TMTA Conference

JOHNSON CITY (May 17, 2018) – The Tennessee Music Teachers Association (TMTA), an affiliate of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), will hold its annual conference at East Tennessee State University June 2-5.

The conference will begin with student auditions and competitions in Mathes Hall on Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3.  Winners of the student divisions will perform in honors recitals in Brown Hall during the afternoon on both days.

Following practice tips offered by the ETSU collegiate chapter of MTNA in the morning, activities on Monday, June 4, also in Mathes Hall, will feature a lecture on the interpretive indications of Chopin’s music by conference clinician Seymour Bernstein, winner of the Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award.

Bernstein is a noted performer, composer, author, clinician and jury member for competitions.  His mission to expose a wide audience to music developed when, as a soldier during the Korean War, he presented concerts on the front lines for the military.  He made his debut performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1969.

“Seymour: An Introduction,” a documentary on Bernstein’s life produced by actor Ethan Hawke, will be shown during the TMTA conference during the afternoon of June 4.  Other activities that afternoon include a piano master class and the TMTA annual meeting for members.  Also that day will be the Independent Music Teachers Forum Luncheon and Program at the Carnegie Hotel at 11:45 a.m.

Sessions on Tuesday, June 5, will include a presentation of Suzuki training by Tim and Kim Barrett from the Academy of Strings, as well as violin and cello master classes and a panel discussion regarding approaches to teaching music by Suzuki and traditional methods.

The final event on June 5 is the conference awards lunch at Southern Craft restaurant at 1:30 p.m.

Three public recitals are planned in conjunction with the TMTA conference:

• A concert by ETSU faculty musicians on June 2 at 7 p.m.;
• A New Faculty Recital, featuring TMTA members who are new faculty members in their colleges and universities, on June 3 at 6 p.m.; and
• An evening of chamber music by conference artists Sergiu Schwartz on violin, Thomas Landschoot on cello and Esther Park on piano on June 4 at 7:30 p.m.

All three concerts will be held in the Brown Hall auditorium and are free and open to the public.  Suggested donations of $10 will be accepted for the June 4 concert by Schwartz, Landschoot and Park; a reception sponsored by the Steinway Piano Gallery of Nashville will follow the performance.

Schwartz is a professor at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus (Georgia) State University, where he holds the William B. and Sue Marie Turner Distinguished Faculty Chair in Music.  He has performed on four continents and in 40 states.

Landschoot, a native of Belgium, has performed solo and orchestral cello repertoire and conducted master classes in Europe, Asia and the United States.  He teaches at the Herberger College School of Music at Arizona State University and is involved in a public service project in India.

Born in Pusan, Korea, Park is a member of the piano faculty at ETSU and is an award-winning solo and chamber musician.  She has performed in Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, among other major venues, and has been a soloist with many orchestras, such as the Houston Symphony and the Filharmonia Pomorska in Poland.

For more information on the conference, including registration and fee details, contact Dr. Benjamin Caton of the ETSU Department of Music at caton@etsu.edu. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.