MTNA SPOKANE (A Diary)
Each year the Music Teacher’s National Association (http://www.MTNA.org) hosts a convention. There are presentations, exhibitions, masterclasses, competitions, and concerts. I’ve attended State and National conferences before but this year I decided to apply to give a presentation for the first time. Thankfully, I was accepted! Not so thankfully, I was given a Wednesday 8 a.m. time slot. A time when most members are already traveling home or are feeling presentationed-out (more on this later).
While at the conference I did several 2-5 minute interviews for the Facebook group I co-admin, “The Art of Piano Pedagogy.” It was wonderful getting to speak with so many fabulous teachers and I’ve included several of those interviews below.
Day 1: Pedagogy Saturday
Due to flight delays I didn’t get checked into my hotel, the very clean and very inexpensive Ruby2, until after midnight.
Nonetheless there was no way I was going to miss my good friend Deborah Rambo Sinn’s presentation at 8 am.
Deborah is the author of, “Piano Playing Beyond the Notes” (https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Beyond-Notes-Pianists-Interpretation/dp/0199859507) and she has a remarkable ability to distill the art of interpretation down to easily understood, logical steps.
In her presentation, “The Secret Lives of Phrases: Lies, Near Lies, and Red Herrings,” she took apart excerpts from the standard repertoire and showed how smaller units make up larger phrases.
– She asked us to decide “who belongs to whom”
-suggested playing through melodies in the lesson without breaking any phrase before deciding where the phrase endings and beginnings will go
-look out for elided phrases which serve as both the beginning and end of a new phrase
-use a “train start” where the composer writes ‘A tempo’ to avoid abrupt transitions
-Understand that often in older music the purpose of slurs is to mark things that are not obvious or to remind the pianist of what not to do.
Another fabulous presentation was Lois Svard’s “Practicing with the Brain in Mind.” I had heard Lois speak at MTNA Baltimore and am a big fan of her blog “The Musician’s Brain.” (http://www.themusiciansbrain.com). Some excellent food for thought:
-When we develop unique skills parts of the brain enlarge. Playing the piano more than any other activity uses every region of the brain.
-“Cells that fire together wire together.” The more times you practice the faster the connection.
-Excessive repetition does not lead to efficient use of the brain
-Building new neural pathways takes time
-When activating one finger, others must be inhibited in the brain
-There is a separate area in the brain for each finger
-The great percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who is deaf, uses her whole body to “listen”
-Great pianists with physical misuse, like Glenn Gould, find workarounds but have physical complaints thoughout life
-Neuroplasticity allows for life-long growth and even rewiring of the brain after a traumatic injury. It is improved by motivation and positive emotions.
Joy Morin offered fabulous suggestions for group activities and games in her talk, “Activities to Keep Students Engaged.” You can visit her website here: http://www.colorinmypiano.com.
She and Amy Chaplin also presented on Edwin Gordon’s “Music Learning Theory” but sadly I was not able to attend due to it taking place at the same time as my Wednesday 8 am session.
One of my favorite sessions of the conference was Scott Price’s “Inside the Lesson” which focused on the teaching of children with special needs. Dr. Price has worked extensively with this population and showed video demonstrations with real students on the autism spectrum. These are the type of young people who in previous generations might not be offered a music education, yet flourish under the right instruction.
I turned to my colleague afterwards and we agreed this wasn’t just great information for teaching students with disabilities, but teaching children in general. Amongst Dr. Price’s observations:
-“Music aptitude does not discriminate”
-“Music study is the right and responsibility of the community.”
-When teaching children with disabilities we are the ones with special needs. We must enter their world.
-When students enter our studios they are already overstimulated. By saying, “hello, I am glad to see you today,” gauging their emotional state, and asking “are you ready to begin?” we can get them into the right mindset.
-Don’t make assumptions that a student knows something
-Unexpected, authoritarian touch causes anxiety
-Children on the spectrum are unlikely to understand our social cues. Language needs to be specific, literal, and child appropriate.
I also attended two additional presentations on artistry. I enjoyed both of them but found my self rolling my eyes at two statements. The first was that beginning 5 to 7 years olds should reach Bach Minuets by the end of their first year of study. The other was, “I have never had a ten year old who couldn’t play all of his scales at 160 beats per minute.”
In sessions like this there can often be a gulf between top university professors who teach a highly selective student body and those of us who accept every child into our studio. I think the effect of such statements can be discouraging to teachers who aren’t ‘elite’, but I’m happy to have a studio that is highly diverse ranging from competition winners to people with disabilities, the very young, the over-scheduled, recreational adults, injured pianists, post-graduates, and fellow teachers hoping to improve.
Exhibition Hall
The exhibition hall serves as both a place for commerce and a meeting ground of sorts. You’ll always run into someone you know and it gives you a chance to interact with the top composers and writers in the field ranging from Randall Faber (who sadly had to cancel due to illness), Keith Snell, Dennis Alexander, Melody Bober, Helen Marlais, Forrest Kinney, Phillip Keverin, and many others. You can also end up winning an iPad or upright piano if you are lucky.
The publications I was most excited to purchase were Jason Sifford’s “Beware the Jabberwock,” Lynda Lybeck Robinson’s “For the Birds” and “Whispering Woods” and Paula Dreyer and Marilyn Lowe’s “Little Gems.”
Jason Sifford joined me on the admin team at APP a few years ago. You might recognize Jason by the thousands of videos of student repertoire he has recorded on YouTube with his colleague Alan Huckleberry as part of “The University of Iowa Piano Pedagogy Project.” (https://www.youtube.com/user/UIPianoPed)
Jason’s intermediate collection, “The Creeps” is a staple of my studio around Halloween. His music is much beloved by my students because is fits the hands beautifully, it is well written, and its harmonic language makes aural sense to children who have mostly grown up on video games and film scores.
Lynda Lybeck Robinson is perhaps the person I was most excited to meet at the convention. We have communicated for couple of years but never in person. Lynda lives all the way out in UnAlaska, Alaska which is off the coast of Siberia and part of the Aleutian Islands. Her music perfectly encapsulates her generous humanity and her love for the natural world.
Paula Dreyer’s “Little Gems” collections (http://www.pauladreyer.com/book) are made up entirely of pieces to be learnt by rote are a staple of my studio. I’ve known Marilyn Lowe, author of the Music Moves method (https://www.musicmovesforpiano.com), for several years and she has had a profound influence on my teaching. When I heard they were collaborating on a book I was thrilled and the results did not disappoint. This fabulous collection gives a guide for teaching mindful rote and encourages creative interaction with the score. It is unlike anything else in print and I’m already planning on ordering a whole stack of them for my studio. For more details watch below:
My favorite booth at any MTNA conference is always JoyTunes (http://www.joytunes.com). Not only can you find a Jazz wiz like Jeremy Siskind improvising while playing the Piano Maestro app, it has Becki Tapia Laurent and Valerie McInroy who are two of the most fun Texans you’ll ever meet. Here Becki discusses the role of technology in the lesson:
Day 2 Sunday
Sunday morning began with a key note speech by Alan Walker. Dr. Walker is 88 years old and best known for his three volume biography of Franz Liszt, which I read with pleasure over three summers. In November he released a much-awaited biography of Frederic Chopin which drew rave reviews. In person he was as witty and entertaining as his books (and he has a fabulous Oxbridge accent).
His lecture was entitled, “Chopin: the Raphael of the Piano,” and focused on dispelling the many myths about Chopin that have arisen since his death and highlighting Chopin’s fame as a master colorist. He decried the percussive, showy approach contemporary pianists often take with Chopin.
I was pleased to see many presentations designed to bring the MTNA into the contemporary culture. Amongst these were several exploring the music of people of color, one about bridging the gap between millennials and older teachers, and a session dedicated to helping teachers create a safe environment in the age of “Me Too.”
The presenters were Julie Nagel (http://julienagel.net), a psychologist known for her work with musicians, and Annika Scharosch, a local attorney who specializes in these issues. Members of the audience submitted question anonymously and received thoughtful responses. A few things that were said that spoke to me:
-People often worry that if they report a teacher for misconduct they will ruin the reputation of the teacher. Of greater concern should be the ruining of the life of the student
-Dr. Nagel felt that our obsession with fame is something we needed to examine as a culture. It often causes us to excuse bad behavior
-Dr. Nagel questioned whether it was a good policy to require student’s parents in the lesson after a certain age. Achieving a sense of identity and independence is important for growth. Often it is the parent who needs to separate from the child and not the other way around
-Youth competitions should be educational experiences. Not a path to fame for the teacher and/or student
-If teachers are concerned about a student making a false report the best thing they can do is document, document, document
Ann Duhamel gave a delightful presentation on, “The Most Celebrated Composer You’ve Never Heard of – Leopold Kozeluch and his 50 Piano Sonatas.” In his time Kozeluch was considered as great a composers as Mozart.
Another presentation that drew rave reviews was John Salmon and Dmitry Rachmanov’s “Adding Notes to Bach.” Salmon’s “Add on Bach” website features videos much of the information he presented as well as video excerpts (http://www.addonbach.com).
Poster Sessions
Poster sessions are held on Monday and Tuesday in the Exhibition Hall. True to the name they are used for presenting posters, usually dedicated to the latest research by college students and professors.
Gloria Than-Haines presented a fabulous poster entitled, “Trust-based Relational Intervention Strategies for the Truma-informed Piano Studio.”
Of all the interviews I posted during the conference this one received the greatest response as many teachers are interested in developing strategies for interacting with students who have experienced trauma in their lives, or may have experienced trauma themselves.
Gloria will be giving a full presentation on thos topic at the upcoming NCKP conference in Chicago.
Day 3: Monday Morning
Monday morning was dedicated to “fast track” presentations which are a third the length of the others during the convention. This is no doubt challenging for the presenters but quite fun for attendees.
I got to know Lynette Barney quite well at the convention. She is fabulous with young people and her presentation, “Kazoos and Emojis: Engaging Activities for Exploring Modes with Every Student” gave terrific suggestions for getting outside of the world of major/minor tonality.
And yes, there were kazoos! Pro tip from Lynette: For students who uncomfortable singing aloud kazoos are a perfect substitute and are dishwasher safe.
Here is Lynette’s YouTube playlist of modal songs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdkSNsoSsgmSmQooPzMKE9w/playlists
And here is a fabulous mashup of “Meet the Flintstones” played in all the modes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWaW2q1KM0Y
The adorable Davis B. Dorrough and Angela Marshall gave a presentation on, “Dynamic Business Duos: Supercharge Your Studio with Strategic Partnerships.”
I had the pleasure of meeting five charming students from the University of Colorado Boulder who presented, “The Stressed Studio: Maintaining Mental Health as a Teacher.” It was wonderful to seeing so many college aged participants representing their schools. As one of my colleagues said to me, “one of these young people will likely be the next Frances Clark.”
I first met Samantha Coates, author of Blitzbooks (https://blitzbooks.com), at MTNA Baltimore. We were fortunate that she flew all the way from Australia for a short session. Samantha is a virtuoso presenter. One thing you will never see is Sam up on her lecturn reading her speech while the audience nods off (yes, I attended several such lectures this year that will remain unmentioned.)
Her presentation, “The Seven Deadly Performance Sins” began with a hilarious mock performance of a student doing everything wrong. My friend Joachim and I even got in on the act, coughing heavily at a predetermined moment. The audience was in stitches.
From there were shown both the seven deadly sins and the seven virtal virtues (below).
The Seven Deadly Sins were:
- Drawing attention to mistakes
- Correcting Mistakes
- Starting Too Fast
- Altering the Conditions
- Showing Dissatisfaction
- Breaking the Spell
- Ignoring the Audience
Amongst Sam’s key points was that when students say, “I played in better at home” they really do. The problem is they play through the piece multiple times with mistakes and only once correctly.
Clinton Pratt gave a presentation on “Migraine-Free Management: Operating an Independent Studio with LESS STRESS!” Much needed for any studio owner. You can view his website here: http://www.pianosensei.com/workshops
For lunch I was a able to explore downtown Spokane a bit. I had a fabulous lunch at Madeleine’s and got to browse Auntie’s Bookshop and Uncle’s Gameshop across the street.
Monday Afternoon
The Convention Center was so sprawling, we joked that you could take an Uber from one end to the other, but I was fortunate to sneak in and out of two fabulous presentations Monday afternoon. The first was Jeremy Siskind’s, “Five Things Every Piano Teacher Needs to Know About Jazz (but probably doesn’t.)”
Jeremy (http://www.jeremysiskind.com)is a bit of a rock star at these conventions and he didn’t disappoint.
The things we needed to know (and I’ll admit I didn’t) were:
- Swing is really about articulation, not rhythm
- Chord symbols give information, not instructions
- You can’t learn Jazz like you learn classical music.
- “Comping” isn’t random… it just sounds that way
- Learning to improvise does not equal learning scales
In the middle of the presentation I snuck over to catch Joao Paulo Casarotti play Brazilian music at, “Latin Fiesta!: The Pedagogical Piano Music of Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.”
He played beautifully and I can’t wait to try some of this music with my students. Particularly, “The Cuckoo and the Donkey Concertino” by Ernst Mahle.
For a link to all the repertoire discussed go here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5cghe88wk622xr/LatinFiesta%20Handout-%20MTNA%202019.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR2HFZmfhPhPieg9hBU8KkauKSXpINZujnxJUaEbS5NmkN4IQuKe3AFsZP0
The last presentation of the day for me Ivan Hurd’s “Bet You Can’t Play with One Hand.” He gave an excellent overview of literature for one hand alone. Essential for any student where a student breaks an arm or for pianists wishing to better develop their left hand.
The Historic Davenport
Monday night I was able to explore the Historic Davenport. Bulit in 1912 by Louis Davenport (for whom Crab Louis is named) this gem of a hotel was restored in 2002. It is like stepping into the old world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Davenport_Hotel_(Spokane,_Washington)
Day 4: Tuesday
Tuesday began with an Advanced Masterclass caught by esteemed pianist and Eastman Professor, Barry Snyder (https://www.barrysnyderpiano.com)
The local college students played well and were given expert coaching. One thing that I noticed, however, was how weak their tone was compared to Snyder’s.
Which brings me to one of my favorite presentations of the Convention: “Alexander Technique” with William Conable. Mr. Conable is a master Alexander practitioner who coined the term “body mapping.” His ability to get an entirely different and vastly richer sound out of the three volunteers simply by adjusting their bodies was remarkable. Key points:
- Investebrae – the head leads. The faster they go the more the body lengthens
- Primary movement (primary control)- the body lengthens in four dimensions
- Pulling the head and neck down and back affects the whole self, not just the head and neck, and slows down the fingers.
- Body mapping- we have a map in our minds of the structure and functioning of our bodies
- This map is learn and is changeable due to physical development
- When playing, “what would happen if you didn’t look at your fingers?”
- An image for loud playing: drop a stone into the water and the water splashes up – encouraging lengthening of the body
- When slumping we are balanced somewhere there are no bones and we tighten to compensate
- Not moving is the death of any musician
Despite it being a busy day I had a little time to explore Spokane’s lovely Riverwalk. Although there was still snow on the ground it was a balmy 60 degrees. On the path I ran into Kevin Madison (https://www.kevinmadison.net) and his duo partner who had just won 2nd place in the Duo Piano Competiton that morning. Kevin has be studying contemporary classical music with my grad school professor Janice Weber and Stephen Drury in Boston. Congratulations Kevin!
Tuesday night featured a recital by renowned pianist Ingrid Fliter (http://www.ingridfliter.com) but I decided to skip it so I could get an early nights sleep. Wednesday was the big day: my presentation!
Day 5: Wednesday
The topic of my presentation, “Junior Virtuosos” is something at the heart of my teaching. Strategies and tools for teaching technique and movement to children. I focused on posture, seating, important concepts from neuroscience and biomechanics, sequencing of technical materials, and movement activities. Here is a preview I did with Jason Sifford interviewing me:
When arrived at the convention center at 7:30 it was a ghost town and I fully expected to have only a handful of members at my presentation. To my surprise I had a room full of people by the time 8 am rolled around. Even more exciting was how engaged and communicative the audience was, making my presentation feel more like a conversation than a lecture.
I managed to get through about 95 percent of what I wanted to talk about before running out of time. I had to rush out of the hall to allow the next presenter in the room but a small crowd of participants followed me outside and I ended up chatting with them for the next 45 minutes. I couldn’t have been more delighted with how it went.
It was a perfect sunny day and I ran into several friends at the Spokane airport. The first leg of my flight was to Seattle and the views from the air of Mount Rainer and the Okanoga-Wenatchee National Forest were breathtaking.
There is one thing I haven’t mentioned and it is perhaps the best part of the convention. In past years it was likely you would only meet up with other teachers from your region or school at these events. But thanks to social media I’ve been fortunate to get to know fabulous teachers from all over the world. Spending time with them was a great pleasure. We had magical meals and thrilling conversations. I can’t wait to see them all again soon!
