Greetings Fellow ASTA Members:

Summer seems to fly by so quickly, but hopefully it has provided a change in the pace of our busy routines and the opportunity to get rejuvenated for the upcoming school year.

Special thanks to our past president, Janice McAllister, and all retiring board members! Your hard work and efforts are greatly appreciated.

Congratulations to Deborah Baker Monday! Chant-Formations, was selected as the winning composition in the 2006 ASTA with NSOA Composition Competition, and will have its premiere performance at the 2007 UMEA Conference in St. George. We thank Deborah for her fine work and many contributions to string education in Utah.

This year, Utah ASTA gave its 2006 awards and congratulations to the following outstanding educators and community leaders for their contributions to music education in our state: Jack Ashton, Marilyn Choate, Mike Christiansen, Lois Faber, Lorene Lamb, Nancy Law, Manon Caine Russell and Katherine Caine Wanless.

It was a great experience to attend the 2006 ASTA National Conference and leadership training workshop in Kansas City. There are many new things that I learned and plan to incorporate into both my private teaching and school classroom. What a wonderful experience to be there! Utah ASTA members were well represented and I was very impressed with those who presented workshops and the contributions they made to the conference. Thank you and congratulations to the following presenters: Monte Belknap with Richard Culatta – Indispensable Technology Resources for Studio Teachers; Monte Belknap with Scott Holden – Violin Music of George Enescu; Julie Bevan – An Unbecoming Instrument? A Look at Women Cellists and Composers for the Cello; Andrew Dabczynski – Are They Reading? Exploring Sight-Reading in the String Classroom; Shi-Hwa Wang (clinician) – Pre-College Violin Master Class; Michael Palumbo (panelist) – The Importance of Collegiality within the Music Profession; Sam Tsugawa (panelist) – Initiating and Maintaining a Successful Alternative Styles Program in Your School; Denise Willey – Easy Steps to Music Literacy.

It is not too early to start planning for the 2007 ASTA National Conference. It will be held March 7-10, 2007 in Detroit, MI. For information, see the National ASTA website,
www.astaweb.com.

Thank you for all you do. Those who missed the Alternative String Styles workshop in Park City missed an exceptional workshop. Thanks to all of those who worked so hard to make it so successful.


Deanne Helquist