Designate a Foundation Fellow: a great way to honor a teacher. (MTNA Foundation News).

Designate a Foundation Fellow: a great way to honor a teacher. (MTNA Foundation News). When Brian Chung proposed his idea for initiating MTNA MTNA Music Teachers National AssociationMTNA Middle Tennessee Nursery Association (McMinnville, Tennessee)FOUNDATIONFellows, I immediately began thinking of my thirty-year relationshipwith Anna McGrosso. Brian's plan would make it possible for formerstudents and colleagues to honor someone who had been important,influential and inspirational in��spi��ra��tion��al?adj.1. Of or relating to inspiration.2. Providing or intended to convey inspiration.3. Resulting from inspiration. in the lives of other musicians. Therequired paperwork was minimal and the potential for the financialgrowth of the FOUNDATION was enormous. What I could not anticipate wasthe deep personal sense of gratitude that was generated. I contacted several people who, like me, were fortunate to haveworked with Anna. They, in turn, made other contacts. With each e-mailor phone call, memories surfaced. It became an opportunity to reflect onthe impact one teacher had made on so many. Everyone had a story to tell. We quickly exceeded the amount ofdonations needed to name Anna the third FOUNDATION Fellow. The MTNAnational headquarters kept the family and donors informed of theprogress of the fund and acknowledged all gifts. The procedure wassimple. For Anna's family and friends, it has been much more. I read the December 2000 AMT See vPro. article describing Anna McGrosso andwas reminded that one of her guiding principles was to aim high."Anna demanded from all of us exactly what she demanded of herself,and that was no less than the best. She encouraged us to take flightmusically and in our own lives." Her teaching took place in her studio, surrounded by her paintings,her two grand pianos and her comfy com��fy?adj. com��fi��er, com��fi��est InformalComfortable.comfyAdjective[-fier, -fiest] Informal comfortableAdj. 1. tub chairs. The room, like herteaching, was filled with imagination and practicality. Not only didAnna relate music to paintings, literature and everyday life, she alsopainstakingly pains��tak��ing?adj.Marked by or requiring great pains; very careful and diligent. See Synonyms at meticulous.n.Extremely careful and diligent work or effort. observed details of fingerings, pedalings and practicetechniques. She loaned recordings, drove us two hours to Chicago to heargreat pianists Great Pianists of the 20th Century - G��za Anda is volume one of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century box set, and it features music by the composers B��la Bart��k, Fr��d��ric Chopin, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Featured ComposersB��la Bart��kPiano Concerto No. and gave double the amount of lesson time with no extracharge. Years later, after I had completed degrees and was raising myown family, Anna continued to be the one person whose counsel Icompletely trusted. Her quick mind was so flexible in seeking solutionsto career and musical issues and was always tempered with theunderstanding of the importance of family relationships and the need forindividual growth. She could be impatient--but only if you were notusing all your resources. Once, she became really angry with RudolphSerkin for playing the same recital Recital - dBASE-like language and DBMS from Recital Corporation. Versions include Vax VMS. program in Chicago that we had heardthe last time he visited the city. She just felt that he could havebranched out a little. In the past four years, Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease(ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. has changed lifefor Anna and for all of us who know her. She is now a resident in abeautifully designed facility filled with light and based on simplegeometric patterns. When I visited her last, I did not immediatelyrecognize my friend of thirty years. As I entered the room, I did noticea beautiful, slender Slender“though well-landed, an idiot.” [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor]See : Stupidity women with soft white hair. The lovely smile andgraceful grace��ful?adj.Showing grace of movement, form, or proportion: "Capoeira is a graceful ballet of power and control, artists kicking and jumping in synchronized movement"Alisa Valdes. manners were the same. Although Anna did not recognize meeither, we talked easily about music, practicing, setting goals andwisely using all the time that God has given us. A few days later Ireceived a call from Anna's husband, John. He had taken the AMTarticle to her. With the staff, they celebrated Anna's honor ofbeing named the third FOUNDATION Fellow. John felt she did remember meand was aware that her work and achievements had been singled out fortheir special qualities. Anna's son and husband have decorated dec��o��rate?tr.v. dec��o��rat��ed, dec��o��rat��ing, dec��o��rates1. To furnish, provide, or adorn with something ornamental; embellish.2. a small showcase outsideof Anna's room that displays the MTNA plaque and article andseveral programs and mementos of Anna's musical life. It is areminder to all of us that what we do every day, on a one-to-one basis,does matter. Anna's abilities to inspire so many to workconsistently, to try to realize their potential and to keep it all inbalance have been recognized by MTNA. And that makes all who know Annasmile a bit.