Sigma Alpha Iota

MUSIC NOTES Shepherd School of Music Bids Farewell to Retiring Speziale F ebruary 4 was a bittersweet evening at Rice University as the Shepherd School of Music celebrated Marie Speziale, Professor of Trumpet and Chair of Brass. She retired in May after eleven years at the Shepherd School. Also honored that evening was Kathleen Kaun, the retiring Lynette S. Autry Professor of Voice. Acknowledged as the first woman trumpeter in a major symphony orchestra, Speziale retired from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in November of 1996 after having served as its Associate Principal Trumpet for thirty-two years (1964-1996). A graduate of the CollegeConservatory of Music in Cincinnati where she was initiated into Eta-Iota, Speziale studied with Robert Price, Robert Braunagel, Eugene Blee and Arnold Jacobs. She was the recipient of Sigma Alpha Iota's National Leadership Award in 1964 and was a Province President in1964. In a grand collaborative evening, students, alumnae, friends and colleagues gathered to honor and celebrate Speziale's distinguished career. The event was months in the planning, as Speziale reached out to former Rice students across the country, inviting them to participate in the celebratory concert. "I was thrilled that so many former students were able to be a part of this wonderful experience," she said. "It was truly a reunion, with Richard Strauss' bringing everyone back together." Vienna Philharmoniker A long beloved figure Fanfare, conducted by at the Shepherd School, Larry Rachleff, Music Speziale hosted a welcome Director of the Shepherd party the night before the School Symphony and concert for all of the brass Chamber Orchestras. The players who had gathered audience also enjoyed for the dress rehearsal, as Bruce Broughton's Silverado well as members of the played by the Shepherd Shepherd School brass School Horn Choir led by faculty. Professor of Horn William Twenty-four alumnae VerMeulen. The stirring of the Shepherd School finale of the evening was trumpet studio traveled an arrangement of America from across the country the Beautiful by Professor to pay tribute to Speziale. of Composition and Theory Performing that evening Eta-Iota initiate Marie Speziale was Arthur Gottschalk, SAI were Thomas Siders, the first woman trumpeter to play Composer Bureau member, Assistant Principal Trumpet with a major symphony orchestra. featuring Tom Siders, the of the Boston Symphony, Military Brass Quintet, and the full company and a quartet of trumpeters in service with of brass and voice students assembled to honor national military bands: Carl Lindquist (U.S. their teachers. Naval Academy Band), Jeffrey Northman (U.S. A post-concert reception gave them a chance Army Band "Pershing's Own"), Kevin Lynch to let Speziale know what her presence in their (U.S. Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard"), lives had meant, and for those in Houston to say and James McClarty (U.S. Marine Band "The farewell as she returns to her longtime Cincinnati President's Own"). roots later this year. A brass choir called the evening to order PHONES continued from page 3 Apple app digitalizes compositions than can be created directly on the mobile device or transferred from a computer to the device ($4.99 on iTunes; Apple platform devices only). 3.I Am T-Pain — A vocal auto-tuning app for the singer in your class who wants to have a pop "edge" to the composition ($2.99 on iTunes). These are just a few apps to consider that are paid that can help you create a desired composition and performance in your classes. Here are a few ways to have your students create an iband in various classes: 1.Music Theory Set specific parameters for a unit or technique you're working on and have them arrange their piece. For example, you may be learning modes at the current time. Have your students re-arrange a well known Christmas carol into a new mode and then perform their composition in a group or as an individual. 2. History of Rock or Music in our Lives Learning the 12 Bar Blues. If you don't have pianos or guitars at the ready, have students download free guitar apps or piano apps and learn how to play the progression and improvise! 3.Chorus, Band, Orchestra When learning an a capella piece, or any piece in general that has a simple accompaniment, have students create a new accompaniment or add auxiliary percussion to what they're singing/playing. This is also the perfect opportunity to discuss auto-tuning and digitally created sounds in music today. 4 PAN PIPESSPRING 2013 sai-national.org 4.Other simple uses Like many other vocal music teachers, I constantly record our performances, then critique them later. I've gone so far as to create an mp3 of our recording on my iPhone to email to the students. They are required to do a journal entry on what they heard. I also have the students record their sight-reading exams on an iPhone. This allows for a few things: better flow of class time since I'm not breaking class to assess 45 singers in under 86 minutes; student assessment in the privacy of a practice room (honor system), and authentic data of a student's progress at the end of the year. Of course, as musicians, we are constantly listening to music. Your whole music library can be left in one location. Also, if you want to find a recording or performance of another ensemble of various skill levels, you can find almost anything on YouTube! YouTube is a great way to find, compare, and contrast examples for your ensemble. The possibilities and uses for our students' mobile devices and devices in general are endless, and what we will soon be able to do is only going to become more amazing. The whole point of technology is to improve and change how we do things. Why not embrace it for what it's worth so that we can preserve our art we have worked so hard to achieve? Stephanie (Booth) Riley is an initiate of Gamma Delta at the State University of New York-Potsdam where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Voice and Music Education. She is a Sword of Honor recipient and current member of the Boston Alumnae Chapter.

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