Stella Claire terHart was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan on January 31, 1960 and is directly descended from the composer/violinist, Tomaso Vitali. At age 17, she was the first winner of the University of Regina Concerto Competition, and won numerous awards at local and Provincial Music Festivals in flute and piano. At present, she is the only individual in Canada to have received all four degrees from the Toronto Conservatory of Music: Teachers, Performers, Composition and Theory. Her teachers include Mary Murakami, Lyell Gustin, Bill Moore, Marilyn Engle and Jane Schudel (flute). Her Theory and Composition work at the Royal Conservatory of Music was overseen by Dr. Anthony Dawson and John Beckwith.
Since 1982, Ms. terHart has taught music in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. From 1997 - 2002 she was the Head of Music at Rothesay Netherwood School, where she taught classroom music for Grades 6 - 12, directed the Junior and Senior Bands as well as the Senior Jazz Ensemble, Middle School Chorus and Senior Girls Choir. She has produced and directed three high school musicals: the Sound of Music, the Wizard of Oz and the King and I. All of these experiences greatly contribute to Ms. terHart's work as a composer of music and resources for young performers.
Her performance career has included being the official accompanist and recitateur for Opera New Brunswick in their productions of the Marriage of Figaro, La Bohème and Carmen, as well as performing numerous concerts and recitals with various soloists. She is a much sought after music festival adjudicator.
As a composer, Ms. terHart has works published in the United States and Canada, is commissioned regularly and heard on CBC radio. Her work "In a Corner of the Stable" can be heard on the newly released CD "Chestnuts & Sugarplums" available through www.oceannamusic.com. She is a member of the International Association of Women Composers (IAWM), the Association of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC), SOCAN, the Canadian Music Festivals Adjudicators Association (CMFFA) and is the editor of the national journal of the ACWC. The mother of three children, also wonderful musicians, Ms. terHart presently lives in Ontario, Canada.
Philosophy behind the
Beginning Band Basics Theory Workbook Series
"While serving as the Head of Music at Rothesay Netherwood School, I became aware of the great need for a theory book written with the young beginning instrumentalist in mind. My first year students, many of whom could not read music and had never picked up a band instrument before, were frustrated and annoyed at having to learn 'piano theory'. They questioned the need to learn clefs and notation which they would either never encounter in their playing, or only encounter at a much later stage. I began to develop a theory workbook that catered to the particular needs of each instrument in the order in which the student learning that instrument was exposed to notation - namely, from the point of performance. Thus, all my beginning players learned to read music from a different standpoint, but yet common to all - the concert B flat scale. Music reading became easier, more relevant and much quicker! Students felt that at last they could understand the relationships between performance and theory, which made them better sight readers and players."
Beginning Band Basics - bringing theory and performance together
