Violinist Ann Setzer has received enthusiastic praise for the beauty and insightfulness of her playing. Critically acclaimed as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician, Ms. Setzer has performed throughout the United States and Europe and has been a frequent guest artist on radio broadcasts.

Highly sought after as a violin pedagogue, Ms. Setzer has served as a violin professor for many years at the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. She also is an Associate Faculty member in Juilliard College and is a violin faculty member at New York University, Steinhardt School of Music and Performing Arts Professions. Because of her work in violin pedagogy, she is in demand as a master class artist and has given classes throughout the world at prestigious institutions in Korea, Romania, Germany and throughout the United States. She frequently adjudicates in national competitions and her students have won prizes in numerous national and international competitions.

Ms. Setzer received her musical education as a scholarship student at the Juilliard School, where she studied with her mentor, Sally Thomas. Additional studies were at SUNY Stony Brook where she received her DMA. Her chamber music studies were with Josef Gingold, Jascha Brodsky, Earl Carlyss, Gilbert Kalish and Timothy Eddy. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a teaching fellowship from the Juilliard School, and a quartet fellowship from SUNY Stony Brook.

Ms. Setzer began her teaching career as a teaching assistant to Ivan Galamian at the Meadowmount School of Music where she was appointed to the faculty in 1981. She has been a guest artist or faculty member at festivals such as the Killington Music Festival, the Interharmony Festival, and the Green Mountain Music Festival.​

NOMINATE SODA STEREO TO THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME.
Their musical greatness and influence, their massive success spanning several decades and still attracting new fans, and their legacy that will endure forever, is something that should be recognized regardless of language or place of origin. Soda Stereo is a key element in the growth of rock as a successful musical genre in Latin America and Spain.

Music is another language by itself. It is one of the keys that make us human beings. Think what we could do in our future lives if we had music. When we’re stressed out, we could relax and play. You could play instruments with other people and perform. There are many ways music can be influential to our daily lives as an adult. It is not a coincidence that most of the engineers in Silicon Valley, for example, are also musicians.

There are three main types of ensemble groups at Hopkins Junior High School. There are bands (Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble), which are composed of brass, woodwind, and percussion. There are also Jazz groups (Jazz Workshop, Jazz Ensemble), which plays jazz music consisting of instruments such as bass, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, and percussion. Finally, there are string orchestras (Intermediate Orchestra, Advanced Orchestra) which only contains string instruments (violin, viola, cello, bass). There is another group called Full Orchestra, which is a combination of Wind Ensemble and Advanced Orchestra.

Zero period is an optional period that takes place before first period. It is used to be able to take two electives. For example, you could have orchestra and Spanish at the same time because you have, for example, history on zero period. Zero period is also when Jazz Ensemble takes place.

What are the consequences of removing zero period from this school? The orchestra program would completely fall apart:

Removing zero period would cut the Orchestra population in half, because many of these students rely on zero period to take orchestra and language at the same time.

A decreased orchestra population causes the intermediate and advanced orchestras to be merged together to form one orchestra. This means that we can’t play higher level pieces because you can’t make musicians immediately play better than they already can. This could change the types of ratings we get in festivals. The orchestra program will decline and fall apart to almost nothing.

Orchestra has changed many lives in Hopkins. Students can form relationships both with music and other students. It allows students to be themselves, and just be immersed in music. It would be very sad for the Hopkins community if the district must remove zero period altogether.

We do not want zero period to be removed from middle school. It is outrageous to say that it is not fair for other schools. The Hopkins Music Program is the best in the entire district and possibly California. A program like this must be kept, as it represents Fremont in music festivals and performances. Zero period is the only way that the orchestra program would be able to survive and keep producing beautiful music.

We all wish that the district won’t remove zero period, as it will completely ruin the music program and discourage future generations to join orchestra. Please, if you will, support the Hopkins music program and take into consider the students that will be in orchestra in the future.

~ yours sincerely Michael Jackson fans.

The Portland Friends of Music (PFoM) is asking you to read our petition/sign-on letter if you agree to the contents of the letter. You can visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1626729110695580/, or join the group by signing up at this address: http://bit.ly/PFOM_Contact_Info

Songwriters are egregiously underpaid because laws governing the music industry have not kept pace with technology. The Music Modernization Act of 2017 will change that. This bill is the most significant update to music copyright law in over a generation and represents an unprecedented agreement between the music and technology industries. We, as the songwriters most affected by 100-year-old policies that reduce our royalties, encourage Congress to pass this legislation as soon as possible.

The Music Modernization Act is a bipartisan effort that will greatly improve the way mechanical and performance royalties are calculated. Today, digital services like Spotify, Apple, Pandora, Amazon and Google often do not know who to pay and money is lost to lack of information and inefficiency. The Music Modernization Act will create an entity, funded by the digital music companies, that will properly pay mechanical royalties for interactive streaming. It also gives songwriters a better shot at getting higher royalty rates in the Copyright Royalty Board proceedings. Additionally, it reforms the system that determines performance royalty rates for ASCAP and BMI by allowing rate courts to review market evidence into the valuation of how songwriters are compensated as well as giving them improvements to the rate court process.

When passed, this bill will be the biggest achievement that music creators have seen in the Digital Age. Unfortunately, there are many hurdles to face before this bill becomes law, which is why we songwriters are coming together to make our voices – which are so often behind the music – heard.

This bill is supported by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the Songwriters of North America (SONA), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), the Church Music Publishers’ Association (CMPA), the Production Music Association (PMA), MusicAnswers, the Music Publishers Association (MPA), the Council of Music Creators (CMC), the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) and the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). The bill is also supported by the Digital Media Association (DiMA) which represents Amazon, Apple, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube.

The next time you hear your favorite song, think of the struggling small business owner who wrote it, and remember that you can do something to help by supporting the Music Modernization Act.

Sincerely,

Songwriters