The Oakton six piano ensemble: the joys of making music at six grand pianos.

The Oakton six piano ensemble: the joys of making music at six grand pianos. To bring Pedagogy Saturday to a close, the final session of the daypresented performances by six adult students of piano ensemblerepertoire. The six grand pianos were provided at no cost to MTNA MTNA Music Teachers National AssociationMTNA Middle Tennessee Nursery Association (McMinnville, Tennessee)byseveral piano manufacturers (Kawai, Mason & Hamlin, Steinway &Sons and Yamaha). Our special thanks, also, to Rick Banning and BrianMcClure Brian McClure (born December 28, 1963 in Ravenna, Ohio) is a former American football quarterback for the Bowling Green Falcons Playing CareerMcClure played for the Falcons from 1982-1985 where he set numerous offensive records. , the piano technicians who prepared the six acousticinstruments. Students from Oakton Community Col lege Oakton Community College is a two-year community college with campuses in Skokie, Illinois and Des Plaines, Illinois, serving five townships in northeast Cook County, Illinois. in Des Plaines,Illinois “Des Plaines” redirects here. For the river, see Des Plaines River.Des Plaines (pronounced IPA [dɛsˈpleɪnz]) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. , performed and also shared comments from the stage about thebenefits to them of participating in this ensemble. --Barbara English Maris COMMENTS BY GLENNA SPRAGUE, CONDUCTOR It was an honor and a pleasure for the Oakton Six Piano Ensemble toperform in Atlanta at the 2009 MTNA National Conference. Our last MTNAperformance took place 16 years ago, at the 1993 National Conference inSpokane, Washington Spokane (pronounced [spoʊ̯ˈk?n]) is a city located in Eastern Washington. The seat of Spokane County, Spokane is the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest, the second la rgest city in Washington state, and . It is events like this that help to elevate theperformance level of this group. Several members of the ensemble arelong-time members of MTNA, so this performance held special significancefor them. Ever since the 1993 conference, the Oakton Six Piano Ensemble hasperformed in a variety of venues throughout the world. Each performancemotivates the students to work harder, listen more carefully, practicemore diligently and strive to become better performers. I established this group in 1980 as a master class, using it as avehicle to introduce advanced piano students to piano duet literatureand to provide a group setting that enabled students to learn from eachother. In subsequent years, the Years, Thethe seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109]See : Time group has become a highly respectedperformance ensemble. We have performed in 15 states and Europe, and ourannual concerts at Oakton Community Colleg e are soldout regularly. Theensemble's repertoire ranges from traditional classical pianoliterature and symphonic sym¡¤phon¡¤ic?adj.1. Relating to or having the character or form of a symphony.2. Harmonious in sound.Adj. 1. literature to ragtime ragtime:see jazz. ragtimeU.S. popular music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries distinguished by its heavily syncopated rhythm. Ragtime found its characteristic expression in formally structured piano compositions, the accented left-hand and popular music, aswell as recent compositions dedicated to the ensemble. More than 83 students have been members of the Oakton Ensemblesince its creation. Selected through a rigorous audition process, thesetraditional and non-traditional students Non-traditional student is an American English term referring to students at higher education institutions (undergraduate college or university) who generally fall into two categories: are not typical participants ofa collegiate performing group . Our students are widely diverse in theirage, background and employment. The following quotations from the current members of the ensemblespeak to the benefits they derive from being part of the Oakton SixPiano Ensemble: Ira Goodkin: "I am learning to listen more carefully andcritically. The qualities we strive for in sound production, precision,and balance help to develop an aesthetic sense transferable to soloplaying or other ensemble work." Beatriz Levi, NCTM NCTM National Council of Teachers of MathematicsNCTM Nationally Certified Teacher of MusicNCTM North Carolina Transportation MuseumNCTM National Capital Trolley MuseumNCTM Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage : "The continued challenge of performing newrepertoire each year is part of the appeal of being a member of theensemble. When you spend so much time working together to achieve thesame quality of sound to blend with the group, you know you are part ofsomething special." Adrian Metzler: "The rhythmic precision required for sixpianos Six Pianos is a minimalist piece for six pianos composed by Steve Reich. He later made an arrangement for six marimbas, unsurprisingly called Six Marimbas.The piece begins with three pianists playing different notes to the same 8-beat rhythmic pattern. to sound unified is rarely the focus of solo playing as astudent. However, developing that skill has been invaluable in my ownsolo playing to bring clarity to musical details." Manigirdas Motekaitis: "Playing with others makes me aware oftheir parts and how mine fits into the totality of the sound. In theensemble, you cannot always interpret the composition the way you want;but you must respect the conductor's artistic vision." Marianne Pyster: "As a pianist, learning to follow a conductorin the ensemble is very challenging. It is important to watch theconductor for tempo, dynamics, and the all-important cues for yourpart." Garfield Sallman: "Playing in the Oakton Six Piano Ensembleprovides me with more performing opportunities than I ever thoughtpossible. Also, I can apply aspects of what I learned in the ensemble tomy solo playing." From my own perspective, as conductor of the Oakton Six PianoEnsemble, the ensemble has afforded me a creative and innovativeperformance outlet. It has brought visibility to me personally and tothe music department at Oakton. I've seen my own musicianship andcritical listening skills grow, while measuring the progress my studentsmake from the first rehearsals to the final performances. Our thanks go to MTNA for this wonderful invitation. We were happyto help showcase the adult learner Adult learner is a term used to describe any person socially accepted as an adult who is in a learning process, whether it is formal education, informal learning, or corporate-sponsored learning. and the joys of making musictogether. by Glenna Sprague, NCTM Glenna Sprague, NCTM, is professor and coordinator of the musicdepartment at Oakton Commun ity College in Des Plaines, Illinois, whereshe teaches piano. Director and conductor of the Oakton Six PianoEnsemble, she is a graduate of Capital University and Ohio University Ohio University,main campus at Athens; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1804, opened 1809 as the first college in the Old Northwest. There are additional campuses at Chiillicothe, Lancaster, and Zanesville, as well as facilities throughout the state. .Program Presented by theOakton Six Piano EnsembleNeue Spanische Tanze in E-flat Major, Op. 65, No. 1 Moritz MoszkowskiSymphony No. 40 in G Minor (K. 550) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Molto allegroLegend in C-sharp Minor, Op. 59, No. 6 Antonin DvorakOakton Toccata Robert D. VandallMaple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin