r By Marilyn Mitchell
Every spring, 39 piano teachers in the area from Nephi to Springville enter their students in a solo festival through the National Music Clubs of America. This year they judged more than 500 students who each played two memorized piano solos. The top 75 students were chosen from that group to compete in the Honors Playoffs.
The judge was Daniel Olsen of Orem, who studied piano performance and piano pedagogy at Brigham Young University. He maintains a large private piano studio and his students have won top awards and have been finalists in many competitions. On March 11, he adjudicated 75 soloists and chose the top 18 students. These students performed in an Honors Recital on March 13 after which they received a ribbon and a $50 reward.
The winners are listed below Along with the pieces they performed.. The levels they participated in are indicated as follows: E –  Elementary, MED – Medium, MD – Moderately Difficult, D – Difficult, VD – Very Difficult and  MA – Musically Advanced.rDalan Stokes: EI, Ecossaise, BeethovenrJace Broberg: EI, Expedition to Everest, RickerrWeston Goulding: EI, Morning Song, GurlittrCameron Peterson: EII, Toccatina, KabalvskyrKaoline Neo: EII, Hero VariationsrMale Croshaw: EIV, Prairie Wind, CosleyrEmma Burnham: EIV, Asymmetry, RossirEmily Peterson: MED, Romanza, MarshallrSpencer Zabriskie: MED, To A Wild Rose, MacDowellrEmma Wulfenstein: MED, A Canyon’s Raging River, RollinrLondon Merrill: MDI, Winter Reverie, EcklundrThomas Scharf: MDII, Flip, PetotrBrooklyn Murray: MDIII, A Morning in Congaree, BoberrTravis Pitcher: DII, Arabesque, DebussyrTia Lee: DII, A Memory of Vienna, GillockrJoshua Dew: VDII, Pathetique, Mvt. 1, BeethovanrAbby Holman: MAI, The Cat and The Mouse, CoplandrMcKay Byrne: MAII Prelude in G Minor, Rachmaninoff
Teachers who had students that performed are: Emilie Blake, Carla Cleavinger, Tiffany Delgado, Annalee Dinkel, Julie Dockter, Andrea Elliot, Kristen Grimshaw, Freda K. Leifson, Arlette McCausland, Marilyn Mitchell, Janet Olsen, Kristi Rigtrup, Laura Ross, Lori Serr and Anna White.
