2004-2005 and 2009-2010 Featured Composer:
Valerie Roth Roubos
It is a pleasure to announce this year’s PPLS adopted composer, Valerie Roth Roubos. We will have the opportunity this year to work with Ms. Roubos as each student in the PPLS has the opportunity to learn her compositions and compose and improvise original compositions of his/her own. The PPLS teachers will encourage students to write questions to Ms. Roubos (submitted to her via e-mail in batches) and everyone will be able benefit from her feedback. As part of the Festival of Contemporary Art Music, selected students will be invited to perform Ms. Roubos’ compositions and several new works commissioned by the PPLS. Ms. Roubos will offer a master class for those student performers and any other students able to participate, and will also present a clinic for PPLS teachers, WSU composition majors, and community teachers during the FoCAM. Finally, a portion of the PPLS Spring Recital will be dedicated to the performance of the new commissioned compositions and other works by Ms. Roubos, amid the usual prepared selections of literature by the students. This is going to be another exciting year for everyone, and I hope you will join with me in encouraging your students to unleash their creativity in improvisation and composition this year at the piano!
Biography
Valerie Roth Roubos earned degrees in music theory and composition and flute performance from University of Wyoming. Her post-graduate training includes studying the Taubman Technique with Kendall Feeney. For the past sixteen years, she has taught flute and piano in her private studio in Spokane, Washington.
Ms. Roubos participates in several local and state music organizations and is an active performer, accompanist and lecturer. She is currently the chairman of the Washington State Music Teachers Association Composer Commissioning Committee.
Ms. Roubos’s teaching and compositions reflect her belief that all students, from beginners to advanced, are capable of playing with sensitivity and musicality. Her compositions reflect a variety of musical styles, including sacred choral and educational piano works. In 2001, the South Dakota Music Teachers Association and MTNA commissioned her to write An American Portrait: Scenes from the Great Plains published by the FJH Music Company, Inc. Also in publication by the FJH Music Company, Inc. is a collection of elementary pieces entitled Picture This, Book 1.