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For the Record |
| ISSUE 14 ::
Friday April, 27 2007 |
PAST ISSUES |
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From The
President's Desk
Millie Eben
I just returned from another invigorating
national conference! According to the
attendee list, other PMTA members who
attended included: Wendy Bachman, Tim Blair,
Marvin Blickenstaff, Kate Clark, Carl
Cranmer, Donna Kay Croddy, Joao-Paul
Casaroti, Mark Hansen, Jane Heintzelman,
Jackie Herbein, Kathy Herber, Jennifer
Hunter, Benjamin Moritz, David Allen Wehr,
Nathan Hess, Ronald Kershner, Sue Kuntz,
Deborah Rodgers, Susan Lou, Warren Magid,
Patricia Powell, Nanette Kaplan-Solomon,
Ralph Zitterbart.
PMTA presenters included: Ben Moritz of
Mansfield presented a poster session
"Improving Your Metaphorical Language";
David Allen Wehr presented the high school
piano masterclass; Marvin Blickenstaff
presented the intermediate piano masterclass.
Marvin was also honored by the Royal
Conservatory at the conference gala.
Congratulations, Marvin!
Also honored this year at the Association
Luncheon was 50-year MTNA member Pearl
Kahler of the Reading Local Association.
Thanks to her daughter-in-law, Pearl was
present to accept this award.
Congratulations, Pearl -- and thank you --
for your dedication.
A personal highlight was hearing the Toronto
Symphony perform, and hearing Conductor
Bramwell Tovey talk about his personal
musical experiences, life, and teaching.
Also enjoyed hearing David Allen Wehr
coaching some wonderfully talented
youngsters in his masterclass. Here are some
other comments from members in attendance --
From Debora Rodgers -- "My favorite
session was Creativity for All by
Akiko and Forrest Kinney because it provided
me with some ideas for my summer composition
camp."
From Jane Heintzelman -- "I thought
all the workshops I attended were good.
Every one was well planned and worthwhile. I
enjoyed the masterclass with Marvin
Blickenstaff a lot as usual. He always makes
learning the intermediate music interesting.
I also liked the Seymour Bernstein workshop
on the pedal. Just wish he had had more time
to elaborate. In most workshops the
clinicians had more info than we could cover
in the hour. Concerts were great and enjoyed
hearing all the talented students play."
From Jacqueline Herbein -- "I found
the two Keynote Addresses by James Jordan
and Bramwell Tovey to be the most
thought-provoking and inspiring. The most
enjoyable presentation I attended was
entitled Dogs, Horses and Hands: What
Pianists Can Learn about Biomechanics and
Cognitiion from Canine Agility and
Equestrian Steeplechase. While presenter
Kathryn Ananda-Owens of Minnesota engaged
her entire audience, I was probably the only
other one in the room who has the same
intimate knowledge of training dogs for
performance events and had shared many of
the same viewpoints in its relationship to
my own teaching. While all of us in
attendance at the conference were linked by
our passion for music and teaching, it was
amazing to spend time with someone who
enjoys a passion in a seemingly unrelated
field."
Warren Magid also shares his
impressions elsewhere in this newsletter.
Planning for the PMTA/DSMTA 2007
Collaborative Conference is well
underway thanks to Conference Chair Debra
Ronning. All details and registration
information will appear in the next edition
of the PMTA newsletter. This addition will
be delivered to your email box as well as
your postal mailbox, and will appear online.
This conference will also mark a change in
leadership as my term comes to a close. The
slate of officers for the 2007-2009 term
will be announced in the next newsletter and
will be voted on at the General Membership
Meeting at conference. Your vote is
important! Please plan on attending!
Recreational Music Making Initiative.
MTNA and the National Piano Foundation have
joined forces to create a keyboard program
geared to our elder members of society. The
pilot program is being offered in four
locations this summer, one of which is
Harrisburg PA! The date is July 7/8th. I'll
be there! I hope you'll join me. For more
information, contact
Brenda
Dillon or visit the
National
Piano Foundation website click on the
Recreational Music Making tab. Or email
Millie
Eben and I'll forward the information I
have on file.
PMTA Leadership Weekend is set
for June 1/2, 2007 at West Chester
University. All pertinent information can be
found on the website. MTNA Executive
Director Gary Ingle will be our guest
speaker for the event. This is the time we
brainstorm, discuss, debate, formulate,
agree and disagree on potential plans,
goals, initiatives, possibilities and
impossibilities regarding the future of PMTA.
You don't have to hold an office at either
state or local levels to attend. You just
have to be interested in your professional
organization. Become involved -- we'd
love to have you!
By the time this newsletter reaches you,
semesters will be coming to a close,
students will be leaving for summer
vacations -- and hopefully so will you!
Please take time for some personal renewal
and enjoy the summer sun!
If we are
to hope for a society of culturally literate
people,
music must be a vital part of our children's
education.
Yo-Yo Ma |
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2007 MTNA National Conference - A
Memorable Moment
Warren
Magid
Surprisingly, or perhaps not so
surprisingly, the session that
affected me the most was not the one
about technique, new teaching
materials or pedagogical practice.
It was titled: Do Unto Others –
Do We Know How to Behave as Artists
& Teachers. This was the keynote
address presented by James Jordan,
Associate Professor of Conducting at
Westminster Choir College. (That's
right. He's not even a keyboardist!)
At first, I thought I would be
wasting an hour sitting through a
philosophical discussion of
mimetics, its Greek derivation,
and the mimetical default.
(I'm still not sure what that is!)
Little by little though, he pulled
me into his world, his soul, with
his inspiring anecdotes and personal
life stories; and somehow, sitting
amidst an audience of almost 2000
other music teachers, Dr. Jordan and
I made a personal connection.
He started the MTNA Conference off
with "just the right note". At the
end of the hour I felt reenergized
and reconnected to the motivations
that had led me into this field in
the first place. I came to the
conference prepared to learn new
techniques of playing and teaching.
Dr. Jordan took me beyond the
mechanics of technique into the soul
of music – into an awareness of my
own soul. Without being able to
digress into his inspirational story
telling, what I am about to share
with you will run the risk of
sounding like a list of platitudes.
Regrettably, for the sake of time
and space, I can only share with you
some of the more memorable quotes,
both his own, and those he
attributed to others.
As independent music teachers and
artists we are alone more than we
are with others. But we are all
alone together. Perhaps we share the
same dreams. He touched on Thomas
Moore's Ethos, from which we
get the word ethics,
originally meant as a place where
animals frequent. To jump right to
the present, to our own
circumstances as PMTA members, when
we herd together, how do we
behave? Do we look after one
another? Do we welcome others? Can
we be ourselves? Are we creative
together and do we take our
pleasures from one another?
Substitute "human beings" for "PMTA
members" above and ask yourself the
same questions.
Spiritual awareness is a necessary
ingredient in all aspects of music
making. Think good of yourself. If
music is self-expression, you need
some "self" to express. Tell your
story when you teach, when you
perform, when you compose. How can
you use the life you have already
lived to allow the music you make to
connect with others?
Sound is how we relate to the world.
It makes sense out of the chaos and
evil in the world. When we make
sound and it doesn't come out right,
what do we think? This is bad? This
is ugly? "What we need to hear," he
explained, "is how much we deeply
love what we are striving for."
Bring the process of humanizing and
loving into your classroom or
studio. If your student hits an F
instead of an F-sharp, it may not be
the F; it may be something else in
his life. He may be harboring a
secret or the pain of divorcing
parents. At least once at every
lesson, get down on the child's
level and make a personal
connection. You love music because
someone else gave you that personal
connection – that moment. He
ended the session with a moving
quote from Maya Angelou, which
drives home this message:
"In
the end, no one will remember what
you said.
And in the end, no one will remember
what you did. But in the end,
No one will ever forget how you made
them feel."
He
implored us to spend time with
ourselves everyday. When Millie
asked me to write a brief summary of
my favorite session, my first
reaction was "I just don't have the
time." But in the split second that
followed that reaction came the echo
of Dr. Jordan's words: "Spend 10
minutes each day with yourself." And
that is what I have just done, in
gathering these thoughts on this
busy day -- and sharing them with
you.
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