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EOU hosts Oregon Music Teachers Association conference, student competitions

News contact: Laura Hancock
(541) 962-3585 | lhancock@eou.edu

Source: Matt Cooper, EOU professor of music
(541) 962-3559 | mcooper@eou.edu

20 October 2009

LA GRANDE, Ore. — The Oregon Music Teachers Association annual Leadership Conference will be held at Eastern Oregon University Oct. 23-24.

This is the first year for EOU to host the conference and corresponding state level Music Teachers National Association Performance Competitions. The event will draw some of the finest performers in Oregon, all vying for berths to the Northwest division level competition at Lewis and Clark College in January.

Winners at the division level go on to perform at the national conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 2010.

Friday begins with the OMTA board meeting in the Hoke Union Building, Room 309. A conference banquet will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with entertainment provided by Matt Cooper on piano, the EOU Chamber Choir conducted by Peter Wordelman, and the EOU African Drumming Ensemble led by John McKinnon and Luke McKern.

The performance competitions take place Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. in Loso Hall at various locations. Competitions will include piano, winds and strings in junior and senior high levels, as well as a young artist category.

At 4:30 p.m. a recital will be held in McKenzie Theatre in Loso Hall, featuring the winners from each division. The competitions and recital are open to the public.

The Syllabus Adjudicator's Retreat will be held all day Saturday in the Hoke Union Building, Room 309. The keynote speaker will be Sharon Porter, assistant professor of education at EOU. Porter's topic will be "Connections: Establishing Rapport with Students."

For more information on the competitions or winner's recital, contact Lanetta Paul, OMTA competitions chair, at (541) 963-0881. For more information on other events, contact Matt Cooper at (541) 962-3559.

For more information on the Oregon Music Teachers Association and its parent organization, Music Teachers National Association, visit www.oregonmta.org or www.mtna.org.