Working Together: Insurance Improvements

As a result of feedback from faculty on the Labor Management Committee (LMC) and from faculty at large in the Collective Bargaining Unit, there are some improvements in the health and dental insurance plans at Longy. After the sudden change of insurance providers in 2011, it was suggested by LMC members that faculty and LMC both meet with representatives from Rose & Kiernan, Inc., the current health insurance broker for the School, to provide feedback on the first year under the new plans.

The resulting session for faculty was held on Monday, March 5, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in the Homburger Room with a follow-up session for the LMC. The meetings provided a venue for constructive exchange of personal experiences with the plans and sharing of wish lists for the future. The representatives from Rose & Kiernan listened intently and also provided information about the realities of the current insurance marketplace. Three improvements to the plans that came about directly as results of these feedback sessions are a decrease in the co-pay for chiropractic service from $50 to $25, and an increase in both the dental maximum allowable annual amount and lifetime orthodontic maximum to $1500. These improvements for faculty members took effect July 1, 2012. Along with our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), these changes exemplify our effectiveness as we, the Union, continually seek to collaborate amongst ourselves and with others to help make a positive difference in peoples’ lives.

2012 Michael B. Packer Award Winners

Every year it is exciting to learn which one or two Preparatory Studies piano students at Longy have won the distinguished Michael B. Packer Award, named after an amateur pianist who lost his life in the World Trade Center tragedy of September 11, 2001, and who was the brother of Longy faculty member, Janet Packer. This year two students, Albert Lee and George Pidvysotski, received the award at the Community Programs Awards Ceremony, which took place on Saturday, June 2. Their piano teacher, Longy faculty member, Lyubov Shlain, says she feels pride as she thinks about these hard-working students and their many accomplishments.

Twelve-year-old Albert Lee has been studying piano at Longy with Lyubov since he was seven. During this time, he has also studied music theory and has participated in the piano duo program at the School. His many accomplishments also include performing in Boston’s Symphony Hall for the Cartoon Festival in 2009 and earning Second Prize in his age group in the 2010 Massachusetts Teachers’ Association Bay State Competition. Most recently, he and his brother, Andrew (2010 Packer Award recipient), won the 2011 Longy Junior Division Concerto Competition with a performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos.

Seventeen-year-old George Pidvysotski has been playing piano since he was six years old. His first major performance was at age nine, when he performed his own composition at the National Conservatory in Minsk, Belarus. Born and raised in Belarus, he moved to the United States five years ago. He used his love of music and piano to ease the rough transition to school in the United States, which he experienced because of his limited abilities in English when he first arrived. He describes Lyubov Shlain as the catalyst who enabled him to make the most of his abilities. In 2012 alone, he earned Second Prizes at two New York competitions: the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition and the American Fine Art Competition. This year he also received an Honorable Mention at the American Protégé-International Piano and String Competition, and he performed at the Intermediate Recital sponsored by the New England Piano Teachers’ Association.

Forum on Practicing:
The “One Note Recital Routine”

photo © susan wilson

A hush has fallen over the audience. I listen to the faint rustling sounds that echo throughout the concert hall. I sit, hands in lap, preparing for the transition to the first notes of my performance. While I savor the potential that this special time holds, I also know that I have exactly one chance to begin this piece. I feel comforted that I have practiced for this moment.

Whatever your level, your age, or your instrument, you can also prepare effectively for such moments by practicing what I call the “One Note Recital Routine.” When you practice this routine, you play a “performance” for your empty living room or practice room just as if you were performing for real, but with one difference: you pretend each piece in your “performance” is finished at the end of its first note. At the conclusion of that note, you stop playing, and physically move afterwards as if the piece had consisted of just this note.

There are many considerations to bear in mind as you carry out the “One Note Recital Routine,” beginning from the time you wait for the imagined signal to walk on “stage”, continuing through your entrance on “stage”, your preparation for your first “piece”, and lasting through the moment you leave the “stage”. Practice thinking, experiencing, feeling, listening inside, and moving as if you were going to begin the real pieces in the real performance.

Practicing the “One Note Recital Routine” is an effective way to rehearse a positive mental and physical approach for an upcoming performance. Besides helping to reinforce your concentration and focus, this routine can also help you to connect with the music before you begin to perform, and set you up for the kind of engaged music-making experience that you long to bring to your audience.

Deborah Yardley Beers, Associate Chair of the Piano Department from 1996 to 2005 and member of the Longy piano faculty since 1989, has taught adults and children of all levels in all divisions of Longy. Since the faculty “realignment” of 2010, she teaches only in Community Programs.

Roman Totenberg (1911-2012)

Remembering Longy faculty member, and my teacher and mentor of the last thirty-six years, Roman Totenberg is a pleasure, for he gave great joy to so many, both around the world and here at Longy. I began teaching at Longy in 1984 when he was the Director, and learned early on the importance of the Director setting an inviting tone and supportive atmosphere in an institution of learning. I recall spending many hours in his studio observing him teach students of all ages, and I remember with particular fondness his almost magical ability to imbue the Young Performers program with vitality, intensity, and playfulness all at the same time. Although he is no longer here with us, we carry him in our hearts, into our daily teaching and performing, and we remain forever thankful that he stayed on this earth much longer than most and taught us, as only he could, not only how to play and teach, but how to live. For more information on Roman Totenberg’s life and career, click here.

—Clayton Hoener

Violinist Clayton Hoener has been a member of the Longy string faculty since 1984 and held the posts of Associate Chair of Strings and Community Programs Chair of Strings from 1998 to 2010.

Upcoming meetings

• Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 1:00-3:00 p.m.,
  Executive Board Meeting, Room 21