MTNA 2024 recap + resource roundup

Happy spring, friends! 

I don't attend the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) national conference each year due to scheduling (and honestly, it's really expensive, too!) but I did attend this year from March 16-20 and thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite sessions and takeaways!  This is just is my perspective/opinion and if you asked 10 different conference attendees, you would have at least 10 different perspectives. That's the fun of humanity, right? None of this is sponsored, I'm just sharing what I enjoyed and what I think you might enjoy! 

My favorite sessions

Tom Gerou Music Publishing- showcase of new solo and duet repertoire  I've been really loving the music that Tom Gerou (composer, editor) has been publishing the last few years- both his own music and that of other modern composers (Scott Price). Their editions are very clean inside, great size of the printed music, lots of white space on the page, and very user-friendly for our friends in the disabilities community (autism, visual tracking disorders, ADHD, etc.) due to the lack of distractions on the page. 

In addition to the carefully planned aesthetic and layout of the music, I truly love the tonal creativity of the pieces he is writing and publishing! Great variety of tonal patterns and major/minor keys, hummable melodies, and beautiful opportunities for expressive musicality even for young students and late beginners! They've also recently expanded to printing new editions of classical works (Griffes, Joplin, Burgmuller, others) with incredibly educating and detailed front-matter at the beginning of each book with biographical information, performance practice suggestions, and much more. They're doing a great job- check out Tom's website here!

Kevin Olson- new music and creative ways to arrange music I'm sure the name Kevin Olson is a familiar one among piano teachers and students- he is best known for his exciting music with fun rhythms, creative harmonies, and for writing music that students love to play! His sessions were extremely fun to attend (no surprise here!) and it was a delight to hear about his new music, especially the Concerto in Cool for younger students that has a funky and fun bluesy feel. 

He also gave fantastic tips on how to creatively arrange your own music (or help your students arrange music) by varying the tempo, rhythms, tonality, and adding in fun patterns and motifs. Such wonderfully innovative suggestions for teachers and students. (And if you haven't heard of him, do yourself a favor and check out his music here!) (p.s.- check out my Instagram for more sneak-peaks of Kevin's new works and a video debut of his conference arrangement just for MTNA 2024, "Georgia!")

New Resources RoundupNow, for the new things/music I got at MTNA that I'm most excited to use in my studio! 

Keith Snell series for adult studentsThis new series looks like it would be the perfect fit for both adult learners and older beginners, with lots of repertoire, chords, and theory all fit in together in a cohesive and 'just makes sense' way. I think this would also work really well for class piano, sightreading, and senior adult learners. I was gifted this set of books and look forward to using them! 

New music by Scott Price/Tom Gerou I already fan-girled about the wonderful work that Tom is doing above, but these new compositions are truly appropriately, carefully and beautifully written for each level of student. The individual sheet music pieces are delightful with artistically designed cover art and a list of all the characteristics/techniques of each piece. 

Scott Price's music (did you know that I studied with Dr. Price at USC for my doctorate?) is full of unique and gorgeous harmonies, introducing gentle dissonances through 7th's and lingering harmonies at endings, focusing on intervals, one-handed repertoire (that can be played with either hand, or split between the hands), and allowing students to experiment with dynamics, pedaling and tempo. His music is full of fun moments, too, like the "Centipede Shoes" piece which is hilariously quirky and sarcastic. The Sonatinas are really wonderfully written, and I'm a huge fan of this new music (and not just because he was my professor/mentor.)

Willis and new Gillock editions We all LOVE the timeless music of William Gillock, and his pieces frequent festival and competition lists around the United States each year. I was overjoyed to visit the Willis Music booth and find that they have published newer compilations of Gillock's music in collections- brilliant! These are not only priced incredibly reasonably, but will take up less room on your shelves in this new efficient format. What a great find! 

Faber's new "Music from China" series I love incorporating cultural music and folk tunes in my studio, so was excited to take a look at Faber's new "Music From China" series, which introduces folk songs and music by Chinese/Asian composers in a very appropriate and lovely way. The books start at the Primer level with beginning reading and go to Level 4 (I think), and each book includes performance information, cultural context for the lyrics and rhythm, rhythm/improv exercises, and beautiful artwork. Very excited to use these in my studio, and my students will love them! 

New from Paula Dreyer  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you know that I adore the music of Paula Dreyer! (And if you don't follow me, click here to fix that!) Paula has written several books of rote music for students, and they are technically appropriate, full of musicality and harmonic nuances. They are very patterned which make them perfect for rote teaching and even using as a starting point for improvisation. I was overjoyed to meet her at the conference and learn that she has a new book co-written with Marily Lowe, a "Creative Primer Level" of her Little Gems for Piano. This book is unique because it has 26 solos and duets, but none of them have titles! The students can play the music and decide what title each piece should have, and there is also a space dedicated for student artwork to accompany each piece- how creative is that? A new immediate favorite. (Her books will beautifully supplement or accompany any method series, and they especially work well with Irina Gorin's "Tales of a Musical Journey.") Check out Paula's music here!

That's all for this roundup of my favorite materials gathered at MTNA, but it was truly a wonderful conference! In addition to exploring all of the exhibits, attending wonderful sessions and visiting with friends, I was honored to participate in a panel discussion with Dr. Scott Price (my former professor/mentor- a renowned expert on piano and disabilities) as well as a teacher who is researching dyslexia and a piano teacher-parent of a child with autism. We received wonderful questions from those attending and it was a great time of sharing and learning together!

One of my favorite things about MTNA was meeting so many teacher friends from social media who just came up to say 'hi' and introduce themselves. This world of teaching is so beautiful and full of wonderfully kind people, and thank you for following along on this little corner!

Until next time,  -Elizabeth