February 13-14, 2010 Workshop at Mills College

I hope you’ll be joining us for the February 13-14, 2010 workshop at Mills College, which promises to be one of our most enjoyable ever.  If you haven’t been to Mills before you will be amazed at this architectural gem in the midst of an Oakland neighborhood right off 580. The campus is compact but varied. Atop a knoll, the campus is fairly flat, with parking plentiful and free.  It will be ours for the weekend.  We will be utilizing rooms in several buildings, all close to our central hub in the student union where we will have music library, instrument storage, coffee breaks, meals, and socializing, all in the faculty lounge.

Susan Wilson has been tirelessly researching new venues, and Bob Goldstein has described the process in his President’s Corner column of The Chamber Musician. We enjoy San Francisco State, but mourned having to cut the size of a workshop to be there, and prefer to vary our venues geographically to accommodate all the Bay Area.  Mills is perfect for us in many ways.

Bob and I researched the pianos there, and thanks to the Music Department, we will have sufficient pianos. (This is often a problem at potential venues.)  There are plenty of non-piano rooms too, so we hope for a large, enjoyable workshop, accommodating as many attendees as possible.

As director, I get some choice of format for the two-day workshop, and I decided to utilize an earlier format: a coached assignment all day Saturday; then two uncoached reading sessions, morning and afternoon, on Sunday.  We will have coaching available on Sunday but only for pre-formed groups.

The uncoached Sunday reading sessions give applicants an opportunity to be exposed to greater variety of chamber ensembles and music, play with more chamber musicians, and hone sight-reading skills.  As director, I have much more latitude in assigning interesting works for which we may not have scores, and more varied, mixed wind/ string/ piano combinations.  As much as we value coaching, there are positive aspects to an uncoached experience also. However, if you prefer a more focused, educational experience, then we strongly encourage you to choose Sunday to attend with your pre-formed group. Thus you have more options as well.

Elizabeth Morrison is in charge of coaches and we plan for a scintillating group.  A concert ensemble will be organized by Dawn Harms, violin, and we will attend in the uniquely decorated, newly refurbished concert hall.

We are hoping to accommodate at least 28 ensembles on Saturday, usually the larger day, but hope for as many on Sunday.  We encourage you to apply for both days.  If you can attend only one day, but either day is possible, please mention it.  This helps us balance attendance.  Note our application deadline is shortly after New Years. See you at Mills!

Photo Tour of Mills College

Music Facilities at Mills

History of Music at Mills College

Mills' Center for Contemporary Music (CCM)

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