WT’s High Plains Piano Extravaganza to Offer Patriotic Salute Aug. 8

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — Many of the area’s top piano teachers will continue the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary at West Texas A&M University’s fifth annual High Plains Piano Extravaganza.

The concert will begin at 3 p.m. Aug. 8 in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall on WT’s Canyon campus.

Admission is free.

“We’re very excited about this year's program, which ranges from an arrangement of a standard jazz tune to Mozart to a Sousa march,” said Dr. Choong-ha Nam, professor of piano in the School of Music in WT’s Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities. “In particular, we are featuring the Shaker hymn from Aaron Copland’s ‘Appalachian Spring,’ commonly known as ‘Simple Gifts,’ along with John Philip Sousa’s ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’ and a piece inspired by the Grand Canyon.”

Donations will be accepted for the Amarillo Music Teachers Association teacher enrichment fund, which helps pay for Music Teachers National Association membership for new piano teachers. AMTA is a chapter of MTNA, the premier national music teachers association, which provides networking, continuing education and student opportunities for independent music teachers.

Performers are slated to include Nam; Dr. Sarah Rushing, WT assistant professor of piano; Dr. Denise Parr-Scanlin, retired WT professor of piano; Mila Abbasova, WT instructor of music; and area piano teachers Kara Bailey, Sandy McQueen, Eileene Moss, Julia O’Dell, Grace Robinson, Adrianne Sage and Debra Wilcox.

Most of the pianists performing in the concert are actively teaching the next generation of this region’s musicians, Rushing said.

“The Extravaganza is one of our favorite events all year,” Rushing said. “We love collaborating with our AMTA colleagues and other local pianists for this high-energy showcase of piano ensemble music.”

Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key component of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which raised more than $200 million dollars, the largest such campaign in Texas Panhandle history.

About West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University is a Regional Research University in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers multiple options for students to graduate and succeed: 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

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