PRESIDENT:
Ben Raznick
benraznikmusic@gmail.com  




DAMTA meets the Second Wednesday
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Classic Pianos
and
Online Zoom


Website: www.damta.org
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SPECIAL OUTREACH 
DAMTA uses a special Goggle Group App to reach out to members.  "Passalongs" lets members reach each other efficiently.


SPECIAL AWARDS

Local Association of the Year 
1991-1992
2000-2001
​2007-2008
​2021-2022

Colorado MTNA Foundation Fellow
Cornelia Vertenstein NCTM 2020-21


Article in American Music Teacher – April/May 2022
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DAMTA has launched efforts toward deeper understanding of the historic inequities within music teaching.  We are taking ongoing action steps to increase awareness of DEI work in the study and performance of music and in the operations and programming of our organization.  In October 2020, our board amended our bylaws to create a vice president of DEI.  We celebrated a membership vote that passed unanimously and appointed the position.  We formed a DEI Committee to become a working group that seeks to respond to Dr. King’s vision:
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
As we state in our DEI Committee Mission Statement: “We are devoted to the development and implementation of strategies and best practices that dismantle the oppression of Black, Indigenous, People of Color and historically marginalized communities through racism, cultural and ethnic erasure within all aspects of our music teaching profession in the greater Denver area and society at large.” We enjoyed meeting with members of the Ann Arbor Piano Guild Anti-Racism Taskforce to unite in conversation with shared experiences toward deeper discussions, and we hope to make connections with more groups and individuals about this important work.
 
This year, DAMTA’s annual teachers course brought our community’s diverse voices together in our Fall Course 2021 “Meet Your Neighbors: Conversations with Local Artists.”  Presenters included topics such as “JoFoKe Presents,” “Chinese Music Past and Present,” “Music as a Symbol of Culture Among Mexican and Chicano Populations in Colorado,” “Kiowa Tribal Singing” and “Nobu and Kô Kôda: The Women Who Made Music in Japan Happen.”  Completing our second year of this work, we are proud that our Student Musicale celebrated Black Hitory Month through music and orature.
 
The DAMTA DEI Committee includes Ben Raznick (DAMTA President), Deborah De La Torre (DEI Vice President), Marilyn Madsen, Nazila Nekoorad and Jan Romero.

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DAMTA Membership Certificate- DOC
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DAMTA Membership Certificate- PDF
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MEETING  PROGRAMS
     Fall Course - Meet Your Neighbors: Conversations       with Local Artists
  • 9/8 -- Grace Christus   - Chinese Music, Past and Present
  • 9/22 -- Joslyn Ford Keel, Reviewing her musical development and career.
  • 10/13 -- Sirvan Manhoobi, Iranian Classical Music.
  • 10/27 -- Lorenzo Trujillo, Music as a symbol of culture among Mexican and Chicano populations in Colorado.
  • 11/10 -- Hal Aqua, A Brief Journey through Jewish World Music.
  • 11/17 -- Andy Cozad -- Kiowa Tribal Singer.
  • 12/8 -- Hidemi Matsushita, Nobu and Ko Koda: The Women  Who Made Music in Japan Happen
       Spring Programs
  • 1/12 -- Teresita D Lozano, Compartiendo Musica y Cultura: Experiences in Teaching an Intergenerational Mexican Children's Ensemble
  • 2/9 -- Sonya Clark and Katrina Hedrick,   Building Student Artistry Through Culturally Responsive Teaching
  • 3/9 -- Brenna Berman, Variations on a Theme by Taubman
  • 4/13 -- Nancy Harris, The Art of Russian Song
  • 5/11 -- DAMTA Teacher's Musicale 
SPECIAL PROGRAMS​
  • Yearbook with historical information, meeting information, programs, student activities, and member list.
  • Three-fold flyer.  Information on scholarships and sponsors.
  • Teacher’s Performance Group
  • Professional Reading Program:  2022-2023  Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
  • Monthly Newsletter
  • Scholarships

STUDENT EVENTS
  • Monthly Musicals

COMMUNITY OUTREACH
 
News & Notes January 2022:  Teacher’s Toolkit By Justin Krawitz
 
The start of the new year is invariably a time for reflection about the year that has just ended and a time for making resolutions that will guide us as we embark on another revolution around the sun. As we refine our intentions for the year ahead, I encourage you to take inspiration from a young member of our Colorado musical community: Garrett Davidson. Garrett is currently in tenth grade, and is a piano student of CSMTA’s own Jan Romero. Despite his tender age, Garrett has led some highly entrepreneurial and socially-minded action in our community. In 2021, with the support of CSMTA, he curated and coordinated a virtual youth benefit concert for the Food Bank of the Rockies (www.foodbankrockies.org/). Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the event raised $2,438 for the organization, which feeds the hungry in Colorado and Wyoming. As many of us wracked our brains over how we could better support all the people in our communities, this young high-schooler was taking action to do exactly that.
 
Building on last year’s success, Garrett is currently organizing the 2022 Musicians United for Change Youth Benefit Concert in support of the Food Bank, and you and your students are invited to participate! Garrett is seeking to enlist your top students to perform for the benefit concert. As with last year, the concert will be held virtually, and performances will be pre-recorded.
 
Of the power of music to effect change, Garrett says: “I am a strong believer that music and activism go hand in hand. Music unites, and united citizens are able to create long-lasting social and economic change. Every culture, every religion, every ethnicity, and every country represents itself through a form of music.”
 
The theme of the 2022 benefit concert is UNITY. The concert will be streamed in mid-April, and recordings will be due by March 1st. I urge you to jump at this opportunity to instill in your students a sense of social responsibility and a sense of how they can leverage their musical abilities to improve the lives of others.
If any of your top students are interested in performing for the concert or have any questions, please email Garrett at garrett.davidson@coloradoacademy.org for more information!
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  • The DAMTA Spookathon is an annual event held recently at Cherry Creek Mall, but had to be suspended.  Two Halloween recitals were combined over Zoom and was a very successful event.  The Cherry Creek Mall it was so unique because people from all over would watch and learn about DAMTA!  Next year it would be great to bring the event back to the public. 
    Plans are under way to hold it in a local coffee shop this coming year.
  • DAMTA annually holds a recital at a senior center, however this event was suspended the past couple of years.  Plans are being developed again by Gabriela Gottlieb to bring this back.
  • Additionally, DAMTA is a proud sponsor for the Festival for Creative Pianists. DAMTA is unable to put on a huge event like this, so instead, we gladly support our members like
    Evelyn Billberg who is the Program Director of this festival that engages uniquely with our community of creative pianists!
  • DAMTA donated over $800 to Marshall Fire disaster relief fund.
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