YMS Boston Teacher Awarded Mary Ellis Smith Prize at Longy Conservatory Commencement
Sarah Lee Corrigan, Lead Teacher at Yamaha Music School of Boston, was awarded the Mary Ellis Smith Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Piano Pedagogy from Longy Conservatory.
The award was established by Trustee Marilyn Ray Smith in honor of her mother, Mary Ellis Smith, a long-time piano teacher.
Sarah has been a member of the YMS Boston faculty since the fall of 2006, and was named Lead Teacher in the fall of 2009. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Longy Conservatory, she teaches the Junior Music Course, the Young Musician's Course, Junior Extension Course and private instruction in piano and voice.
In addition to her Yamaha teaching duties, Sarah manages a wide range of activities, including overseeing all performance events and recitals, teacher development and community engagement.
Recital Performed at Boston University and at Lake City, Florida
YMS Boston teacher Lucy Chen performed a recital at Boston University's College of Fine Arts on Friday, May 7 at 2:30 PM.
The recital featured Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major, Op. 22, Images pour piano (I) by Claude Debussy and Schumann's Fantasiestücke Op. 12. The program was repeated on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 in Lake City, Florida.
Lucy joined the staff of YMS Boston in September, 2009. A graduate of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Lucy completed the Yamaha Music Education System (YMES) seminar training and teaches the Junior Music Course, Young Musician's Course and private instruction. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree at Boston University with Boaz Sharon, and is spending the summer working at the BU Tanglewood Institute.
Making Music This Summer at Yamaha, by Lead Teacher Sarah Lee Corrigan
Hello Parents!
Now that the warmer weather has arrived (finally!), it is time to think about summer programs and what the Yamaha School has to offer. As you begin to make your summer plans, please keep your children and their musical education in mind. Two months (which seems all too short), is a very long time to go without any continuation in their studies. I have found that many students excel during the more relaxed atmosphere of the summer, and it is a wonderful time to play "catch up" if you feel you've fallen behind. It is also a time to continue the progress that you have all made during the school year.
This year we are offering a myriad of classes as well as our first ever Yamaha Summer Music Day Camp. Many of you have already enrolled your children in different types of camps throughout the warmer months and you may already be familiar with the fun and learning that these day camps can provide to your children. This is year our camp will take place during the first week of July, between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. Your children will be able to participate in a keyboard class, as well as a drumming and yoga class. Please visit www.rhythmkids.com, if you would like more information about the fabulous drumming instructor that we are fortunate to have this year. All children will be grouped accordingly, and please note that children not involved in the Yamaha program are also invited to attend the week-long camp. We encourage you to invite any other friends and family!!
The school is also offering other options for your children. Our classes this year 
provide an incredible way to continue music learning even away from the keyboard. It is a pleasant atmosphere of music making as well as exposure to music our children often do not get throughout the year. Please consider the following options, Broadway Bound, Exploring the Orchestra, or the Opera Workshop.
The very po
pular Broadway Bound class is also being offered this summer and is a fun introduction to a group vocal class. Please note however, that this class is only open to children of certain ages. Children in the Exploring the Orchestra class will be learning about one of the most beloved pieces in the orchestra repertoire, The Carnival of the Animals. Students (and parents!), will gain more knowledge of the piece through singing and playing, as well as instrumental demonstrations, discussions, and of course exploring through listening to this wonderful piece. Children will be discussing elements of composition as well as performing and conducting. New this year is the Opera Workshop, which is a tremendous way to introduce your child to the opera. Children will learn the story of Hansel and Gretel, learn two songs, and be involved in acting and crafts as well.
Parents the summer is not only for your children! Keyboard Encounters is also offering a summer workshop of 3 Group classes and 3 private lessons. This is a fabulous opportunity to begin your very own music learning for your own enjoyment. During these classes you will be learning one piece of your own as well as one duet. Each class will be in a workshop environment and very casual. The final class will include special performances from each student.
As always, private lessons are also offered throughout the summer. Please check with your individual teacher as to when they may be available. Private lessons are offered to students currently enrolled as private students, and also to students in the group classes. This is a relaxed way to keep up with music learning if you are unable to attend the classes during the summer. Of course it is highly recommended that if possible you sign up for a class as well as private lessons. These supplemental lessons are an excellent way to hone the children's skills on the keyboard, along with a time for music theory and ear training.
To parents of JXC and YMC graduates as well as current JSAC students, please speak with your teacher about the Grade 9 Workshop that will be offered this summer. The class will be an intensive keyboard class that will prepare parents and children for the upcoming Grade 9 Exam in the fall.
Please visit the front desk for more information about each program and to sign up for the summer session soon! You can also enroll online by clicking here. The registration deadline is June 5. Please be aware that although you can register after June 5, there will be a $35.00 late fee applied, or the class may be filled! Please feel free to ask your teacher for more questions about any of these programs. Also, do not hesitate to email me at slcorrigan@gmail.com. I would welcome any questions you may have.
I look forward to seeing you all this summer!!!
Sarah Lee Corrigan
Music Students from Across the Country Win Top Honors; Join Impressive Roster of Previous Winners
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.-Talented young artists from across the country were honored recently as Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, announced the winners of the 2010 Yamaha Young Performing Artist (YYPA) competition. Winners are invited to attend an all expenses paid weekend at the Music For All (MFA) Summer Symposium, where one overall winner will be chosen and will receive a grand prize.
The YYPA program was designed in 1989 to provide early career recognition for outstanding young musicians in the United States. Hundreds of applicants, ages 16-21, apply annually and undergo a rigorous taped audition process for a panel of internationally acclaimed musicians. The 2010 winners join more than 200 other talented musicians who have earned the distinction since the program's inception. Many have received scholarships to prestigious universities and conservatories, or are playing professionally with major jazz groups and top symphony orchestras.
This year's YYPA Concert will be held on Monday, June 21 at 8:00 p.m. at Braden Auditorium on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. The concert will take place at Summer Symposium, and will serve as its kick-off concert. The winners will be guests of Yamaha for a weekend of rehearsals, master classes, special awards concerts and social events.
"Yamaha has a long history of encouraging and supporting young musicians at every level," said John Wittmann, Manager of Education and Artist Relations, Yamaha Corporation of America; Band & Orchestral Division. "The past twenty-two years of YYPA have given the many young talented musicians a major boost."
Former YYPA winners have gone on to highly successful careers, with highlights that include playing with world-renowned musicians, winning international competitions and releasing recordings. Previous YYPA winners include clarinetist Ricardo Morales (1990), principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra; saxophonist Otis Murphy (1994), faculty at Indiana University School of Music; flutist Jasmine Choi (2004), associate principal flute with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; jazz pianist and Blue Note recording artist Aaron Parks (2000); saxophonist Kenneth Tse (1994), faculty at the University of Iowa; and percussionist Kevin Bobo (1994), faculty at Indiana University School of Music.
The 2010 winners are:
Winner
Jennifer Zhou, Columbus, OH Flute
McKenzie Allen, Irmo, SC Oboe
Kyle Yecke, Flint, MI Clarinet
Elena Pedersen, Lake Mary, FL Saxophone
Adam Larson, Normal, IL Jazz Saxophone
Adrienne Doctor, Pittsburgh, PA Trumpet
John Cyrus Turman Austin, TX Horn
Gretchen Renshaw, Middleburg, PA Euphonium
Jake Harpster, Topeka, KS Marimba
Jordan Voth, Wichita, KS Piano
Honorable Mention:
Jessica Anastasio, San Antonio, TX Flute
Eric Bowman, Portage, MI Trombone
Spencer Inch, Wilton, CT Percussion
For more information about the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Program, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, 39 West Jackson Place, Suite 150, Indianapolis, IN 46225; call (317) 524-6272; e-mail jvierling@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/band.
Three Talented Young Composers Perform Original Compositions With A Family Member at Winter NAMM Crowd Favorite
ANAHEIM, Calif.-The Yamaha Music Education System hosted its popular Junior Original Concert (JOC) Series on Friday, January 15 and Saturday, January 16, 2010 at Winter NAMM 2010 and featured three exceptional Yamaha Music School students performing their own original compositions.
For the first time ever, concert event will feature "family ensembles," in which the young composers will perform accompanied by a family member.
Click Here to See the Performances!
Valerie Narumi, age 10, a student at Harmony Music World Yamaha Music Academy in Fullerton, California, performed "Adventures in Ice Cream Land," along with her mother, Motoko Narumi, who performed on harp.
Pianist Phillip Matsuura, age 14, of Irvine California, played his original composition "Sonatine for Flute and Piano." His mother, Mary Paschal, accompanied him on the Flute. Phillip attends Irvine Yamaha Music Center.
Eight year old piano student Tissiana Vallecillo of Chandler, Arizona, performed her original piece, "Adversity" with her sister, Renata Vallecillo, 10, who will also play the piano. Tissiana attends East Valley Yamaha Music School in Chandler, Arizona.
Yamaha Music School of Boston student Steve Ganak recently "rediscovered" the piano. Steve is a Marketing and Advertising Consultant who has given generously of his time and expertise, and has assisted the school in its partnership with the Boston Pops.
A lifelong music lover, Steve reflects on his early music studies and the joys of beginning again...
My mother would call, "Come on in, it's time to practice." Those were the dreaded words that would invariably break up a game of pick-up basketball with my friends. So after five years, I had had it with playing piano. I no longer wanted to take lessons.
My father realized long before my mother that I was not making progress. I was still playing the same songs I knew over and over. Perhaps he was tired of listening to them. As he later said, he was "tossing" out hard earned money. My mother only said, "You'll regret it." They were both right.
Here it is decades later and I discovered Yamaha Music School. At first, I thought they only taught youngsters. I'm so glad I inquired. I spoke with School Director Jim Keenan to discover that, indeed, they taught adults with their Yamaha Keyboard Encounters as well as private lessons.
I was assigned to Aaron Jackson, an experienced and well trained music educator, who after a few months brought me to a level of playing where I'm stretching myself to acquire greater piano skills. Surprise... surprise....where once it was so difficult for me to sit down and practice I now look forward to it. Most importantly, I'm enjoying it.
This has been one of the best gifts I've given myself. I'm sure my parents are looking down and smiling.
Julie Cooper and her daughter Lillie have been attending the Yamaha Music School of Boston since February 2007. Growing up in New York, some of Julie's earliest musical memories were as a Yamaha student.
Lillie is in book four of the Junior Music Course, and her teacher is Sarah Corrigan. In November, Julie and Lillie met with School Director Jim Keenan to share some of their experiences attending the school.
Jim: Lillie - what do you like best about music class?
Lillie:I like getting the stickers in the books.
Jim: That's what your teacher told me, too. Do you have a favorite song?
Lillie: Yes, Lavender Blue.
Jim: I heard that you like to play for everyone in your family. What does your little brother do when you are playing the piano?
Lillie: He pretends to play the drums or the guitar along with me.
Jim: I'll bet that you're the leader of the band. Julie, you studied Yamaha as a child. Do you have specific memories about the class?
Julie: I have specific memories of going from the keyboard to the big piano and doing things there and coming back. I have real strong memories of the rhythms; you know the language of the "ta-ta-ti-ti-ta" and the changes. I've only done that in Yamaha and it still sticks with me, years later.
Jim: And that was in New York, right?
Julie: Yes. I'm sure the curriculum has changed a bit since I did it, but it was a great foundation.
Jim: I imagine that many of the class fundamentals are still the same.
Julie: The fundamentals and principles are definitely the same. You know, I went on from Yamaha to study piano privately, went to Julliard pre-college for six years, and even taught piano myself. From my perspective of watching Lillie go through the program, it's been very interesting. And certainly, I'm even more impressed. When you're a child and you're going through it, you just do it. Now, I have the chance to see its structure in depth.
For example, in every new song, I'll think, "Oh, they're introducing that now, oh that's the right time!" And sometimes I don't quite get it, and then later on I can see how she grows and improves, and why the concept was introduced when it was. So it's been a really great experience watching her.
Jim: Many parents have a strong curiosity about the structure - some of it is obvious, but others are more subtle.
family2
Julie: Exactly, and there are things that may have happened in book two that, now we're in book four, I say, "Oh! So that's why!" It fits together, and you start to see the fruit of it. Lillie has started to improvise using both hands, developed the melody awhile ago and then recently she added the chords to go with it. And I know that it's based from lessons before, learning the chords, learning the patterns, and hearing what fits.
Jim: The children develop a strong sense of how the harmonic structure works with the melody. When they begin to start their own exploration and ‘mini compositions' with melodies, they intuitively know how to put it together and develop it.
Julie: Right, and it's learned internally. If I think about what I got out of Yamaha, it's this intrinsic musical sense that I can't even explain. Like understanding musical structure, without knowing it. I don't have to count measures, I just know by the feel of the length and structure. I think it comes from having it at a young age, and hearing it. And that's why I was so thrilled, because I was looking for a Yamaha school when she was little, and at first there wasn't anything in Boston, but this school happened to open when Lillie was three. And she started right after her fourth birthday.
Jim: Yes - you began in with us in our second semester.
Julie: It's been fun to watch it grow, with the performance classes and the concerts. And Lillie has grown right along with her teacher, Miss Sarah, because I think she was in one of Sarah's first classes. So we've been growing together. We feel really lucky, because part of success in the program is finding a match with the temperament of the teacher and child. For Lillie, the fit has been really great.
Jim: You have clear memories about your Yamaha lessons; for other adults the memories can be vague. But it seems that everyone remembers it being fun, and they always remember the teacher.
Julie: Oh yes, Miss Fastigi, who became Mrs. Washburn! Absolutely! No, you do not forget your piano teacher! And I loved her so much; she actually became my first piano teacher.
Jim: Watching Lillie go through the class, has there been anything that has surprised you?
Julie: You know, I think it's the unexpected benefits for me that have been surprising. I knew that in doing it, and my husband agreed, we were taking the long view. We weren't trying to nurture a prodigy, and I think I'm biased because I was pushed from an early age. We wanted her to have a love of music, a self-motivation.
We're starting to let her practice on her own, doing her own checks (marking the homework), while I just listen in the background. If I was sitting next to her, I could be helping her more or coaching her more, but the balance is in taking the long view and thinking of this as the foundation. Not just for music, but more broadly. Now, she gets up in the morning and plays a little bit, she comes home and plays a little bit. So she chooses to spread her practice out during the day.
Jim: In committing to the "long view", you're making a conscious choice to support her musical training combined with the physical and intellectual development over time. It's about having an open mind. That's not easy to do - especially in the beginning. Many parents are very nervous in the beginning, when things might not progress they way they thought it might.
Julie: I was very anxious at first when she wouldn't practice at all. And I was feeling guilty because I wasn't working with her. Then, the fifth week it clicked, and we figured out how to put it into our day positively. That's a part of the learning, how do you put it into your life and find that good time.
I've learned a lot about her learning style. There was one time that I was really cranky, so I had switched to, "No you're doing it wrong! Do this! Etc, etc." For days later she didn't really want to play that song. It was so different from the way we usually worked. I thought, "Wow - look at that one time I switched, and what an impact it had."
Jim: Yes - and I suspect that this is a different style from your own and that you had to adjust to it?
Julie: Right. Talk about value, with Yamaha there are all these other areas of growth beyond music, which I look at as a teacher and a parent and say, this is really great! It's almost like it'd be ok if she never really progressed much with the piano because we've learned so much about other things which are just incredibly valuable.
Jim: Julie, thank you for your insightful comments. I'm sure that they will resonate with many parents. We're privileged to have you and your family as part of our school.