Oregon Music Teachers Association in partnership with the Oregon Community Foundation and the Nellie Tholen Fund present statewide teacher enrichment workshops. These valuable and varying presentations are free and open to all music educators, members and non-members alike.
Upcoming Events
Teaching Coordinate Movement Principles to the Young Pianist
Date/Time: Friday, October 8, 2021, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Local Contact: For more information please contact Deborah Butler.
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Susan Todd.
Presenting District: Salem
Presenter: Lisa MarshRead Presenter Bio Lisa Ann Marsh is a member of the adjunct piano faculty at Portland State University. As Director of the Coordinate Movement Program she specializes in wellness for musicians. Her courses focus on injury prevention, health and well being, and mind-body connections for increased artistry and creativity. She received her Bachelor of Science in Music and Master of Music in Performance from Portland State University. Additional background in somatic education includes 19 years as a Registered Nurse in the fields of Neurosurgery and Emergency Medicine, eight years of piano technique study at the Taubman Institute of Piano and seven years of study of the Alexander Technique and Body Mapping with Barbara Conable. As a performer, she specializes in 20th century music and presenting her original compositions.
Program Description: Drawing from the fields of Body Mapping and piano instruction,Read More Ms. March will present topics from her book “Coordinate Movement for Pianists” to include: posture, healthy movement, scales, arpeggios, trills, tremolos, leaps, pedaling, dynamics and articulation. These topics will be explored at the piano through the intermediate and early advanced repertoire. Audience participation is encouraged!
Acquiring Aural Skills: Listening Deeply
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Local Contact: For more information please contact Tammy Johnson.
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Susan Todd.
Presenting District: Umpqua Valley-South Coast
Presenter: Dr. Johnandrew SlominskiRead Presenter Bio American pianist Johnandrew Slominski enjoys a distinguished reputation as a performer and pedagogue. He has been hailed as “a remarkable, brilliant, and gifted pianist” (
Chautauquan Daily), commended for performing with “a great deal of intellect” (89.9 KBPS Portland), and recognized for his communicative performance: “I was profoundly moved by his performance…He has a musicianship that transcends his youthfulness.” (
Eye on Sun Valley). His 2016 San Francisco concert debut, presented by the New Piano Collective, earned praise as “awe-inspiring” and “ear-opening” from Stephen Smoliar of the
San Francisco Examiner. Slominski seamlessly navigates the landscape of a varied and thriving career as a soloist, chamber musician, music theorist, author, pedagogue, and speaker. Highlights of his current season include a solo CD released on the Centaur Records label, an all-Schubert disc with soprano Kayleen Sánchez released on the Soundset Recordings label, performances of concerti by Mozart and Schumann, and more than a dozen speaking and teaching engagements in the United States and Asia.
Dr. Slominski earned three degrees from the Eastman School of Music by age 21, and was unanimously nominated for the Jerald R. Graue Musicology Fellowship and the Eastman Performer’s Certificate; his first professorship followed at age 23. He has held faculty positions as a pianist and music theorist at the Eastman School of Music, the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, and Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the founding director of Classical Music on the Spot (an institute for eighteenth-century improvisation), a co-founder of the San Francisco International Piano Festival, a founding faculty member of the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the University of South Florida, and an Assistant Professor of Music at Linfield College. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Slominski is a New Piano Collective artist.
“You must get to the point that you can hear music from the page.… A perfect musician should be able to picture a piece, at first hearing…as though he had the score in front of him.” This presentation by Dr. Slominski (former theory and aural skills faculty at the Eastman School of Music), opens a conversation about teaching and learning through a nuanced aural curriculum. Skills discussed include sight-singing, solfege and solmization, dictation, playing by ear, improvisation, and more.
Nuts & Bolts of Writing Music Down: A Guide to Help Your Students’ Compositions Look and Feel Professional
Date/Time: Saturday, October 23, 2021, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Local Contact: For more information please contact Jan Miller.
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Susan Todd.
Presenting District: Blue Mountain
Presenter: Dr. Stephen Lewis, PhD, DMA,Read Presenter Bio Dr. Stephen Lewis, PhD, DMA, is a Portland-based composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher whose compositions inhabit the terrain between sound as physical sensation and sound as signifier of culture. Stephen’s opera, Noon at Dusk, was hailed as “delectable,” with a “constantly shifting sonic world [that] proved fascinating and effective.” Recent and upcoming performance engagements include concerts with the Oregon Symphony, the Agnieszka Laska Dancers, the Astoria Music Festival, and Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project as well as a live broadcast on All-Classical Radio. Stephen has also performed throughout the United States and in Italy. Stephen holds a PhD in composition and a DMA in piano from UC-San Diego, and a BMus from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Stephen teaches piano, composition, music theory, and conducting privately at his home and from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, where he serves as music director and organist. Stephen enjoys baking bread, reading, wine tasting, and hiking with his wife. See more at his websites:
www.stephenlewiscomposer.com (artistic) and
www.chopinois.com (teaching).
Program Description: When writing music,Read More young composers need to learn to navigate the difficulties of notation (so other people can read their music), instrumentation (so their music works and sounds its best), and style. In this 2-hour session, we will explore a basic set of rules and principles that will allow you to teach your students how to write clear, creative, and effective music. Dr. Lewis will provide materials that summarize these ideas for your own reference in your teaching. Please bring blank staff paper, a pencil, an eraser, a 6-inch ruler, and enthusiasm!
Lions and Tigers and…PARENTS!…Oh My!: Constructive Communication With Parents
Date/Time: Friday, November 5, 2021, 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Local Contact: For more information please contact Mary Morganti.
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Susan Todd.
Presenting District: Lincoln County
Presenter: Rebekah Carter, NCTMRead Presenter Bio Rebekah Carter, NCTM, maintains a piano studio in eastern Oregon, and has recently settled roots in Boise, Idaho. In addition to teaching in her private studio for over 15 years as an independent piano instructor, Ms. Carter teaches and accompanies as an adjunct instructor at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, OR. Her college studies took her to Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA where she studied with Dr. Peter Mack. In addition to teaching, Ms. Carter serves on the OMTA State Board as Certification Chair and OMTA Blue Mountain District as Secretary and chairs festivals at the district and state level. In 2016-2018, she was a Tholen Fellow through Portland Piano International. In 2020, Ms. Carter presented at the OMTA Virtual Conference from Florence, OR. She is a regular presenter and competition adjudicator throughout Oregon and Idaho.
Ms. Carter enjoys maintaining a professional and friendly relationship with the parents in her studio. She also enjoys hiking, trying new foods, attending concerts, and spending time with her husband and two children.
to stories of “that” parent…you know…that one. However, parents are a determining factor in a student’s success and a necessary part of our daily work as music teachers. So how can we develop a constructive and positive relationship with them? Research shows that communication is the key. This presentation will use humor and interactive activities as well as practical tools and help, and includes: a handout of useful phrases for common “sticky situations,” interactive role-playing, exploration of your studio’s communication style, other not-so-obvious forms of communication you use every day, helpful apps, and a practical look at the MTNA Code of Ethics for professional guidance.
The Taubman Approach
Date/Time: Monday, November 8, 2021, 10:00-11:30 AM
Local Contact: For more information please contact Janet Pollack.
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Susan Todd.
Presenting District: Eugene
Presenter: Deborah CleaverRead Presenter Bio Deborah Ingram Cleave
rholds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from Boston University where she studied with the renowned pianist and pedagogue Leonard Shure. After finishing her degree, she worked closely with Shure as his teaching assistant at New England Conservatory.
Ms. Cleaver has also spent many years studying the performance practice of the Baroque and Classic periods with such luminaries as Sandra Rosenblum, Edward Parmentier, and Elisabeth Wright. Her broad interests have resulted in lectures for universities and music teachers’ organizations, ranging from the expressive aspects of Baroque performance practice to the correlation between Romantic literature and music.
Ms. Cleaver teaches at Lewis and Clark College and Reed College as well as in her private studio. She also organizes seminars three times each year for the Portland/Golandsky Institute community, and is the immediate past president of OMTA Portland District. She has been a faculty member of the Golandsky Institute since 2005, and teaches at their summer institute at Princeton University every summer. Previous teaching positions have been at Willamette University, St. Andrews College, and the South Shore Conservatory in Boston.
An avid performer, she has appeared with the Fear No Music Ensemble, the DeRosa Chamber Players, Cascadia Composers, Friends of Rain, and the Makrokosmos Project I and II. She has had performances aired on the classical music programs PLAYED IN OREGON and ALL CLASSICAL PORTLAND. In addition, she has given lectures, workshops, and recitals at Portland State University, Eastern Washington University, and for Oregon and Washington music teachers’ associations, and is a frequent adjudicator throughout the Northwest.
that can be incorporated without a lot of training. Teachers will learn the most advantageous physical relation to the piano keyboard, how to successfully perform leaps, polyrhythms, chords and octaves, and improved tone production.
Lions and Tigers and…PARENTS!…Oh My!: Constructive Communication With Parents
Date/Time: Monday, November 8, 2021, 9:30-11:30 AM
Local Contact: For more information please contact Terri Horn.
Location: Grace Lutheran Church, 660 Frances Ln, Ashland, OR 97520
Presenting District: Rogue Valley
Presenter: Rebekah Carter, NCTMRead Presenter Bio Bio to be updated soon.
Program Description: Teachers of all instruments can relateRead More to stories of “that” parent…you know…that one. However, parents are a determining factor in a student’s success and a necessary part of our daily work as music teachers. So how can we develop a constructive and positive relationship with them? Research shows that communication is the key. This presentation will use humor and interactive activities as well as practical tools and help, and includes: a handout of useful phrases for common “sticky situations,” interactive role-playing, exploration of your studio’s communication style, other not-so-obvious forms of communication you use every day, helpful apps, and a practical look at the MTNA Code of Ethics for professional guidance.
Workshop Videos
(The following videos are available to OMTA members and are password protected. Members may find the password in their members handbook. It is the same as for other password protected areas of this site.)
Presented by Barbara Chapman NCTM
Presented by Leila Viss, 88PianoKeys.me
Presented by Donna Gunn, M.M., NCTM
Presented by Emily Ross, M.A., M.T. – B.C.
Presented by Heidi Evans NCTM
Presented by Dr. Crystal Zimmerman NCTM, Professor of Piano, Willamette University
Presented by Dr. Crystal Zimmerman NCTM, Professor of Piano, Willamette University
Presented by Daniel Stephens, M.F.A. and Judith Kennedy, M.A.
