Piano students get expert guidance
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months, 2 weeks AGO
From left: Piano students Kyle and Kaylee Duong with visiting artist Dr. Fabio Menchetti at the Music Artistry Program in Moses Lake in March.
COURTESY PHOTO/WASHINGTON STATE MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | April 22, 2026 3:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — Forty-five Basin piano students participated in the Washington State Music Teachers Association’s Music Artistry Program on March 27-28, according to an announcement from the association.
“The students play two piano pieces, memorized or non-memorized, for the visiting artists,” said music teacher Harriet West, who had students participating in the program. “Then (the artists) write down comments and work with students at the piano.”
The visiting artist was Dr. Fabio Menchetti, according to the announcement. Menchetti, a native of Lucca, Italy, is an assistant professor of piano at Washington State University. Menchetti has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Italy and the U.S., and regularly concertizes throughout the United States, both as a soloist and a chamber musician, according to his website.
“(The teachers like) to have someone else listen to the students, somebody really good, and offer suggestions,” West said. “Our music teachers (association) chapter is really particular whom we invite to come here and work with our students. We want somebody to offer encouragement, be uplifting, reinforce what the teacher has already taught.”
The pieces the students performed are mostly classical, West said, selected by the teacher. The difficulty of the music is at the teacher’s and the student’s discretion. Many students work for a long time to get their pieces down, West said. Kaylee Duong and Kyle Duong teamed up for a duet, she said.
“It was a marvelous, marvelous duet,” West said. “They probably worked four or five months on it.”
The MAP was formerly called “adjudication,” but that term was deemed intimidating to students, West said, so it was renamed to Music Artistry Program. The program has been going on since the Moses Lake-Central Basin chapter of the WSMTA was formed in 1970, West said.
Advice from an outside expert goes a long way to furthering the music students’ education, West said.
“Sometimes it means more to the students than (it would) coming from their teacher,” she said.
Participating students:
Benjamin Faber
Giovanni Pendleton
Eveline Dovmat
Julian Dovmat
Kaylee Duong
Kyle Duong
Alvin Beus
Jacob Beus
Asher Schober
Jonah Schober
Jelani Mann
Kylia Coulston
Anna Borodulin
Isaiah Turchik
Paul Turchik
Bayanna Ismagulov
Joel Carpenter
Evie Trautman
Zoey Chavez
Alec Goleta
Kate Goleta
Sofia Suprunenko
Danny Tormozov
Faith Buchert
Wyatt Gilbert
Ella Gilbert
Sawyer Golay
Rocky Howard
Lila Buchmann
Victoria Malan
Lisa Allred
Ryan Bergeson
Adelyn Chamberlain
Crew Christensen
Luciana Cardenas
Allyson Vanderholm
Natalie Bischoff
MJ Beloborodyy
Beatrice Garcia
Chidubem Abonyi
Alivia DeHoog
Baylie Bates
Sadie Allred
Walker Erye
Jacob Duvall
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.