Anyone who has been reading here for any length of time knows that I’m a huge fan of Music Teacher’s Helper. It has streamlined my bookkeeping like I never imagined was possible! I posted my first review of it after signing up for the free trial version four years ago. Although I was hesitant to plunk down the money for a monthly plan, it didn’t take long before I was sold on the value of it! I wrote a second review after using it for a year of lessons.

Anyway…if you’ve been thinking about trying Music Teacher’s Helper, but haven’t gotten around to it, I wanted to let you know that they recently announced that they’ll be increasing their pricing on October 1st. However, anyone who signs up for a subscription will be locked into the current pricing plan forever! And of course, if you don’t like it (impossible for me to imagine!), you can cancel at any time. When I first saw that the pricing was increasing, my heart sunk because as much as I love the convenience of MTH, I did not relish the thought of having to pay a higher price (especially since I’m already on the highest priced plan!). So I am thrilled to know that I am forever locked into my current price. That’s a great company for you!

Alright…commercial over. Just thought you all might like to know before it’s too late.

Well, I’ve finally taken the plunge and decided to start a Music Matters eNews. I’ve been thinking about it for quite a while and when I decided to switch my Sibro Publishing newsletter over to Constant Contact last month, I thought it was time to move forward with this newsletter as well!

I’m planning to include quick links to resources, special deals and promotions on various materials, plus lots of other exciting tidbits!  Just sign up using the form at the top of the right side bar to get in on the inaugural issue.

Quick Note: If you’ve ordered materials from me or corresponded with me before, there is a possibility that your e-mail address was already imported into the mailing program. If you enter it in the sign-up form, you’ll be given the option to update your profile.

Amy Chaplin, a music teacher I met (and rode a hot air balloon with!) at the MTNA Conference this year is doing a final project for her Music Education Research class. It’s a questionnaire on the use of practice incentives to motivate students. Anyone who has been reading here very long knows that I’m a huge proponent of effectively designed practice incentives, so I found the questionnaire incredibly fascinating!

The project deadline is tomorrow, so that’s not a lot of time, but I thought I would post it here in case some of you would like to participate in the project. And of course, I’d love to hear what you think!

Some of you have asked what my blogging plans are for this summer. I’ve been trying to figure that out myself! Since many of us are on a lighter teaching schedule, I’ve decided it might be good to keep to a lighter blogging schedule as well. This week, I’ll be in Kansas City for our state music teachers conference, so I may do some blogging related to that, but beginning next week I think I’m going to primarily do one post on Monday from my folder of Monday Mailbag questions. Then, we can take the remainder of the week to discuss that question, throw around ideas, share updates on our summer projects, etc. How does that sound?

If you have a question or topic you’d like me to post for one of the week’s discussions, just send me an e-mail with Monday Mailbag in the subject line. I think this will be a lot of fun…and slightly more relaxed than the usual every day posting!

Did you know that we are in the midst of the Year of Collaborative Music? It commenced at the March MTNA conference in Albuquerque and will culminate at the MTNA conference in Milwaukee next March. I am really excited about this and am thinking about designing my practice incentive theme around this initiative for next year. In particular, January 22, 2010 has been designated the International Day of Collaborative Music.

Chris Foley, of The Collaborative Piano Blog, has put together a wonderful compilation of 20 Collaborative Piano Videos that I’m loving! I’m hoping our local associations will be able to get on board with this initiative and plan a festival in conjunction with it. Are any of you doing any special projects or festivals in conjunction with the Year of Collaborative Music?

One of my students would like to participate in a Summer Piano Camp in Northern New Jersey.  I found that Westminister Choir College has a good piano camp in Princeton, NJ.  Are you aware of any other camps or Summer piano programs in Northern NJ?

I received the above question from a reader and said that I would post it here to see if anyone else could help. I’m not very familiar with summer camps around the country, but figured that some of you might be involved in various camps and/or workshops and would want to let others know about them on here.

In fact, I just received some information about a Summer Piano Pedagogy Workshop at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota that features Gerald Klickstein, author of The Musician’s Way, among others. It looks fabulous, and I wish that I could attend!

If you are aware of either a summer music camp for students and/or a workshop for music teachers, please feel free to leave the info in the comments below!

Well, that’s probably the longest post title I’ve ever written! But I thought some of you in the region might be interested in knowing about this great conference coming up. The Kansas Music Teachers Association and Missouri Music Teachers Association are joining forces to put together a fabulous conference this year!

Our guest artists are Nancy and Randall Faber, and we have a slew of additional workshops lined up as well. In fact, I’ve been asked to present a workshop titled, How to Design a Practice Incentive that Will Motivate Your Students All Year Long! I’ll be discussing the four components of a good practice incentive, sharing the secret to making lesson plans that last all year long, give tips for turning any concept or assignment into an exciting game, and share lots of real-life, practical examples. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun for all of us!

If you are interested in attending the conference, but aren’t a member of KMTA or MMTA, just send me an e-mail and I’ll let you know how you can register and still receive the member price.

Also, there will be two great performances during the weekend – a solo piano recital by Randall Faber on Friday evening including the following works:

• Mozart : Sonata in B-flat Major
• Debussy : Pour le Piano
• Gershwin : Three Preludes
• Chopin : Etude in C Minor and Etude in F Minor
• Chopin : Berceuse
• Liszt : Mephisto Waltz

and a special Community Children’s Concert on Saturday late afternoon, called, The Snow Queen, by Nancy Faber.  Click here to download a copy of the flyer with additional information.

Yesterday, I received a notification about a survey being conducted by Carnegie Hall and The Julliard School. (Click here if you are interested in taking part in the survey.) The survey is gleaning information from teachers about the plausibility of offering a National Music Achievement program. I think it’s an interesting concept, and completed the survey in about 10 minutes. I found a number of the questions somewhat thought-provoking, including this one:

What factors do you believe motivate your students to be engaged in music? Please think of your students between ages 5 and 18. (Please select all that apply)

* Playing music naturally excites them
* They enjoy gaining recognition for their skills
* They hope to use music to help them get into college
* Their parents urge them to continue playing music
* None, my students are not really motivated to study music
* Other (please specify)

I’d be curious to know how other teachers would answer a question like this. What do you find are the motivating factors for your students? I’m actually going to ask my students this question, too, to get their first-hand answer on what motivates them. That will be quite interesting, I think!

MTNA has announced their 2010 conference:

Take a trip down Route 66 as MTNA heads to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for this year’s National Conference, March 20–24, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency and Albuquerque Convention Center! This year’s conference highlights include:

• Evening concerts by pianist Kevin Kenner and cellist William De Rosa, the American Pianist Association Fellows and the winners of the Canadian and United States Chopin Piano Competitions
• MTNA Student Competitions
• Pedagogy Saturday
• Educational sessions
• Teaching demonstrations and master classes
• Industry showcases and Exhibit Hall demonstrations
• Nearly 100 exhibitors

Since I didn’t get to attend the Atlanta conference this year, I’m thinking about trying to make it to Albuquerque in 2010. Anyone else making plans to attend?

This weekend, I’ve been attending our annual state music teachers conference. We’ve had a slate of wonderful musicians and presenters. Here are some pictures with a few notes:

The conference began with Brenda Dillon sharing about the Recreational Music Making program that has been developed in the last several years.

Dr. Robert Weirich gave a masterclass yesterday. My student, Luke, was one of four that played for Dr. Weirich. It was a wonderful experience! I always love attending masterclasses and learning from other teachers – watching their interaction with the students, and their approach for dealing with the problems that they observe.

In the evening, Dr. Weirich gave a lecture recital called “Aaron Copland’s America: Cultural Identity Explored through his Piano Music.”

I’m more familiar with Copland’s orchestral music than his piano music. And for the most part, I prefer his orchestral music, although Dr. Weirich introduced me to some nice piano selections as well.

This morning, Wendy Stevens gave a session on teaching composition to our students. You can find a lot of great material and tips on her new website.

Tony Caramia spent the day with us yesterday and then presented two workshops today. It was fun to meet him in person and find out that he is a Music Matters Blog fan! He’s got a great sense of humor, and of course is a wonderful Jazz musician.

There were numerous other aspects of the weekend, but these are some of the highlights. I love attending our state conference each year! It’s been a great way to connect with teachers from across the state, meet and learn from wonderful presenters, and pick up lots of great teaching ideas! Do any of you attend your state conference? Have you been to any particularly interesting sessions? Or heard any particularly great presenters?