Spring Masterclass & Honors Recital THIS Saturday
Good morning SC Piano friends. I hope your year is beginning to wind down and you are beginning to look ahead to the Summer, and possibly our upcoming school year. All I know is it went by in a flash!
In late April, we had a wonderful three days of judging with 9 groups represented at the Spring Piano Festival. We were able to bring the Upstate sight back--all I see is GROWTH as Group Piano programs get planted across the state! All of the clinician judges commented on the exceptional playing and the variety of music they heard. Bravo to all of you!
Our Spring Masterclass Clinician will be with Claflin University's Piano faculty, Dr. Eunjung Choi. The Masterclass & Honors Recital will take place THIS Saturday, May 17th, at Parkside Presbyterian Church (formerly St. Barnabas Lutheran church) in downtown Charleston from 1:30-3:30 pm.
***Stay Tuned*** Our final newsletter that comes out next week will include our 25-26 and 26-27 SCMEA Piano Division Calendar of Events. If you’re interested in learning more about the SCMEA Piano Division, check out our up-to-date SCMEA Piano Division website or contact me directly.
Yours,
Andrea K. Quinn
SCMEA Piano Division President
Director of Piano & Orchestras
James Island Charter High School
andrea.quinn@scmea.net l https://www.scmea.net/divisions/piano-division/
Our membership voted and here are the results of our By-Law changes:
Item 1 Passed:
President-Elect - shall perform the duties of the President in the event of his/her absence, shall serve as membership chairman of the Division, will act as chair of the Lower State and Upstate Piano Festival, and shall act as an aide to the President in carrying out the purposes of the Division.
Item 2 Passed:
Article IV. Officers, Sec. 2: If any board member vacates their position prior to the end of their term, a special election will be held. The exception to this is if the Past President vacates their position early, it will remain vacant.
About our Spring Festival Masterclass Clinician, Dr. Eunjung Choi from Claflin University
Dr. Eunjung Choi, a native of Seoul, South Korea, currently serves as Professor of Music at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where she administers the keyboard program as well as teaches applied piano, class piano, piano pedagogy/literature, and music appreciation courses. Most recently, Dr. Choi was selected to be one of four recipients for the FY 2023 Fellowship award from the South Carolina Arts Commission. In addition, she was awarded a 2022 SC Humanities Major Grant and a 2021 SC Humanities Planning Grant to present lecture-recital series to South Carolina audiences. She was also awarded a 2021 South Carolina Arts Commission Arts Project Support Grant to make her CD, titled “Celebrating Women Composers.” Other performance projects have included a 2016 South Carolina Arts Commission Quarterly Grant to make her solo CD, titled “Inside Out: A Journey,” and a Major Grant from The Humanities Council SC for the lecture-recital series, “Promoting South Carolina African-American Composers' Classical Music.” Videos from the lecture-recital series may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy570QZxUg.
Dr. Choi has presented numerous performances to international, national, and regional music audiences in the United States and South Korea. She has been selected to perform in many conferences, including the College Music Society’s Regional, National, and International Conferences, Boston University African-American Music in World Culture International Conference, African Diaspora Symposium, The National Association of Negro Musicians Annual Conference, and The Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy Annual Symposiums in Seoul, South Korea. She has also been invited to perform in various venues such as Georgia College & State University Concert Series, Edward Waters College Concert Series, Steinway Galleries of Greenville and Charleston, Greenville Women’s Music Club, Stevenson Auditorium Concert sponsored by the Orangeburg Music Club, Pensacola Music Teachers Association, Texas A&M University-Commerce Concert Series, Midwestern State University Concert Series, The Korea Opera Society, Gimpo City Opera Association, and The Korea Piano Society in South Korea. In addition, Dr. Choi has been appeared as a concerto soloist with the Limestone College Wind Ensemble, Claflin University Wind Ensemble, and Georgia College & State University Concert Band.
Her research presentations have included topics such as multicultural music performance and teaching strategies and curriculum development to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches in music higher education. Her articles have been published in International Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Science, Piano Magazine, American Music Teacher, the Journal of Music Education Science, published by the Korean Society of Music Educational Technology, and the Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy Press.
In addition to her active schedule as a soloist, collaborative artist, masterclass clinician, and adjudicator, Dr. Choi has been very active in the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, currently serving as President-Elect. She is also on the board member of the Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy.
