March 12, 2003
Achievement test challenges area piano players
Grand Traverse Music Teachers Association sponsors adjudication for more than 100 students
By
Herald staff writer
Practice makes perfect.
With perfection as their goal, many hours of practice went into preparing piano students from across northern Michigan who participated in the Grand Traverse Music Teachers Association student achievement testing day Saturday at the First Congregational Church.
More than 100 piano students, ranging in age from five to 17, performed three solo pieces from memory for an adjudicator who then provided written comments and a numerical score. The students combine this score with their score earned in sight reading, theory, technique and aural awareness testing for an overall assessment of their performance.
Students came from Traverse City, Harbor Springs, Elk Rapids, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Gaylord, Suttons Bay, Kingsley, Ellsworth, Lake Ann, Lake Leelanau and Manistee to be critiqued by judges who traveled from downstate for the event.
"It gives the students a chance to be heard by someone who has never heard them before. They can get a fresh perspective which can help them set new goals for themselves," said Dorothy Vogel, president of the Grand Traverse Music Teacher's Association.
The Grand Traverse Music Teacher's Association has been holding this event annually for more than 20 years. The tests are based on a curriculum developed by the Michigan Music Teachers Association and cities all over the state hold this type of event in their own locales.
Students in the intermediate and advanced levels of playing are eligible for the semi-final round of a competitive event to be held at Central Michigan University next month.