On Saturday, my local MTNA/OhioMTA chapter — the Northwest District OhioMTA — sponsored a piano pedagogy seminar with composer and teacher Carolyn Miller!
It was an honor to have her present for us. Her first session was entitled: “Matching Music to Inspire and Challenge Students.” She shared with us some helpful thoughts about choosing repertoire to suit students and demonstrated for us a variety of her compositions for students. Carolyn’s compositions are published with Willis Music, F.J.H., and others.
Next, Carolyn led group discussion on “Why We Teach Music.” This session was particularly encouraging and rejuvenating to us as teachers!
My friend, Susan West, and I helped Carolyn demonstrate a number of her piano duet compositions.
Partway through the day, we went to a local restaurant and enjoyed fellowship and conversation over lunch. Here is our group photo with Carolyn before lunch.
During the third session, we learned about Carolyn’s series of books called: “Sportacular Warmups“. The Sportacular Warmups books were created after the example of the A Dozen A Day books (also published by Willis Music), but have a sports theme integrated throughout the exercises in a clever way.
We wrapped up the day with a masterclass. Four student participants performed pieces written by Carolyn.
It was a wonderful day. Carolyn was a gracious and engaging speaker. Teachers who attended remarked that they enjoyed the sessions, the information, and the fellowship with other teachers.
Thanks goes to Carolyn Miller and my fellow members of the Northwest District OhioMTA for a successful day!
Es una bella experiencia, poder compartir con personas que son un libro abierto o son una biblioteca viviente, debido a sus vivencias que enriquecen a sus colegas de entorno. bendiciones para usted.
“Matching Music to Inspire and Challenge Students.” I would be very interested to find out more about what you learned in this session. I have found it so helpful to my students to find pieces that inspire them to learn, and sometimes it’s harder to find that inspiring piece.
“Matching Music to Inspire and Challenge Students” is a topic I would love to hear more about. It is one of the areas of teaching that is very tricky to me. Inspiring music, at the right challenge for them to grow but to be successful for performance. Thanks!