The Louisiana Music Teachers Association Torgrimson/Swanzy Competition for Outstanding Piano Students was held on Saturday, June 3 at the LSU School of Music. Students have to meet strict qualification guidelines from the Ruston Area Music Teachers Association District Rally to even qualify for the state competition.
At district which is held at Louisiana Tech, the competition involves performed pieces from memory from various music periods, sight reading of music on the spot, scales and progressive chords in major and minor keys, and a written theory test that includes ear training skills for the higher grades. Those students who meet scoring requirements for all of these assessments are invited to move on to state.
The competition changes somewhat at state because the students play in front of an audience versus just one judge at district. Also, the students only play two songs from their repertoire versus the three they play from memory at district.
In the end, this year Ruston Area Music Teachers had quite a showing in Baton Rouge. Students who placed and were recognized are: Jonathan Powers 2nd in Prep B, Zoey Wang 1st in Level I, Maddie Lu McGehee 1st in Prep B, Kaejha Stewart Honorable Mention in Level I, Caed Baines 2nd in Level II, Melissa Le 1st in Level III and Preston Parker Honorable Mention in Level II.
Ruston Area Teachers who had students compete were Denise Cox, Pam Givens, Steele Moegle and Jeanne Patterson.
