Conferences

Heading out to MTNA’s 2019 National Conference!

Hi there! Just a quick note today —

#1: I’m wondering how many of you are attending MTNA 2019 in Spokane? If so, are you free Monday evening?? I would love to connect with you and hangout! Please send me an email or friend and message me via Facebook.

#2: Below are the sessions I will be involved with during the conference. Please come, and say hi afterwards!

  • Saturday, March 16: “Games & Activities for Groups“, a 20-minute presentation during Pedagogy Saturday’s Recreational Music Making (RMM) track.
  • Wednesday, March 20 @ 8:00am: “Teaching the Way We Learn: Applications of Edwin E. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory (MLT)” with co-presenter Amy Chaplin.
  • Wednesday, March 20 @ 9:15am: “Creativity Throughout: A Panel Discussion on the Business Side of Teaching“, appearing as a panelist.

#3: Plus, I’m excited to be helping Paula Dreyer at her Little Gems for Piano booth in the exhibit hall! If you haven’t seen Paula’s books of rote pieces for young pianists, I highly recommend checking out her website here.

Stay tuned for highlights from the conference! 🙂

Conferences

MTNA 2018 (4): Wednesday, March 21

[Continued from Day 3.]

8:00am Taming The Jungle: Digital Management Strategies For The Independent Music Teacher, by Amy Chaplin

The first session of the day I attended was given by my friend and conference roommate, Amy Chaplin of PianoPantry.com. She gave an engaging and informative session about how to organize and manage your digital content, including your emails, files, links, and favorite blogs. I have to tell you, Amy’s tips about managing an email inbox have been a life-saver for me personally over the past year!

After Amy’s session, I packed up my things and prepared to take the Disney Magical Express bus to the airport. Near the bus area, we ran into Paula Dreyer, composer behind the Little Gems for Piano books. (Check them out: they are books of wonderful little pieces intended to be taught by rote.)

At the airport, I befriended some fellow MTNA attendees. We ate lunch together as we waited for our flights. Continue reading “MTNA 2018 (4): Wednesday, March 21”

Conferences

MTNA 2018 (3): Tuesday, March 20

[Continued from Day 2.]

8:00am Exhibitor Showcase – Learn Piano As Naturally As A Child Learns To Speak: Introducing A Kodály-based Piano Method That Trains Both Ear and Eye, by Hoffman Academy

Joseph Hoffman, operator of the Hoffman Academy in Oregon, presented an informative session about his Kodály-based piano method. With most mainstream piano methods being heavily focused on the skill of reading music notation, I was fascinated to learn about an example of a method that is focused on first listening and imitating before reading and writing. Mr. Hoffman, sometimes called the “Mr. Rogers of piano”, also has a variety of great lesson videos for students available on YouTube as well as on his membership site.

11:00 The Entrepreneurial Spirit Of Walt Disney And Independent Music Teachers, by Karen Thinkstun Continue reading “MTNA 2018 (3): Tuesday, March 20”

Conferences

MTNA 2018 (2): Monday, March 19

[Continued from Day 1.]

8:00 Exhibitor Showcase: Willis Music

The Willis Music showcases are always worth attending! This time, they showcased a new jazz piano method by Eric Baumgartner: Jazz Piano Basics. It looks like a great resource even for teachers with little experience with jazz.

At this point in the conference, the morning was devoted to intensive 20-minute sessions, called the Accelerate Learning Track. Here’s my favorite session from the morning:

9:15am Bridging For Success: Inspiring And Mentoring Young Professionals, by Jennifer Snow Continue reading “MTNA 2018 (2): Monday, March 19”

Conferences

MTNA 2018 (1): Sunday, March 18

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Orlando, Florida for the 2018 MTNA National Conference.

Friday, March 16 was when I arrived in Orlando.

I took the Disney “Magical Express” bus from the airport to the Coronado Springs Disney Resort.

I checked into our room early and spent most of the afternoon taking it easy in the sunshine. 🙂 By dinnertime, a few friends had arrived so we met for dinner at the Maya Grill inside the resort. Continue reading “MTNA 2018 (1): Sunday, March 18”

Conferences

Looking Forward: MTNA 2018 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Happy New Year, my friends!

Who’s planning to attend the 2018 MTNA Conference? This year, the location is Lake Buena Vista, Florida, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, March 17-21, 2018. See the conference website here.

I’m planning to go and would love to meet up with you there! I planning to arrive a day early and perhaps explore Disney. I haven’t been to Disney before, so I am looking forward to seeing what it is all about. If you might be interested in joining up to explore Disney, please send me a message and let me know.

I hope the new year is treating you well thus far. Best wishes!

Conferences

NCKP 2017 (4): Saturday

[Click here to go back to Day 3.]

8am Kjos Publisher Showcase: Bastien New Traditions: Inspiring the Next Generation of Beginning Pianists, by Lori and Jane Bastien.

You probably know the Bastien name from the variety of method series (remember the iconic cover of the Bastien Piano Basics method?) and supplemental materials that were popular across past few decades. You may not know, however, that the Bastiens are back with the brand new method released last year (2016) called the Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course.

The Primer A book is off-staff reading, while the Primer B book is on-staff reading. If desired, the teacher can directly start the older beginner in the Primer B book. In this showcase, Lori demonstrated a number of the pieces from the method books, so that in hearing the pieces and the teacher duets we could gain a sense of the quality of the music.

Here's a photo taken of me with Jane Bastien and her daughter Lori!


Continue reading “NCKP 2017 (4): Saturday”

Conferences

NCKP 2017 (3): Friday

[Click here to go back to Day 2.]

First thing this morning, I joined Tim Topham live on Facebook to rundown of the previous day's events.
Check out our fun video here!

9:00am Effective Communication of Practice Expectations: Send them Home with the Tools for Success, by Scott Donald

Scott completed a survey recently exploring how teachers communicate at-home assignments to their students. After all, how well we communicate expectations and practice strategies determines the likelihood that the student will follow through.

In another project, Scott compared three modalities for communicating the same practice expectations: written, aural, and video. Those teachers who participated were to evaluate the number of errors in the performance. As it turned out, there was no statistically significant difference between the modalities. So, Donald decided he needed instead to take a look at what exactly what was being communicated. The top tips he shared: Be specific in your assignments. And practice together during the lesson.

Continue reading “NCKP 2017 (3): Friday”

Conferences

NCKP 2017 (2): Thursday

[Click here to go back to Day 1.]

8:00am Hal Leonard Showcase: Recent Classical Piano Publications from Hal Leonard

During this showcase sessions by Hal Leonard publishers, we were informed about a variety of new publications available. Of special interest are the new "At The Piano" books from Henle Verlag. These books contain original pieces by one composer, arranged and labeled by level of difficulty. The book contains information about the technique and interpretation of the piece. According to Henle, the books are most appropriate for Jose who are returning to the piano after a longer break. It's interesting to see Henle branch out into pedagogical publications!


9:00am Lost In Translation: Helping Students Connect with their Repertoie through the Subtleties of Musical Languages, by Ryan Greene and Thomas White.

In Ryan and Thomas's presentation, they shared some terms they have discovered and developed as a way of categorizing and talk about recognizable styles of music. Along the way, they shared plenty of musical example illustrating each style.

The styles include the Brilliant Style (as seen in scale passages in pieces by Clementi and Mozart), the Learned (Strict) Style (hearkening back to Baroque contrapuntal styles), the Singing Style (Chopin Nocturnes are exemplary), the Pastorale Style (based and nature and folk tunes and dances), the Turkish Style (an influence originating from the 1600s when the Ottomans were sieging Vienna), and Exoticism (when composers mimic a musical culture without complete integrity, such as "cowboys and Indians" subject matter or oriental music).

I found these categories fascinating. These are styles we commonly see in both pedagogical and standard classical repertoire and no doubt will prove useful for helpful students transfer experiences to new pieces.


Continue reading “NCKP 2017 (2): Thursday”

Conferences

NCKP 2017 (1): Wednesday Pre-Conference Seminars

Weeeeee! I'm blogging from here at the NCKP — the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy occurring in Lombard, Illinois. Amy Chaplin and I drove a five-ish hour trip to to get here and have been enjoying some wonderfully informative and inspiring sessions so far.

The first day of NCKP was the optional day of pre-conference seminars. This day consisted of a variety of tracks to choose from: technology, teaching students with special needs, musician wellness, collaborative pianists, young professionals, and independent piano teachers. Here's some notes from the sessions I attended.

1:30pm Keynote Address by Barbara Kreader

Barbara is the author of a new book, The Music of Teaching: Learning to Trust Students' Natural Development. This book focuses on the development of perception in our students and on what we as teachers can learn from our students.

Barbara gave a wonderful keynote address. She described a student of hers who found developing basic skills difficult. Barbara felt nearly out of ideas with this student, but found herself amazed at the ongoing tenacity and good naturedness of her student. She realized that this student likely struggled with other subject areas in school. She started asking the student for his ideas about what to do next. The student offered things like that he liked to stand when he felt frustrated and shake out the tension in his muscles. And he said he wanted to sing. They tried those things, and while it didn't make things magically easy, it did help. The student often will reveal what they need, if we just take the time to ask and listen.

Every child develops and matures at their own rate. Before a standardized school system, children graduated to the next skill, not to the next grade. And they did so when they were ready. It is not necessary for every student to graduate from one level to the next at the same time. As independent teachers, we are fortunate to have freedom to allow and nurture development appropriate for individual students.

Amy and I ran into Jennifer Foxx and Lynette Barney at this session. Conferences are wonderful for reconnecting with old friends and making new friends.


Continue reading “NCKP 2017 (1): Wednesday Pre-Conference Seminars”

Conferences, Professional Development

2017 NCKP and Other Upcoming Events

Hello, friends!

Any of you heading to the 2017 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Lombard, IL? I’m heading out tomorrow and am looking forward to long weekend full of fun and learning.

I will be participating during a session as one of the panelists on a session called “Carving Out Your Career Path” at 2:30pm during the Young Professionals Track tomorrow (Wednesday). Maybe I’ll see you there!

After NCKP is over, my conference buddy Amy Chaplin and I are staying in the Chicago area to attend the Gordon Institute for Music Learning (GIML) conference a few days later. This is the first time either of us have attended this conference, so we are looking forward to seeing what it’s like.

In other news, I thought I’d also list some upcoming presentations I’ve been adding to my calendar recently. If you happen to live in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, or Kentucky, I’d like to invite you to join me. I’d be happy to send you more details about these events upon request.

  • F, September 8, 2017: “Teaching the Way We Learn: Applications of Gordon’s Music Learning Theory for Piano Teachers.” Wood-Ottawa Counties MTA (Bowling Green, OH).
  • F, September 29, 2017: “Teaching the Way We Learn: First Applications of Gordon’s Music Learning Theory” with co-presenter Amy Chaplin. IndianaMTA state conference (Marion, IN).
  • Th, October 12, 2017: “Grounded in the Beat: Cultivating the Seeds of Rhythmic Fluency.” OhioMTA State Conference (Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Van Wert, OH).
  • M, November 6, 2017: “Teaching the Way We Learn: First Applications of Gordon’s Music Learning Theory” with co-presenter Amy Chaplin. KentuckyMTA state conference (Lexington, KY).
  • F, November 10, 2017: “Alexander Technique for Piano Teachers & Students.” Northeast Indiana MTA (Fort Wayne, IN).
  • F, December 8, 2017: “App-Laudable Uses of Apps in Music Lessons.” Grand Rapids Piano Teachers Forum (Grand Rapids, MI).
  • F, April 6, 2018: “Piano Method Mining: Uncovering Nuggets of Wisdom in Method Books.” Western Reserve MTA (Cleveland, OH).

You can find my full calendar here, and my list of workshop topics here.