in Charge? Classroom Management by Design,” “Surviving and Thriving in the First Five Years of Teaching,” and “The Future is Now: Recruiting Tomorrow’s Teachers . . . Today!” She is one of 32 national scholars invited to attend the Tanglewood II Symposium in June, representing ASU’s pre-conference year-long lecture series and symposium, “Psychology and the Learner of Music.” Dr. Schmidt presentrf two graduate student courses in July, at Gordon College in Massachusetts, and Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. Additionally, she was appointed to serve as Western Division Representative on the Executive Board of the Society for Music Teacher Education.

Dr. Jill Sullivan, assistant professor of instrumental music education, has spent the year developing a research agenda that spans a century of women’s bands in America, 1876-1976.  In addition to two previously published studies, articles related to this topic, in press, include “Music for the Injured Soldier: A Contribution of American Women’s Military Bands during WW II” in the Journal of Music Therapy and “One Ohio Music Educator’s Contribution to World War II: Joan A. Lamb” Contributions to Music Education. Three additional articles related to this topic have been submitted for publication including “A Century of Women’s Bands in America,” “Industry Ensembles for Veterans: The Hormel Girls,” and “A History of the Coast Guard SPAR Band.” Dr. Sullivan also spent her research sabbatical investigating the instrumental ensembles of the nation’s public normal schools and is currently completing a paper on this topic after having gathered information from 126 universities across the nation. See http://www.public.asu.edu/~jmsulli/research_ag.html.

Dr. Sullivan gave several research presentations this academic year, two as an invited speaker for the Centennial Celebration for the University of Iowa’s School of Music, one at the Northwest Music Education Conference in Portland, and she presented a webinar to over six hundred undergraduate music educations students and faculty throughout the country on the topic of music advocacy, which was sponsored by The National Association of Music Education. Dr. Sullivan will be teaching a graduate course at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul-Minneapolis this summer. Additionally, she is the current National Chair of the collegiate division of the National Association of Music Education and will be attending the Centennial Celebration of this organization in Orlando, Florida this summer.

Gail Eugene Wilson hosted a week long residency by Charles G. Vernon, bass trombonist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during October.  He again hosted the performance of Charles G. Vernon with the University Orchestra of the new "Concerto" for Trombone by the internationally famous trombonist and composer, Christian Lindberg. This was only the second performance of this composition, Chick'a'Bone Checkout, on
February 5, 2007.  The guest conductor was Henry Charles Smith, former principal trombonist of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and former associate conductor of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra.  Professor Wilson hosted a recital performance on April 21, 2007, by James T. Decker.  Mr. Decker was principal trombonist of the Honolulu Symphony
Orchestra and is now professor of trombone at Texas Tech University.

Dr. Joseph Wytko, professor of saxophone, served as guest artist professor at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et Danse in Paris, and at L'Ecole Nationale de Musique et de Danse in Bourges (France).  He presented a series of master classes, delivered a lecture titled "Recent American Saxophone Compositions and Performance Trends," and performed concerts of American and Polish works, including music for saxophone and electronics.  While in Paris, Dr. Wytko, a Selmer Artist-Clinician, visited and consulted with the Henri Selmer Paris Musical Instrument Company per the invitation of the Selmer family and the office of Selmer Relations Artistiques.   Dr. Wytko also served as featured special guest during the "Rousseau Sixth Annual International Saxophone Master Class" held in Minneapolis, where he presented the event's closing recital assisted by ASU colleagues Jonathan Swartz (violin), Andrew Campbell (piano) and Catalin Rotaru (double bass).

Additionally, professor Wytko presented guest artist master classes at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Kansas, and Kansas State University, and chamber music concerts with the Wytko Saxophone Quartet at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and at Arizona State University. Other Arizona activities included numerous performances as orchestral saxophonist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, a performance with the Arizona Musicfest Festival Orchestra, a guest artist solo performance with the Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra, a clinic at the PLACe Music Academy, and a faculty concert in conjunction with the ASU School of Music Faculty Artist Series.  Dr. Wytko also organized an ASU Visiting Guest Artist Residency which featured Polish saxophonist Dariusz Samol.

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