The last Forum Q&A post was about assignment notebooks/pages for students. It was wonderful to read all the great responses! Click here to read the comments, and click here to read my follow-up where I share my method of tracking assignments.
Being able to attend state and national-level conferences is one of the many benefits of being a member of MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) and other professional music organizations. I am a firm believer in the importance of ongoing professional development for piano teachers (and any teachers, for that matter). So, today’s Forum Q&A is all about conferences!
To you, what is the most valuable part of attending conferences? What tips do you have for making conference attendance more affordable and feasible? If you haven’t attended conferences regularly/before, what’s holding you back?
Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!
A pregnant wife, living in Idaho, and still working on my undergrad is enough reasons for me to not be able to go to the conference, but I’m a firm believer that continuing your education is extremely important. I’m a member of a local organization here in Eastern Idaho and we have chapter meetings every so often, they are very helpful. Next year the conference will be in Anaheim. I won’t miss that one.
Being a student definitely makes conference attendance tough (I hated missing even one class as a student), unless your field of study is piano pedagogy, in which case the conference could help with academic requirements. I also understand how difficult it is to attend a conference if one has very few students. Other than those factors, the only thing that has ever stopped me was when I was physically incapable of attending, such as last year when my wife had a medical school exam in L.A. that required her to be gone for 3 days – I had to watch the kids during that time. But I’ve managed to attend conferences while my wife has been in medical school, after we’ve had a baby, etc., even when conferences are across the U.S.