program | faculty | facility | fees | contact | application
Puget Sound Chamber Workshop
at Seattle Pacific University
July 7 - 12, 2008
Join us in our new location for our nineteenth annual workshop! Seattle Pacific University is located along the Lake Washington Ship Canal in the heart of Seattle, ten minutes north of downtown. The Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop is an intense week of learning and music making with a diverse group of interesting, friendly people. Coaching/rehearsal sessions with specific music assignments are an integral part of the daytime schedule. Participant musicales are presented in an informal, supportive environment. A low participant/faculty ratio, limited enrollment, and assignments with varied personnel and instrumentation assure a week of special experiences and warm camaraderie. Our coaches are professionals with a strong chamber music background and a love for teaching.
Program
Coaching and rehearsal sessions: Participants are assigned to four ensembles in the course of the week. Each ensemble receives professional coaching and has scheduled rehearsals. Ensembles vary in size and instrumentation, and often focus on works not part of the standard repertoire for amateur players. A limited number of woodwind players and pianists are accepted each year, but assignments for all-wind ensembles are rare. Most string players will have at least one assignment in an ensemble with winds.
Participant musicales: Each assignment concludes with an informal musicale that includes all participants. The musicales provide a focus for the coaching and an opportunity to hear less familiar works.
“Potluck” reading sessions: Like a potluck meal, the details of the personnel and instrumentation are a surprise at the scheduled hours. Inclusion of coaches in participant ensembles is a special treat.
Free reading fills the evenings: All the rooms and the extensive music library of over 700 chamber works are available for informal sight-reading during the evenings. For some this is a time to revisit old favorites and for others it is an opportunity to explore unfamiliar literature.
Coaching Faculty
Janice Gockel, workshop director, studied eight summers at the Music Academy of the West, including private lessons with Sally Peck and William Primrose and chamber music with Gabor Rejto, Emanuel Bay, Jerome Lowenthal, and Mitchel Lurie. She received degrees in viola performance from Augustana College and Wichita State University. Janice was the Founding Director of Music Center of the Northwest and the Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop and conducts Hildman Strings, Seattle’s longest running string orchestra.
Thane Lewis is Principal Violist of the Tacoma Symphony and Acting Principal Violist of the Northwest Sinfonietta. He has performed in numerous orchestras throughout the Northwest and as soloist with the Lake Union Civic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Thane has performed in the Second City, Cascadia Sounds of Summer, Jacobsen, Mostly Nordic, and Governor’s Mansion Chamber Series. He taught violin and viola at Northwest University and in 2000 published the biography of violinist Steven Staryk, Fiddling With Life.
Miriam Shames, cello, brings to her teaching, coaching and performing a passion for communicating with and helping people through music. She holds a BA in Literature from Yale University and an MA in Performance from The Julliard School. In addition to her private teaching in Seattle, she has played with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Seattle Choral Company and has served as Associate Principal cellist of the Tacoma Symphony.
Eileen Swanson, viola, joined the Northwest Chamber Orchestra as a charter member and remained with it for the 33 years of its existence. She has toured China with a string quartet, including the first performance of a quartet on the Great Wall. She worked with the young musicians at the Marrowstone Music Festival and with adult amateurs at the Midsummer Musical Retreat. She directs and performs in the Providence Point Chamber Music series, performs as a violist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and is manager and principal violist of the St. James Cathedral Orchestra.
Joan Martin Woodard started violin lessons at age 2 1/2 with her father. She received her degrees at the University of Washington. She was a member of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra for 25 years and is also an independent violin teacher., coach, and adjudicator, now living and teaching on Camano Island.
Corinne Odegard, discovered the violin at age 7 and has been seriously attached to it ever since. She was most inspired and influenced by teachers Emanuel Zetlin and Ivan Galamian. Corinne spent 44 years as a member of the first violin section of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, but her first love has always been chamber music. She has performed in small ensembles including the Odegard String Quartet and the Pacific Lutheran University String Quartet. Since her retirement from the SSO she has greatly enjoyed exploring the vast and varied chamber music repertoire with like-minded enthusiasts.
Additional faculty to be announced
Seattle Pacific University Facilities
Coaching, performance spaces, and sleeping accommodations are in Emerson Hall and all are handicapped accessible. Accommodations are in dormitory suites (single or double rooms) with shared bathroom in the suite. Meals are a short walk away in Gwinn Commons, rated in the top 10 dining services in American colleges. Athletic facilities in SPU’s main gym are available for participant use. Community swimming pools are available a short drive from campus. Please note that SPU is a non-smoking, alcohol free campus. Participants may wish to arrive early or stay late in order to take advantage of sightseeing in the Puget Sound area or the nearby Cascade mountains. So as to not disrupt scheduling, we request that participants schedule tourist activities before or after the workshop dates, rather than take a "day off" from workshop participation.
Fees
Tuition: $375
Room & Board*: $300-350
Commuter Fee**: $50
* depending on accommodations desired
** if not staying on campus
Application
2008 Puget Sound Chamber Workshop Application
RETURN COMPLETED APPLICATION FORM BY APRIL 11. Acceptance
will be based on balanced instrumentation and experience. Returning
applicants receive acceptance priority. Notice of acceptance will be
mailed by April 20, along with registration forms and information on
room and meal reservations. (A waiting list will be maintained once
participation limits are reached.)
Contact PSCW
Janice Gockel, Workshop Director
Music Center of the Northwest
PO Box 30757
Seattle, WA 98113-0757
(206) 526-8443
(206) 526-8568 fax
email PSCW
