Student musicians compete at state conference

Hundreds of music students and teachers from Missouri will be on the MU campus today through Sunday for the 2005 Missouri Music Teachers Association state conference. It will feature presentations, exhibits and talent from across the state and, for teachers, there will be master classes and guest artists, including pianist Ralph Votapek.

Competitions in areas including voice, chamber music, piano, strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion and guitar will be one of the main events at the conference, said Karen Larvick, visiting associate professor of piano and pedagogy. Judges will come in from Arkansas, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.

About 550 students will compete — 100 at the collegiate level and 450 younger students, said Janice Wenger, professor of piano and coordinator of keyboard studies at MU. She said MMTA has about 500 members, with 200 attending the conference.

Music students can compete at two levels. The first is the Music Teachers National Association, for ages 11 to 26. Winners in events classified by age and instrument will go on to compete in one of seven regional divisions. The regional winners will ultimately go on to compete nationally, said Troy Marsh, assistant professor of trombone at MU.

The second is the MMTA state-only competition, for “graduate students down to as young as 4 or 5,” Marsh said. Winners do not advance to further competition.

The conference is held in different locations each year; the last time it was in Columbia was 1992.

“I think that various areas try to host it partially because it’s very good for these talented students to come to the schools and see the facilities and teachers,” said Jo Ella Todd, acting coordinator of the voice area on the MU campus.

Hosting the event is also an attempt to share responsibilities. “It’s kind of an obligation to pay back,” Todd said.

The host facility also needs to be an area that can provide good competition, instruments and space for the many participants, Larvick said.

Preparing for competitions like these can take “anywhere from months to years” Todd said.

But most of her voice students have an advantage. “Last weekend we had another competition where our students fared very well,” she said of the central region auditions of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, with contestants from three states.

This weekend, three graduate students and a number of undergraduates from the voice department will compete, Todd said.

Although competing isn’t a graduation requirement, it is “an excellent way for them to develop their competitive skills and to practice their nerves and get up in front of people and actually perform,” Todd said.

“The recognition is important,” she said. “It’s good for them to have on their resume.”