{"id":8113,"date":"2018-03-02T19:26:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T19:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8113"},"modified":"2018-03-02T19:26:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-02T19:26:52","slug":"utrgvs-quantz-selected-to-conduct-inaugural-all-national-guitar-ensemble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8113","title":{"rendered":"UTRGV\u2019s Quantz Selected to Conduct Inaugural All-National Guitar Ensemble"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS <\/strong>\u2013 For the first time, a guitar ensemble will be included as part of the National Association for Music Education\u2019s\u00a0All-National Honor Ensembles<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and a University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor will wield the baton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s unprecedented, first of all for guitar ensembles,\u201d said Dr. Michael Quantz, the UTRGV music professor who will lead the annual inaugural 2018 All-National Guitar Ensemble performance in November in Orlando, Florida. \u201cI have been blown away to be asked to be the first-ever conductor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sixty high school guitarists will be selected for the guitar ensemble. Musicians usually must compete at the state level to be eligible for the NAfME concerts. However, unlike the other groups performing, not all states have an all-state guitar ensemble, so any student who is part of their school guitar ensemble can apply.<\/p>\n

Quantz said the decision to include a guitar ensemble in the All-National Honor Ensemble \u2013 while some states still lack an all-state guitar ensemble \u2013 an arrival point.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, it\u2019s all legit,\u201d he said. \u201cTo convene this on a national level is absolutely the right thing to do at this point, because now it\u2019s a real thing on a national scale. And to be part of that inaugural event is a little scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"University<\/a>

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley music professor Dr. Michael Quartz is shown here leading a guitar ensemble class at the UTRGV Brownsville Campus. The National Association for Music Education has selected him to lead the inaugural All-National Guitar Ensemble this year in November in Orlando, Florida. Photo: Maria Elena Hernandez\/UTRGV<\/p><\/div>\n

He credits his selection as conductor to his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a direct result of the accomplishments that the students have achieved,\u201d he said, as he eagerly listed the students\u2019 awards and honors.<\/p>\n

He also said support from faculty and the community has allowed students \u201cto do things no other guitar programs have ever accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so they\u2019ve made me look really good,\u201d Quantz said.<\/p>\n

The UTRGV music professor is still learning about the guitar ensemble he’ll conduct in Orlando in the fall. Auditions are open until May 4, and while there is advanced preparation, the selected musicians won\u2019t get a chance to rehearse together until the day before the concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith these types of events \u2026 you drill your brains out for about a day and a half, and then you make a presentation,\u201d Quantz said, \u201cso there’s a lot of sussing out to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s excited about the opportunity, and that the honor ensemble will recognize guitar students, their work and the art of music.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a milestone for everybody who studies guitar and everybody who teaches guitar as a for-credit thing in music education,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just a wonderful honor to be invited.\u201d<\/p>\n

ABOUT UTRGV<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund \u2013 a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.<\/p>\n

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013 For the first time, a guitar ensemble will be included as part of the National Association for Music Education\u2019s\u00a0All-National Honor Ensembles\u00a0\u2013 and a University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor will wield the baton. \u201cIt’s unprecedented, first of all for guitar ensembles,\u201d said Dr. Michael Quantz, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8114,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8113\/revisions\/8114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}