Starkville – Golden Triangle Music Forum Students Win State Piano Competition
Starkville piano students won the Mississippi Music Teachers Association Piano Competition held on November 2, 2020. They were students of Katie Wallace-Johnson (private piano studio), Rebekah Moore and Rosângela Sebba (Mississippi State University Community Music School), all members of the Golden Triangle Music Forum - a group of local, professional teachers who are dedicated to their students’ music success and development. The GTMF is a local affiliate of Mississippi Music Teachers Association (MMTA) and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) first established in 1986 by piano teachers: Harold Thompson and Ricki Pruitt.
The annual competition happens on the first weekend of November, though due to COVID-19, this year the competition was held online. Out of twenty-four applicants only thirteen were placed, seven of them were from Starkville. They competed with students from around the state of Mississippi divided into four different categories: Elementary A – grade 3 and below, Elementary B – grades 4-6, Junior – grades 7-9, and Senior – grades 10-12.
Students and teachers chose their audition concerto during the summer and worked on one movement. Submissions were done via YouTube with an unedited video of both teacher (playing an orchestra reuction) and student (playing the solo) performing on two pianos. The 2020 Concerto Competition was judged by Dr. Kevin Chance, Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Alabama.
The winners were:
Elementary A:
- 1st Place-Gold – Effia Wu Teacher: Katie Wallace-Johnson
- 1st Alternate – Max Bian Teacher: Rebekah Moore
- 2nd Alternate – Justin Chung Teacher: Katie Wallace-Johnson
Elementary B:
- 1st Place – Gold – Katie Chung Teacher: Katie Wallace-Johnson
- 2nd Alternate – Anya Rai Teacher: Rosângela Sebba
- Participant – Srinika Bora Teacher: Rebekah Moore
Junior:
- 1st Alternate – Agatha Taquino Teacher: Rosângela Sebba
- 2nd Alternate – Mary Holland Nichols Teacher: Rebekah Moore
