Have you ever played a piano painted like a monkey or a pirate ship? Everett, Washington and Mill Creek, Washington both have pianos out on street corners and in front of local coffee shops August 7-21! My favorite place to visit during this “Street Tunes” festival is Narrative Coffee in Everett. Anastasia and I (The Musical Mountaineers) met in 2017 and first played piano and violin together at a street piano! Whether you’re a student, lifelong musician, or teacher, I encourage you to visit one of these painted pianos and share your music!

Teachers, I encourage you to meet students and their families for an informal concert outside! It’s a great inventive for students to take on a 10 or 30 piece challenge then have an opportunity to go play their music at an outdoor piano this summer. Email me and tell me all about your adventure!

More information about “Street Tunes” including a Google map of piano locations:
https://everettwa.gov/824/Street-Tunes
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~Rose Freeman
Nationally Certified Piano Teacher & Pianist of The Musical Mountaineers
rosefreemanmusic@gmail.com

Sounds of laughter and friendly conversation danced in the air as I walked toward the Kilworth Chapel at University of Puget Sound last Wednesday morning. “Hi, Rose!” Within moments of stepping in the door, Kirsten Carlson greeted me with a smile, hug, a penguin, and the 2019 conference booklet. The next few days were packed full of honors recitals, master classes with Irene Peery Fox, and workshops. I value these opportunities for continuing education, but most of all, I treasure the conversations with colleagues I saw throughout the week! Here are three workshops that stand out in my mind as I look back at Conference.

Five-Finger Patterns and Famous Composers: Fresh Ideas for Solo and Duet Piano Works
Dr. Vincent Della Tonia, NCTM

This workshop outlined the benefits of five finger patterns such as directional reading, aural reference, transposition, technique, and improvising. He suggested some different reading approaches with the five finger patterns and suggested method books that corresponded with each approach. What I valued the most about this workshop was the time he spent sharing a comprehensive list of some lesser known piano literature for beginner to lower intermediate students! Here are a few of the solo and duet works that he shared:

• ​“Gradus - 40 studies for the piano” by Samuel Adler
• “The first term at the piano, Swindherd’s Dance” by Bella Bartok
• “Historietas Maravilhosas, No 7 Forest Fairy” by O. Lorenzo Fernandez
• ”12 Etudes Op 39” by Edward Macdowell
• “Bagatelles Op 5, No 9” by Alexandra Tcherepnin
• ”Pleasures of Youth, Six Sonatinas on Five Notes Op. 163” by Anton Diabelli
• ”Teacher and Pupil” by Joseph Low
• ” Three Jazz Duets” by Mark Nevin
• “Microjazz Piano Duets” by Christopher Norton

​“I Really Love My Minuet!” | Dr. Judith Schoepflin, NCTM

​Dr. Schoepflin highlighted keys to student engagement, ownership, and enjoyment in this thoughtful presentation. She shared four steps for every independent music teacher to embrace in their lessons with all ages of students:

1. ​They need to feel like they are the only person in the world playing this piece.
2. They need to develop an emotional connection to the piece.
3. They are more likely to develop ownership if they have a choice in the selection of the piece.
4. They need to engage their imagination.

She performed a set of pieces varying in style to demonstrate how to incorporate these four values into every lesson. I appreciated the specific examples she gave in how to engage students imagination and help them represent the musical time period of each piece. The books she recommended on her handout are fabulous. Here are a few:

• ​”The Minuet figures according to Kellom Tomlinson”
• ”Complete theoretical and practical pianoforte school, Op 500” by Carl Czerny
• “Hailstones and Hailbut Bones” by Mary O’Neill
• ”The Oxford Companion to Instruments and Ochestras” by Kenneth and Valerie McLeish
• ”An Illustrated History for Young Musicians” by Comeau and Covert
• ”The World at Your Fingertips”’ by Brewer and Lau
• ”Composer Highlights, an educational coloring book series” by Kidd
• “Shades and sounds of women composers” by Jennifer Booster

Market Your Studio Like You Mean It! | Mariya Lincoln

Mariya outlined “how marketing applies to the private music teacher and how the process of choosing a teacher has changed drastically in the last 10+ years.”
This informative workshop gave practical steps how to have an online presence without breaking the bank. She reinforced the value of having a simple studio website at minimum. If you aren’t sure about where to start to make a website, check out Weebly or Squarespace. Also, I recommend talking to your local music teachers chapter to work on your individual studio websites together!

She gave us a handout to apply her suggestions to our own studios. You can do this at home, too!

• 3 Goals
• 3 Roadblocks
• My Target Audience
• Where/how to reach target audiences (brainstorm)
• Where I plan out have/increase my online presence
• My contacts / network connections
• 3 steps I will take right away
• 3 creative or slightly uncomfortable ideas I'll consider

Why should YOU become a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music?
As the Washington State Music Teachers Association National Certification Chair, it’s my joy to work with teachers on their five teacher profile projects.  I love reading how each teacher expresses their heart for teaching and goals for their students through their Teaching Philosophy.  It’s remarkable to see teachers dive deeper into the questions of, “what do I teach, who do I teach, and why do I teach.”  The first project alone reminds teachers of their purpose in choosing a vocation in music education.   Over the next four projects, teachers share how they teach different styles of music, record a few lessons with a student to show progression of learning a piece, share information about their studio, and respond to prompts regarding ethics in music education.  These five projects give you prompts to invest in your students and evaluate how you can give them the best, well rounded, music education as a Professional Music Teacher.

Go ahead and treat yourself to a coffee or tea then come back to this post to get started!

Why MTNA Professional Certification?
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For MTNA:

• Fosters excellence in music education through the development of criteria, standards, and guidelines for assessing educational competencies in performance, music theory, music history/literature, and pedagogy/teacher education.
• Assures the educational community, the general public, and other agencies or organizations that the MTNA Professional Certification Program for applied music teachers has been clearly defined with appropriate objectives.
• Provides a national forum for the discussion and consideration of concerns relevant to the preservation and advancement of standards in the field of music and music education.
• Develops a national unity and strength for the purpose of maintaining the position of music study in the family of fine arts and humanities and providing qualified teachers to guide that study.
• Sets a uniform national minimum standard of achievement without restricting the development of new ideas, experimentation, or the expansion of personal standards.

For the Music Teacher: (Piano, Voice, Violin, Flute, Organ)

• Offers a process by which teachers may examine and update their libraries, teaching methods, business practices and philosophies.
• Encourages improvement in teaching through continuous self-study and planning.
• Raises the likelihood for a higher level of teacher competency and effectiveness.
• Provides a goal for personal professional achievement for music teachers.
• Increases the potential for earning power for music teachers.
• Improves the level of professionalism within the field of music teaching.
• Identifies for the public competent music teachers.

How Do I Get Started?

• Fill out and mail the Application for MTNA Certification or MTNA Collegiate Certification
• Download the MTNA Project Workbook for Piano, Organ, Flute, Violin, or Voice
• Contact me or your local Certification Chair to request a WSMTA Certification Grant!
• Complete your 5 Teacher Profile Projects within 1 year and submit them to MTNA!

Templates & Resources for MTNA Certification created by Rose Freeman, NCTM:

• 2018 WSMTA Conference Certification Presentation
• Certification Check List
• MTNA Certification Resources​​

*note: the following graphs are for organizing teacher project information. Final projects should be completed in written paragraph / outline format as directed in the Project Workbook*

• Project #2 - Analyze Four Teaching Pieces Graph
• Project #2 - Analyze Four Teaching Pieces Outline
• Project #3 - "Present Your Teaching" Sample
• Project #3 - Student Progress Report Template
• Project #3 - Clara Schumann Progress Report Sample​

Project #4 - "Inside the Studio" Examples of a positive teaching environment 

Documents from MTNA Certification Website:  http://mtnacertification.org/
MTNA Certification Application
MTNA Collegiate Certification Application
Piano Project Workbook
Organ Project Workbook
Flute Project Workbook
Violin Project Workbook
Voice Project Workbook
What will evaluators look for in my project?
MTNA Professional Standards
Video Authorization Form
Video tips 1
Video tips 2
Video tips 3
Application for Renewal of MTNA Certification
Professional Renewal Activities Points Form
Certification 101
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