Last month I had the opportunity to travel to our state music teachers conference in Emporia, KS. What a wonderful weekend of inspiration and fellowship! If you aren’t already, I highly encourage you to consider joining a local and state music teachers association (by joining MTNA and selecting your local affiliate). I have learned SO much from interacting with other teachers via regular meetings, student festivals, conferences, etc. In fact, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t still be teaching if it weren’t for these associations! Anyway, here are a few highlights from the conference:
The Piano Duo concert Friday evening by Augustin Muriago and Martin Cuellar was fabulous! Every conference I’ve attended at either the state or national level has included concerts by renowned musicians. Such a treat!
The weekend was a great time to reconnect with one of my dear friends and colleagues (that I met through our involvement in our respective local associations!) and learn together!
We stayed at the historic Gufler Mansion, which I was able to find via AirBnb (if you use this link, you can save $40 off your first trip – I love Airbnb and use it all the time when I travel!). Our welcoming and hospitable hosts made the weekend even more special!
The guest presenter at this year’s state conference was the prolific composer, Dennis Alexander. I learned so much from his sessions and brought home a piece of sheet music for each of my students that he graciously and personally autographed for them! They are already eagerly learning their pieces, and I am incorporating a number of his teaching ideas into each of my lessons. I’m so grateful for these opportunities to continue to grow as a music teacher and to continually improve the quality of music education that I am giving each one of my students.
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