MTNA-Spokane, Washington Spring 2019

-Stathia Orwig

​When I told my students that I was going to a conference to make me a better music teacher, their reply to me was “But you’re already the best teacher ever, Ms. Stathia!!”. That made my heart smile. But, I sincerely believe that we can all benefit from continuing education and networking with others in our same field, and that is exactly what Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Conference is all about.

I am so lucky to be apart of MTNA, but also of TMTA-Texas music teachers- which has the largest MTA in the country. With this, we also have an amazing conference every June, which we have written about before. But national connects us with teachers from all over the country and Canada. We were at the beautiful convention center in Spokane. Washington. For those of you not familiar with Spokane (which I was not!), it’s pronounced “SPO-can” and the people were super friendly. There was snow on the ground and it was just beautiful!

Clinicians from all around the country gave presentations from 8am till 5:30pm for 5 full days. An example of just a few sessions I went to were:

• The Secret Life of Phrases: learning how to interpret phrase markings
• Improv & Creativity: a session to help teachers become more comfortable incorporating improvisation into lessons.
• Practicing with the Brain in Mind: learning about neuroplasticity and using our auditory-motor loop.
• Budgets, Bosses, & Business Plans: well, this one may have been more for me to manage teachers and what teachers working for me are really looking for!!
• Know Flow, Optimize Performance: Yoga for the Musician: Well, this one was a cool one for my yogi self. This one was really focusing on bringing non-judgmental awareness to our practice and performance using meditation, breathing, and movement. This was just the first of several sessions they offered on the connection between yoga and music.
• Me Too Movement: Challenges for the Piano Teachers: possibly the scariest session I went to and one that will stay with me for a long time. It made me super glad I stuck to my guns about putting windows in our studio space, making it both private, but also allowing parents to see in to lessons.
• Teaching Adult Students: this session was more focused on group adult lessons and how they promote a community to help keep adults involved in taking lessons. This is definitely something I have been thinking about for a little while!
• Smartphones, Tablets, and Chocolate Cake: the title definitely caught my eye, and where so many of the sessions were talking about incorporating technology in the lessons, this one was more about getting back to the basics and making a connection with the teacher and students, much like we make connections while talking and eating cake together. This one, in my opinion, was spot on. I felt like so many sessions were trying to add technology, but I’m hearing a lot from parents wanting to back away from their children being too connected. It’s a bit of a battle.
• Dalcroze & Yoga for the Music Teacher: This was my last session, and probably the most mind-blowing! I LOVED it. It was presented by a friend and fellow Dallas teacher who is also a certified yoga teacher. There were lots of takeaways from this, but possibly the most important one is that we learn in safe spaces. Always make your students feel that they are in a space to make mistakes, to learn from those mistakes, and let them know that your space is a safe area to learn in. 

Obviously, there were many other sessions that I went to in addition to the publisher showcases (seeing new music!!). I had a great time getting to meet teachers from around the country and even connecting with the Texas teachers at our Texas Dinner! Being at the conference energized me in my teaching just when I needed it. But, it also gave me the desire to want to be better and do even more! I’ve got a little list going of things that I would like to do over the next few years, like finish applying for my MTNA certification (which I’ve already started), get on the TMTA board (which might be happening sooner than I expected, lol), get my yoga teacher certification, and possibly even speaking at one of these conferences. When do I have time to any of this?! I have NO idea, but I’m shooting for the stars and this girl has some serious goals!!