Reflections on MTNA 2023
It was a great privilege to attend the 2023 MTNA National Conference this past week. I know many were prevented from doing so because of the location and cost, and I do not take the privilege lightly. My parents agreed to care for my younger kids (read: entertain them and feed them ice cream!) and Steve and I made a week of it after finding a cheap flight on Spirit Airlines (read: 7 hour layover in Las Vegas in the middle of the night).
Without further ado, here are a few highlights:
SIGHT-SEEING HIGHLIGHTS
While the weather was cold and we didn’t find Reno itself particularly stunning, the mountains surrounding the city are beautiful, and we found a pretty park with long trails where we took a windy, yet sunny walk the day before the conference began.
Conference session highlights
I attended a LOT of sessions. I wasn’t presenting this time, so I had the freedom to overload my brain with information and music without worrying about anything (other than my poor husband having to listen to me verbally process it). Here are a few of the sessions I particularly found thought-provoking or well-prepared, in alphabetical order:
A Global Perspective of Music Performance Anxiety presented by Vanessa Cornett: This was probably the most thought-provoking session I attended. If you’ve checked out my course, you know I’m highly interested in understanding performance anxiety and training teachers to prevent and minimize it in their studios. I’m glad to say that Vanessa affirmed much of what I teach but also opened my eyes to some fascinating research on cultural realities surrounding this topic. While I have not yet read her book, it is on my (long) list of those I’d like to read.
Busy Teens: Should They Stay or Should They Go? presented by Christina Whitlock: In the spirit of full disclosure, Christina and I have gotten to be good friends (separated by a state line and some awful Indiana traffic), so there was no way I was missing her session. But with a title like that, who would? She handled the perennial topic with skill, humor, and several practical ideas. Check out her podcast if you haven’t already.
Emma Lou Diemer’s Solo Piano Works presented by Brianna Matzke: I had never met Brianna, but I have long been a fan of Diemer’s works. In fact, I am currently teaching Busy Toccata which can be found in Festival Collection book 6. I was reminded of some pieces I knew of but have not yet taught and introduced to some new ones.
If You Like That, You’ll Love This! presented by Kate Boyd: Kate gave alternatives to standard repertoire by category (such as dance, layered texture, virtuoso, etc) and her handout was a work of art, including links to scores and recordings. Kate is professor of piano at Butler University in Indiana, and she has a fantastic YouTube channel for students and teachers.
Keynote Address: Lara Downes: usually keynote addresses are not my favorite, but this one was absolutely lovely. MTNA president Karen Thickstun interviewed Lara Downes about her personal and musical upbringing; the interview was interspersed with beautiful performances of short pieces, including works by composers such as Samuel Barber, Florence Price, and Clara Schumann.
While it wasn’t exactly a session, it’s also worth noting that I attended one of the competition winners recitals. I was thrilled to hear at the conference that the winner of the Yamaha Senior Piano Competition was Zarin Mehta, who is a student of my own grad school teacher, Winston Choi. I headed into the recital to hear him play, and he was simply incredible. Keep an eye out for Zarin - he has a very bright future!
Other highlights
Meeting people and making connections is one of the greatest aspects of a conference. To that end, some of the fun and special connections I made included
a very nice and well-attended ISMTA dinner with local and state colleagues
meeting in person for the first time two women I’ve worked with at TopMusic - Nicola Cantan and Nicole Douglas (they are both taller than me…no real surprise there)
eating meals with other teachers I’d only ever met online or had never met before, including Lynette Barney, Jennifer Foxx, Andrea Miller, Valerie Merrell, and Erica Ogden
meeting and chatting with various composers, including Kevin Olson, Catherine Rollin, and Jason Sifford
And yes, in case you’re wondering, that IS a button featuring Marvin Blickenstaff’s face on my lanyard in the bottom right corner. Piano Inspires is taking donations to the Marvin Blickenstaff Institute for Teaching Excellence in conjunction with NCKP this July and decided to hand out buttons featuring his face!
If any of you will be at NCKP, let me know! I’ll be there!
