The Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano: a Pianist’s Perspective
by Kate Boyd
Posted 10/25/2020
IPerformance (Im)Perfection and the Pandemic
by Pamela Haynes
Posted 10/18/2020
IMTA/MTNA Commissioned Composer
John Liberatore, 2020 recipient
Caroline Ahn, Commissioned Composer Chairman
Posted 10/18/2020
Telarañas
for solo guitar
Telarañas, or “spider webs,” draws some inspiration from Walt Whitman’s poem, “A Noiseless, Patient Spider.” The title is Spanish because it’s the native language of the work’s dedicatee, and perhaps as a semi-conscious homage to the Catalonian composers whose works I studied in writing this piece.
There is something web-like about the construction of each movement. Each turns back on itself in some circular way, a web of threads, geometric but not symmetric, fragile but tenacious, recognizable but inscrutable. At the same time, I find deep sympathy in Whitman’s poem, in which he describes a spider, isolated in space, flinging threads into a “vacant, vast, surrounding,” seeking a connection. He draws a metaphor to the soul of the poet, working in isolation, flinging threads, “’till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere.” The poem is about both isolation and connection to others. It resonates with me, working as an artist in 2020 at this time of uncertainty and isolation, but I had chosen the poem over a year ago—it must have resonated with me then. A poet once said to me, “words are like chameleons,” as they change to fit the environment in which we encounter them.
I wrote this piece partly in preparation for a larger piece, Catch Somewhere, for members of Zohn Collective. I thought originally that Telarañas would serve as a series of movement sketches for the latter work, but this ended up not being the case. Pieces have a way of taking their own directions. Perhaps, like a spider, I am a creature of habit, method, and process, with limited capacity to envision the whole until it takes shape. The work was commissioned by the Indiana Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association. It is dedicated to guitarist Dieter Hennings, a long-time collaborator and friend.
First Day of Class: From “Yikes” to “Yay”!
by Nicha Stapanukul
Posted 10/11/2020
Do you find yourself winging the first day of class because it’s all “just syllabus”? Through the key principles of curiosity, community, learning, and expectations, you can inspire your students from day one!
Mixing It Up! – Interleaved Practice
by Janet Palmberg;
Claudia Bossard, Contributor
Posted 10/11/2020
“Mixing things up” may be the answer to more effective learning. This session will discuss how music teachers can “mix things up,” or apply “interleaving” to their students’ musical practice. The technique has been found to more effectively correlate to better retention of skills learned, and knowledge gained, than traditional pedagogies. Recent studies on the use of interleaving in the teaching of various subjects will be discussed, and ways to enhance piano pedagogy will be explored.
Are Your Students Getting Their Money’s Worth Out of Repertoire?
By 2020 Pedagogy Clinician and MTNA President, Martha Hilley
Posted 10/4/2020
Your student has worked very hard on this particular piece. It is memorized and the recital is scheduled. Should that be the end of their involvement with the repertoire?
What is Aphantasia? Teaching students with blind imaginations.
By Timothy Stephenson
Posted 9/27/2020
Can you see in your “mind’s eye”? What about hear in your inner ear? Some people can’t! This interactive session will explain aphantasia and its aural counterpart, with pedagogicalstrategies for approaching it.
Piano Works by Latin American Women Composers: A Lecture Recital
By Gabriela Calderón Cornejo
Posted 9/27/2020
The works of predigital age Latin American women composers are rapidly disappearing. This lecture recital seeks to reverse this trend by highlighting works by three such composers, each demonstrating unique traditions worth preserving.
THE INS AND OUTS OF THEORY
by Martha Hilley, NCTM, Conference Pedagogy Clinician
Posted 9/20/2020
Are you worried that there is not enough time to include theory instruction into the already crowded piano lesson? Our MTNA President, Martha Hilley, is here to share some ideas with you to consider.
Piano Music By African American Composers
by Phoenix Park-Kim
Posted 9/13/2020
Although they have long been under-represented, African-American composers have made a significant mark in American musical modernism, establishing independence from the aesthetics of nineteenth-century European romanticism and exploring new musical styles and modes of expression by blending their own musical elements such as Negro spirituals, plantation dance rhythms, gospel, and jazz into Classical musical tradition.
The landscape of American music would not be complete without giving credit to their contributions. We are familiar with the names of many African-Americans in blues, jazz, gospel and popular music. However their names are rarely mentioned in piano literature. This presentation aims to shine a light on piano works by African-American composers ranging from early pioneers such as R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) whose works incorporate both the Debussy like harmonies and vocal qualities of Spirituals, and recently discovered character pieces by Florence Price (1887-1953), to suites for piano by more contemporary composers like John Wineglass (b.1972) and Richard Thompson (b.1960). Their works bear out the fact that beauty in American art music is not the sole possession of people of one race or color, but is the heritage of us all.