OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE IWBC www.myiwbc.org Winter 2020 • Vol. 28, No. 1 From the President Happy New Year As we bid farewell to 2019 and hold onto the memories we perform and teach others to perform represent the of our amazing gathering in Arizona, we are already contributions of all people. May we share and celebrate hard at work planning our next event. The next the contributions of everyone and lift up our colleagues conference will be May 25-29, 2021, at the University and their work. May we create a space of inclusion, a of North Texas in Denton, Texas. space which welcomes all. As we welcome 2020, the year will bring a Call for Best wishes for this new year ahead, Proposals for IWBC 2021. Look for it, coming to our website this spring, with a September deadline. Also coming soon will be information about the guest Dr. Joanna Ross Hersey artists, competitions, exhibitors, commissioned President, International Women’s Brass Conference composers, honorees, registration, housing, and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium: The University of other conference details. North Carolina at Pembroke To be sure you receive the latest information, stay [email protected] connected with us by following us on Facebook, Facebook, Twitter@JoannaHersey, Instagram@ Twitter and Instagram @IWBC_BRASS. We invite JoannaRossHersey, www.joannahersey.com you to visit our website myiwbc.org for updates and to be sure that your membership is up to date. There, you will find options for traditional paper or In this Issue e-memberships available, as well as ways to donate. Brass In Balance ..................................... 3 We are men and women. We are professional and Monarch Brass Quintet at Kent amateur performers, students and teachers, from all State Brass Day....................................... 4 walks of life, brass players, and beyond. Our mission Penn State Horn Day............................... 6 is to educate, develop, support, and promote women Making Music: Julie Landsman ............... 7 brass musicians, and to inspire continued excellence and opportunities in the broader musical world. A Conversation with Merrie Klazek .......... 8 NoteWorthy News .................................. 10 For this new year and the start of a new decade, Remembering Clora Bryant and may we continue to work toward a diverse world of Merrie Klazek Philip Biggs ............................................ 17 brass performance and education. May the music IWBC Donors......................................... 19 Co-Editors’ Corner OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE IWBC Jennifer Marotta Raquel Rodriquez Samayoa IWBC President Joanna Hersey is a native Vermonter. Joanna studied with Dan Perantoni at [email protected] Arizona State University, received a Master of Music in Tuba Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Chester Schmitz, and Articles and NoteWorthy earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance from the Hartt School. News Submissions As Principal Tuba with the United States Coast Guard Band, Joanna performed Please contact the editors for all throughout the country as a soloist and clinician after winning the position at the age of nineteen. Joanna has played for three U.S. Presidents, performed at potential article and NoteWorthy numerous state functions for visiting dignitaries, and has appeared on The Today News submissions. The editors Show and Good Morning America. In her freelance career, she has performed maintain final editorial rights with artists including Placido Domingo, Roberta Flack, Marilyn Horne, Arlo over all materials. Guthrie, Michael Bolton, Lee Greenwood, Arturo Sandoval and Jack Nicholson. Joanna is a founding member of the Athena Brass Band, a group first created for the 2003 International Women’s Brass Con- IWBC Website Address ference, which has since performed at the 2006, 2012, and 2014 IWBCs, and has been featured twice at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. Joanna is currently Principal Tuba with www.myiwbc.org the Carolina Philharmonic and the Carolina International Orchestra. IWBC Online Co-Editor Membership Directory Jennifer Marotta is Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Membership directory is available Southern California Thornton School of Music. An active freelance musician on www.myiwbc.org. based in Los Angeles, she has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Opera, Los If you join online, you will be Angeles Chamber Orchestra, L.A. Master Chorale, and the St. Louis Symphony. able to access this and other Marotta is currently a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Music features when you sign in. of the Baroque in Chicago. She was a member of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band from 2001–2005. Originally from Naperville, Illinois, she Membership earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Lauren Rudzinskas Master of Music degree from DePaul University. [email protected] Marotta was a visiting trumpet professor at UCLA in 2016, and was Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Kennesaw State University from 2006-2012. She was also a visiting professor at Illinois State University in 2006, and was Artist in Residence at Emory University from 2006–2010. Editorial Jennifer Marotta Co-Editor Raquel Rodriquez Samayoa Raquel Rodriquez Samayoa is the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the [email protected] University of North Texas. Prior to joining the faculty at UNT, Dr. Samayoa taught at Tennessee Tech University and Northern Kentucky University. Dr. Web Site Manager Samayoa maintains a versatile career as a performing artist, clinician, educator, and scholar. Lana Lee [email protected] An avid chamber musician, Raquel is a member of Seraph Brass and the Lantana Trio, a brass trio comprised of UNT Brass Faculty. Raquel has served as an adjudicator at the National Trumpet Competition and International Trumpet Dues/Subscriptions Guild (ITG) Conference. Raquel is on the ITG Board of Directors and will serve Online: Go to myiwbc.org and as a co-host for the 2021 IWBC at the University of North Texas. Dr. Samayoa is a clinician for the go to “members” on the top bar. Conn-Selmer and Denis Wick Companies. Click on “Join IWBC”. Or email: Board of Directors Marquita Reef Leonard Slatkin Newsletter Co-Editors Lauren Rudzinskas Velvet Brown Faye-Ellen Silverman Gail Williams Jennifer Marotta Daniel Burdick Susan Slaughter Officers Raquel Rodriquez Samayoa [email protected] Amy Cherry Ginger Turner Joanna Hersey, President [email protected] Jan Z Duga Kelly Watkins Amy Cherry, Vice-President Design & Production Amy Gilreath Honorary Board Lynn Mostoller, Treasurer Debra J. Quinton Theresa Hanebury of Directors Natalie Mannix, Secretary ItsASnapDesign.com Joanna Ross Hersey Clora Bryant General Manager WEB SITE: Nancy Joy Barbara Butler Lauren Rudzinskas Web Site Manager Kana Madarame JoAnn Falletta [email protected] Lana Lee Natalie Mannix Help IWBC GO GREEN! Langston Fitzgerald, III [email protected] Jennifer Marotta Fred Irby, III Executive Director Go to myiwbc.org and sign up for the Lynn Mostoller Julie Landsman Amy Cherry Web Site: Content Manager online version of the IWBC Newsletter Laurel Ohlson Eugene Pokorny Membership Susan Rider and help to save our planet. Ava Ordman Gerard Schwarz Lauren Rudzinskas [email protected] Gerry Pagano [email protected] International Women’s Brass Conference movement patterns necessary to play a musical instrument, is estimated to affect only Brass In Balance 1% of professional musicians. Embouchure By Amy Cherry dystonia (FTSED) is yet a smaller subcategory of that population, affecting “the Before the appointment, she had warned me that the machine made a muscles of the lower face, jaw, and tongue, good deal of noise. “It sounds like a freight train,” she told me - the which control air flow into the mouthpiece doctor would know he had found the correct area when the train sounded of a wind instrument. This painless disorder nearby. I watched as he injected the needle repeatedly into her neck typically has its onset in the fourth decade, muscles, seeking out the loudest rumble, signifying where the medicine and it is often restricted to specific technical would be the most helpful. The patient, having gone through this aspects of playing. It may be limited to treatment many times before, seemed unphased. I, with my distaste for particular note frequency ranges and has a needles, was unsettled and oddly fascinated. This was the first time I had variety of phenotypes, including lip lock gone with my mother to her neurologist appointment. (inability to start notes), tremor, lip pulling (tendency of lips to be drawn out of their My mother lives with a condition called spasmodic torticollis – a normal configuration), jaw lock, and tongue- dystonia that affects a limited area of the body, in her case, the neck specific variants.” (5) muscles. She has dealt with this for more than 35 years and has been as proactive as possible – seeking out treatment from various sources and Causes: eventually being introduced to BOTOX injections about 15 years ago. Researchers believe that dystonia results The freight train noise I heard in the doctor’s office was the electrical from an abnormality in or damage to the activity of her neck muscle tissue picked up by an electromyography basal ganglia or other brain regions that (EG) machine. The EG needle is inserted directly into the muscle and control movement. (6) Embouchure dystonia records the electrical activity. When a muscle is determined to be has more recently been referred to as a in spasm, the BOTOX is injected through the needle and temporarily learned movement disorder – perhaps the weakens that muscle. result of a change in playing techniques or responsibilities, perhaps brought on by For many years, I have sought information about this issue…to stress, or perhaps the accumulated effects understand what my mom deals with and, if possible, to avoid the of unhealthy technique. One source, The hardship such a diagnosis would bring to my own life and career.