September 2023 College News

commissioned as part of their Listen to the Future Composer-In-Residence Program. Laura Brackney 's solo-flute composition Spoken by Sunlight was premiered at the Texas Flute Society’s 37th Myrna W. Brown Competition on May 27. Performers included Leslie Richmond, I-Ling Emily Ho, Jessica Morrow, and Nina Robinson. Brackney’s score for flute, percussion, and fixed media— Radiance —was premiered by Audrey Ann Cullen and Cameo Flores at the 51st National Flute Association Convention, Beyond Borders, in Phoenix on August 3. The piece explores sonic borders, desert memories, and the relationship between the field recordist and her environment. [1] Mary Ellen Cavitt received the Killeen Independent School District Distinguished Alumna award from Killeen ISD Education Foundation Alumni Association. [2] Recently, she served as music adjudicator for the Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest, University Interscholastic League, at Pflugerville High School; Final Solo Competition at Vandegrift High School in Austin; Texas Music Educators Association Region 24 Honor Band Competition, Liberty High School, in Frisco; and Texas Music Educators Association State Honor Band 3C Final Competition, in San Antonio. Cavitt, along with Co-PIs Nick Weimer, Victoria Black, and Amy Weimer, recently accepted a $2,971,222 award by the U.S. Department of Education for Proyecto Excelencia: Advancing Academic Excellence through Intentional Student Support, Transfer Navigation, and Faculty Development Title V Grant. The purpose of the grant is to improve the academic attainment of Hispanic and other underserved students by increasing equitable student success at Texas State University, enhancing access to student academic support, strengthening transfer student navigation processes, and providing professional development opportunities for faculty centered on equity-minded approaches. Ian Davidson gave a series of masterclasses at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa in Lisbon Portugal. The material covered in the class ranged from orchestral excerpts on both oboe and English horn to solo works for oboe and piano. Participants in the class College of Fine Arts and Communication | 173 came from various parts of Portugal and included both young professionals and advanced college students. Ian Davidson appeared as featured soloist on a concert entitled “Oboe Classics” at the Lampasas Chamber Music Festival. The program comprised Quartet No. 2 by Johann Christian Bach, the Oboe Quartet in F Major by Franz Krommer, and the Oboe Quartet in F Major by Wolfgang Amadeus. Mozart. In Michigan, he served as the Principal Oboe of the Blue Lake Festival Band, Principal Oboe of the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, and a member of the Faculty Wind Quintet with musicians from the New Jersey Symphony, The Juilliard School, the University of Idaho, and Florida State University. Later in the summer, he appeared as solo English horn in three performances at the Bear Valley Music Festival in California. The Double Reed published an article by Harold Emert entitled “Jackson Pollock as Composed by Ian Davidson,” which included an interview with Dr. Davidson and an extensive analysis of his composition for solo oboe, Five Works of Jackson Pollock , inspired by works that the American abstract expressionist painter created between 1942 and 1951. Cynthia I. Gonzales delivered an invited pedagogical presentation titled “Harmonic Singing as a Pathway to Harmonic Dictation” at the AP Annual Conference held in Seattle, WA. The invitation was issued due to her membership on the AP Music Theory Test Development Committee, for which Dr. Gonzales is one of three collegiate members. In June, she served as a Table Leader for the annual grading of more than 19,000 AP Music Theory Exams. Gonzales also participated in the annual gathering of MakeMusic Clinicians, a small group of educators who provide MakeMusic workshops and training sessions nationwide. As a MakeMusic Clinician, Gonzales delivered an invited session at the annual MakeMusic Connect online event in June titled “Team Teaching with MakeMusic Cloud to Nurture and Improve Aural Skills.” [3] Double Vision, a jazz performance ensemble featuring Hank Hehmsoth and John Mills , presented an evening of six original jazz compositions at the Elephant Room. Joining them were Aaron Easley and Utah Hamrick .