Calendar of Events 2008-2009

Saturday, September 27 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
NCAKE Workshop – Pamela Wood
Ellen Driscoll Playhouse, Havens Elementary School
325 Highland Ave., Piedmont
Shake It To The Eas’! Reflecting Upon the African-American Experience through the Prism of Song
Participants will have opportunities to learn and practice singing games and other African-American folk literature, sight-sing choral music written or arranged by African-Americnas, and consider the art song repertoire of African-American composers through the following modules: A Cycle of Circle Games, Honoring Our History, Four Folk Song Types, and A Vocal Master Class. Particular attention will be given to traditional performance practice. So come prepared to “put your hands on your hips and let your backbone slip!”
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members - $70; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
For more information, visit NCAKE’s website at http://ncake.oake.org/ or call 510-836-5435.

Saturday, December 6 7:30 pm
A Renaissance Christmas
Regents’ Theatre, Holy Names University
Celebrate the holidays with a concert featuring the HNU music department, including the HNU Chamber Singers, Orchestra, and Preparatory Music Department. A reception will follow the concert.
Admission: $10 general, $5 students/seniors
For more information, email: laskey@hnu.edu or call 510-436-1234.

Saturday, January 31 9:30 am - 3:00 pm
NCAKE Workshop – Jerry Jaccard
California Room, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
Rejoice in the Rhythm of the Seasons! Seasonal Celebrations for Classrooms and Concerts
Underlying most authentic singing games and adult folksongs is the ebb and flow of rural rituals and ceremonies. These are closely tied to the rhythm of life as expressed in seasonal celebrations determined by the predictable planting and harvest calendar, by local community traditions, and by less predictable personal life events. These, and much more, are the context and substance of what Zoltán Kodály intended to convey by a thorough education through and into folksong. In this workshop, we will explore a wide variety of customs, celebrations and rituals and how they may be used in our school music programs.
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members: $70; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
For more information, visit NCAKE’s website at http://ncake.oake.org/ or call 510-836-5435.

March 12-14
Organization of American Kodály Educators National Conference
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, D.C.
Kodály in the Capital - A Musical Legacy
Early registration deadline: Jan. 20, 2009
To register, or for more information, visit http://oake.org/

Saturday, April 4 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
NCAKE Workshop – Kit Eakle
Reed Elementary School
1199 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon
Music Listening in the Elementary Classroom
This workshop will include a survey of children’s literature connecting compositions suitable for elementary school students, ways to implement a school-wide listening program, activities for focusing children’s listening, and a survey of currently available music listening programs including the presenters own book Listen to the Music: A Classroom Listening Guide. Attendees will take part in “ears-on” listening activities involving examples of music of the highest quality.
Admission: Students free with OAKE student membership ($20); non-OAKE members: $55; OAKE members (3 workshop series - $70)
For more information, visit NCAKE’s website at http://ncake.oake.org/ or call 510-836-5435.

Saturday, May 2 7:30 pm
HNU Chamber Singers
McLean Chapel, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
The HNU Chamber Singers, composed of graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and members of the community, will perform under the direction of Ildikó Salgado.
Admission: $10 general, $5 students/seniors
For more information, email: laskey@hnu.edu or call 510-436-1234.

Saturday, May 9 11:45 am & 4:15 pm performances
Children’s Choral Festival
Regents’ Theatre, Holy Names University
3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland
HNU’s Kodály Center and the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators will sponsor the 13th annual Children’s Choral Festival. Community and school choirs from throughout the Bay Area will perform individually and rehearse together under the direction of David J. Xiques in two sessions (9:30-12:30; 2:00-5:00).
Admission: Free

August 10-17
19th International Kodály Symposium
Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music
Katowice, Poland
On Values of Music
For more information, visit the IKS website at http://www.iks.hu/

Alumni News and Contact Info

We're updating our alumni contact database! Please stay in touch with us by sending your current mailing address and email so we can keep you posted about news and upcoming events.

Please also send us any noteworthy announcements and photos to share with visitors to this site. Alumni news and updated contact info may be sent to: laskey@hnu.edu

12th Annual Children's Choral Festival

On Satuday, May 3, HNU and Northern California Association of Kodaly Educators hosted the 12th Annual Children's Choral Festival with Ildikó Salgado as the guest conductor. The event was held in the Regents' Theatre of the Valley Center for Performing Arts at HNU.

Participating choirs included: Children's Choir of Chico, Half Note Hounds of Phillips Brooks School, Vivace Youth Chorus Intermediate, Vivace Youth Chorus Concert Choir, Peninsula Girls' Chorus Allegra, San Francisco Boys Chorus Apprentice Chorus, Voci Pure, Piedmont Girls' Intermediate Choir, Piedmont Girls' Choir Advanced, St. Mary's Cathedral Choir of Boys and Girls, Cantabella Children's Chorus.

The festival began with all choirs rehearsing the mass pieces together under the direction of Ildikó Salgado, after which Ildikó worked with each choir. During the concert portion of the festival the choirs performed for each other and concluded with the mass pieces: Snail from Knick Knacks by Miklos Kocsar and Cuckoo! from Friday Afternoons by Benjamin Britten.

Tides Foundation Grant - Technology Upgrade

The HNU Music Library has completed a technology upgrade funded by a grant from the Tides Foundation. Here are photos of before and after the purchase.

The new equipment includes 2 PC's with 17 inch monitors and keyboards and 1 Macbook laptop with external hard drive and will provide: 1) up-to-date computer access for music students, 2) the ability to transfer archival VHS recordings to DVD and 3) a new host computer for the database and Sibelius files for the American Folk Song Collection website.

Anne Laskey receives OAKE Outstanding Educator Award

Anne J. Laskey received the 2008 Outstanding Educator Award from the Organization of American Kodály Educators at the OAKE National Conference held in Denver, CO, March 27-29, 2008. The award is given to an OAKE member who has demonstrated years of superior music teaching in which the Kodály philosophy has been used extensively and has produced students who exhibit outstanding music skills. Ms. Laskey is director of the Kodály Center for Music Education at Holy Names University.

Program for 40th Anniversary Celebration (tentative)

"Music For Everyone: Envisioning a Musical Culture"

40th Anniversary Opening Ceremony
Keynote: Dr. Jerry Jaccard

Choral performance by: Chanticleer

Alumni choir rehearsals/performance
Judit Hartyányi

The Music Educator as a Fieldworker: Discoveries in the Field
Miriam Factora
With the existence of diverse ethno-linguistic groups in many countries and of course in the Philippines, the question could be posed whether the Kodály Concept can truly be successful in schools where students are a product of diverse cultural backgrounds. The lecture, which includes a video-clip presentation, will discuss multiculturalism and how countries wishing to adapt the Kodály Concept have dealt with the issue.

The melodic world of Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus
Erzsébet Hegyi
The composition unites marvelously the 16th century text with Kodály's 20th century Hungarian melodic world. The Rondo-theme appears 6 times with different variations. The Episodes sounding between the Rondo-themes have a certain relationship with the principal melody but still accomodate to the text. Our aim is to become acquainted with the theme and with the Episode-melodies and formal construction of the piece through active singing.

"Hidden Treasures" - A search for Australian folk music to be used in Australian classrooms
Judith Johnson
The initial search resulted in the discovery of a collection of field recordings which had been given to the University of Queensland in the 1950s and promptly forgotten. This paper gives some of the detail of how that collection is being collated and analysed.

The Kodály Concept of Music Education in Practice
Sarolta Platthy
Presentation of the DVD published by the Foundation for the Kecskemét Kodály Institute in 2007. The DVD contains a representative selection of demonstration class videos from kindergarten to secondary school and methodology lessons.

Hearing in Color: Case Studies of Musicians with Absolute Pitch
Ivy Ward
Individuals with absolute pitch identify pitches by their "chroma," or tonal color. While it is relative pitch that is indispensable to understanding music, a look into the world of those with absolute pitch gives us additional insights into how music is perceived and invites us to reflect on how music is taught.

Pre-school demonstration (ages 4-5)
Helga Dietrich will work with children who are students of HNU alum Jeff Luna-Sparks in his music studio in Albany, CA.

3rd grade demonstration with Oakland’s new charter school—The Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts (COVA)
Kate Offer

Assessment
Rita Klinger

Panels:

Dialogue: Gail Needleman, Jerry Jaccard

Looking back: Sr. Mary Alice Hein, Erzsébet Hegyi, Pierre Perron
Moderator: Anne Laskey

Music in the Schools: Victoria Schmidt, Valerie Abad, Jutka Kadas

Moderator: Nancy Linford

Higher Education: Rita Klinger, David Xiques, Georgia Newlin
Moderator: Anne Comiskey

General forum--priorities, direction for future:

HNU President Rosemarie Nassif, OAKE President Georgia Newlin, Judit Hartyányi, Anne Laskey
Moderator: Gilbert de Greeve

HNU Alums Take Part in 2007 IKS Symposium

HNU’s Kodaly Center was well-represented at the 18th International Kodaly Symposium held in Columbus, Ohio in August of 2007. Dr. Jerry Jaccard (HNU ’78, and vice president of the International Kodaly Society) gave the opening keynote entitled “The Kodaly Un-Method of Musical Education.” Dr. Miriam Factora (HNU ’84) presented a keynote address: “The Music Educator as a Fieldworker: Discoveries in the Field.” Both also offered sessions during the symposium, along with HNU alums Anne Comiskey, Hsiao-Shien Cheng, Judith Johnson and Yu-Chuan Yao. Judit Hartyányi, visiting Hungarian faculty at Holy Names and also a vice president of the IKS, introduced the IKS’s newest publication, Music: A Universal Language—Songs of Nations with Gilbert de Greeve, president of the IKS. Other alums in attendance included Joy Nelson, Hélène Matters, Gemma Arguelles, Merlyn Katechis, Jeanette Tietze, Danelle Johnson, Gail Homan, Kathy Rausch, Anna Mlynek-Kalman, Maria Isaak, Rita Lu and Georgia Newlin and Anne Laskey.