December 3rd marks the 25th Anniversary of the American Family Xmas Concert held at the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

The UMKC Accordion Orchestra is one of the highlighted groups on the show, both as a featured performer and also as the pit orchestra for the choral groups. The orchestra has taken part in the show since its inception.

Two sellout concerts are given at 2:30 and 7:30 PM which provides excellent exposure for the accordion orchestra, which has long been a favorite part of this annual production.

For tickets, please contact: 816 235-2700.

The annual Spring Concert of the UMKC Accordion Orchestra under the direction of Joan C. Sommers will mark the 40th Anniversary of the group.

Many people have performed in the group over its 40 year history, and all are invited to return for this anniversary celebration which will feature a reunion, the 40th Anniversary Concert and other festivities.

The Anniversary celebrations are made more special since the director Joan C. Sommers is retiring from her post at the University.

If you would like to be a part of the anniversary celebration either playing in the orchestra a reunion selection, or just attending the events, please contact the UMKC Accordion Orchestra director Joan C. Sommers at: sommersj@umkc.edu

The Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes will offer a total of 6 categories of world competition next year including:

(1) Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships
(2) Junior Coupe Mondiale
(3) Virtuoso Entertainment Competition
(4) Junior Virtuoso Entertainment
(5) Piano Accordion Championships
(6) World Diatonic Championships

All the categories except the Diatonic Championships will be held in London from the 20 - 25th October, with the Diatonic Championships will be held from June 22-24 in Schenkenfelden, Austria.

The CIA one of the oldest members of the International Music Council (IMC) and one of the only organizations to have been admitted representing a specific instrument.

Anyone interested in competing in any of the above championships, should contact one of the two national member associations, the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG) or the American Accordionists Association (AAA).

The 2002 Coupe Mondiale to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark will see the addition of the seventh category, which will be a chamber music class, featuring the accordion with other instruments.

For more information on the CIA and its activities, please visit www.accordions.com/cia

The Kansas Accordion Club is now officially called the Kaw Valley Accordion Club. The meetings are held the second and fourth Mondays of each month from 7:00 - 9:00 PM at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Building which is located at 1204 Oread in Lawrence, Kansas.

For more information, please contact John Thompson at (785) 841-1740.
e-mail: cthompso@falcon.cc.ukans.edu

Austin Friends of Traditional Music, The Austin Celtic Association and Austin International Folk Dancers present POZAOUT from Brittany performing music for a real Fest-noz (Breton Ceili) Thursday, December 14th Carpenter's Hall 400 Josephine Austin (One block west of Lamar Blvd. and one block north of Barton Springs Road. Just South of the Lamar/Town Lake Bridge) 7:30 PM - 11:00 PM ABOUT THE EVENT:

What happens when you put 4 of the finest Breton musicians in one room? Pozaout, of course! Roughly translated, Pozaout means "Cowboy" in the Breton language. This quartet represents the best of a breed of musical masters from Brittany (the Celtic region of NW France), one of the most musical lands on the planet. The names Skolvan, Skeduz and Kurun read as a virtual Mount Rushmore of top Breton dance bands of the last decade.

Led by famed accordion master Yann-Fanch Perroches of Skolvan (many will remember Yann-Fanch from last year's Austin Celtic Festival), Pozaout includes fiddler Laurent Dacquay of Skeduz, guitarist Roland Conq of Kurun and flute master Stephane Morvan. Pozaout will bring their own "cowboy" style of Breton dance music to Austin for a real Breton fest-noz (literally: night dance). Whether you have two left feet or studied under Twyla Tharp, you'll enjoy not only listening to Pozaout, but you'll put your money where your feet are and enjoy dancing to traditional Celtic music, perhaps for the first time!

You can also expect to hear (and dance to) a few Irish reels and jigs as well. The show will begin at 7:30 with a 45 minute concert by the band. After a short break to clear the dance floor, the dancing will begin. There will be a few minutes of dance instruction before each dance to familiarize the audience with the dance steps.

Admission is $5.00. Snacks and beverages will be available.

A little background on Breton music and dance: In Brittany, due to the convoluted French legal system, the Breton folk music revival took shape in dance halls much more than concert halls. Dances were deemed "Fund-raising" events, while "Concerts" were heavily taxed. While once there were clubs for Breton groups to perform in, recent years have seen them all but disappear.

Any kind of association could organize a fest-noz to make money, so that's where the folk scene is. Therefore, as interest in traditional music in Brittany evolved beginning in the early 70s (parallel to that in the British Isles), traditional dancing among everyday folks evolved to a much greater degree than in her sister Celtic nations of Ireland or Scotland.

Today in Brittany, traditional Celtic music is performed mostly in large dance halls with almost everyone, young and old, participating in the dancing. Also, Breton dances are much simpler than traditional Irish or Scottish dances. This, along with the fact that, according to Yann-Fanch, Bretons are "dancers to the bone!" Anyone can, within a few minutes, get the basics of most of the dances and "join the round." They are mostly "line" or "round" dances with the dancers either holding pinkies or clasping right arm over left and moving to the left. Breton dancing is very easy and very infectious!

For more information: e-mail Larry Rone at auscelt@io.com or call 512-916-8152
www.io.com/~rarii/TCMN/Coming.html
or visit the Austin Celtic Association http://www.io.com/~rarii/ausceltt

Mrs. Leroy Anderson tells us that there will be a documentary entitled "Once Upon A Sleigh Ride" which will be aired on PBS in the United States late in December. It will have all of the favorites of the composer , many of which are also favorites of accordionists.

This video is about the life and music of the American composer of light concert music, Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), and is produced by Emmy-Award Winning Producer/Director, Peter Rosen. Narrator is Dick Cavett.

It will no doubt be of great interest to those of us who enjoy playing many of his hits such as Sleigh Ride,Syncopated Clock, Blue Tango and many more mentioned in the release found at: http://www.leroy-anderson.com

Leroy Anderson came along just in time to provide the perfect music for classical orchestra "pops" concerts. A talented musician, Anderson graduated with honors from Harvard and worked as an organist, bassist, and choirmaster and began arranging for Arthur Fiedler's Boston Pops Orchestra in the mid-1930s.

Fiedler encouraged him to write his own pieces for the Pops. Finally, in 1938, Anderson complied, with ``Jazz Pizzicato'' and ``Jazz Legato,'' both immediate audience favorites. Over the next 25 years he composed some 50 more light classics, which virtually defined the sound of the American pops orchestra.

Most of these works are humorous--like the "The Waltzing Cat," which turns schmaltzy string sighs that are standard fare in a Strauss waltz into meows or show pieces, like "Bugler's Holiday," in which three trumpeters show off (although the parts are actually written to sound more difficult than they actually are high school orchestras with three good trumpters often play it), or simply light and listenable, like "Blue Tango," his most-covered song.

Anderson is best-known for his works incorporating gadgets as solo instruments, such as "Sandpaper Ballet,'' ``The Syncopated Clock,'' and "The Typewriter," which features the sounds of that venerable maching tapping keys, grinding shifts, tinkling margin bell although these are probably unfamiliar to today's computerized generation. Many know his tunes as they were incorporated for TV shows and commercials. "The Syncopated Clock" later became the theme of many a late-late movie show.

He recorded a number of collections of his own tunes, and his single of "Blue Tango" was a #1 hit in 1951. His holiday season instrumental number, "Sleigh Ride," has, over the years, become a standard piece for Christmas concerts and has become his most-covered composition.

He also wrote a number of serious contemporary compositions, including the Irish Suite, Suite of Carols and the Concerto in C for Piano and Orchestra, and the score of a Broadway musical, "Goldilocks," in 1958, but putting words to music wasn't his forte. Anderson continued to compose, almost exclusively for the Boston Pops, until his death.

His works are still in print and a staple of pops orchestras around the world.