PPMTA Meetings

Regular Meeting Schedule:  2nd Tuesday of the month
8:30am: Board Meeting
9am: Coffee & Conversation
9:30am: General Meeting
10-11am:  Program Presentation
Cancellation Policy:  
 If School District 11 and/or District 20 cancel school, PPMTA meetings or activities scheduled for that day will be cancelled.
September 13, 2016: Our Welcome Potluck Brunch is a great way to kick off your teaching year. We will enjoy a business meeting that celebrates our 2016-2017 year, food, and fellowship. We will also draw to win a free student entry at each of our 2016-17 festivals and free music will go to another lucky winner! The Brunch will be hosted by the PPMTA Board Members at Graner Music Store. We ask that you bring a yummy brunch item to share. Coffee and paper supplies will be available.

October 11, 2016:  Dr. Zahari Metchkov – “The Clavichord, the Forgotten Ancestor of the Piano”
Widely used for hundreds of years before the advent of the fortepiano, the clavichord is an integral piece of the evolution of the keyboard instrument through the ages.
This presentation will explore:
  • Basic acoustical and mechanical principles of the Clavichord (an actual clavichord will be available)
  • Historical overview of the instrument in art and written documents
  • Discussion and performance of selected short pieces by Renaissance/Baroque composers
     Dr. Zahari Metchkov
Both a pianist and an organist, Dr. Zahari Metchkov has performed at such venues as New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center. He has concertized in Israel, Bulgaria, and the United States. In 2010 he joined Colorado State University-Pueblo’s department of music in the capacity of Assistant Professor of Music, teaching applied piano, piano related courses, as well as music theory. He was the 2013 recipient of the CSU-Pueblo’s Outstanding Service and Transformative Leadership Award and the 2014 recipient of CHASS Outstanding Faculty of the Year.
Meetings are held at Graner Recital Hall unless noted otherwise.
4460 Barnes Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80917 
October 25, 2016: PPMTA Book Club Meeting: “The Great Pianists” 
At the home of:
​     June Ewell, NCTM
     19325 Glen Hollow Circle
     Monument, CO 80132
Please RSVP to June Ewell, NCTM at june@ewell.com.

November 8, 2016: Curtis Smith, MA – “Modern piano music for students”  ​
Curtis Smith is a long time member of the UCCS faculty. He teaches Music Theory, music appreciation classes, and a variety courses, including: Computer Applications in Music, Jazz History, Opera, and Symphonic Music. For ten years he wrote program notes for the Colorado Springs Symphony and frequently led their concert previews. He maintains a class of private piano students for whom he wrote a series of modern pedagogical pieces titled "For the Twentieth Century Young (at heart!)," which is published by Boston Music. He received his Master of Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music.

December 13, 2016: Holiday Potluck Brunch 
​Hosted by: Dr. Joan Sawyer
     24 Polo Circle
     Colorado Springs, CO 80906.
Please RSVP to Paul Stephens or by calling 719-282-8589. Please bring a dish to share.

January 10, 2017: Margaret Pressley – “A Violin Teacher speaks about The Three Basic Learning Processes, and The Difference between Practicing Smart not Hard”
Margaret Pressley was the Founding Director and Starling Artistic Director of Violin Studies at the Seattle Conservatory of Music. She is well-known throughout the country as one of the foremost instructors of pedagogy for pre-college violinists. Pressley is an innovator of continuing education and a pioneer advocate in the Pacific Northwest of the importance of well-rounded musical training. Pressley has held faculty positions as Lecturer at Western Washington University and Adjunct Professor at Seattle Pacific University. She has been a featured author in American String Teacher national magazine writing on “My Journey Toward Teaching Success” and was the recipient of the 1994 Washington State Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year Award by American String Teacher Association.

February 14, 2017: Sara McDaniel, NCTM -“The Chopin Preludes as Etudes”
Used in a logical progressive order, the Chopin Preludes can serve as both beautiful pieces and etudes to teach varied technical skills.  They will be presented in order of teaching and explain briefly about the focus of each prelude both technically and musically.
     Sara McDaniel, NCTM
Sara McDaniel is known throughout the western region as a performer, teacher, clinician, and adjudicator. Much of her work has been done through MTNA affiliates. Her performance specialty is chamber music. She collaborates regularly with musicians throughout Colorado Springs and faculty of Colorado colleges. She has been a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs and the Pikes Peak Philharmonic.
She has given piano pedagogy workshops and master classes throughout Colorado and many other states. Teaching comprises a major part of her career, both in an independent studio and on the faculty at Pikes Peak Community College and University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. In 2001, she was Colorado’s first nominee for Music Teachers National Association’s Teacher of the Year.

March 7, 2017:  PPMTA Book Club Meeting: “Claude Debussy” 
Please RSVP to June Ewell, NCTM.

March 14, 2017: Spring Town Hall Meeting
PPMTA President, Susan Marten, will lead our Spring Town Hall Meeting. Please bring ideas, hopes and schedules to begin building an exciting path for next year. Conversation and attendance from this meeting helps to inspire the planning for our 2017-18 season and beyond!

April 11, 2017: Andrew Cooperstock – “Expressivity in Piano Playing”
Exploration of musical rhetoric and the physicality behind creating a healthful, convincing performance. The session will include demonstration and practical advice on technique and relaxation.
     Andrew Cooperstock
Pianist Andrew Cooperstock performs widely as soloist and chamber musician and has appeared throughout six continents and in most of the fifty states, including performances at New York's Alice Tully, Merkin, and Carnegie halls, Broadway’s 54 Below, Greenwich Village’s (le) Poisson Rouge, Brooklyn’s BargeMusic, and at the United Nations.  He has been featured in recitals and concerto appearances at the Chautauqua, Brevard, and Round Top international music festivals, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Hong Kong’s Hell Hot! New Music Festival, and in London, Beijing, Accra, Kiev, Sapporo, Canberra, Lima, and Geneva, on National Public Radio, Radio France, and the BBC.  A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Cincinnati and Peabody Conservatories, Andrew Cooperstock is currently chair of the keyboard department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

May 9, 2017: Year-End Potluck Brunch and Officer Installation
Hosted by Barb Taylor, NCTM.
     1420 Lone Scout Lookout
​      Monument, CO 80132
Please RSVP to Paul Stephens by e-mail or by calling 719-282-8589. Please bring a dish to share.