Thoughts From Your President: April 2024

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Colleen Hunter, WSMTA President

Recently as I visited with a piano parent, I happened to see the new start of the Bleeding Heart Bush poking up through the ground by the front door.  Our area had just had a severe cold snap, snow, and blustery weather, so the new growth caught me by surprise.  In just a few days it doubled in size and, as is its nature, continues the rapid growth spurts!  It is the same plant gifted to me by the Spokane chapter as I completed my term as chapter president and reminds me of my fellow WSMTA friends.  What caught my breath was how much had been going on underneath the surface all winter.  The plant has a rough appearing bark root that lays just at the ground surface which makes it look like nothing is happening, when, in fact, a lot is taking place!

And so with WSMTA – the long winter days of consistent and concerted efforts of teachers, students, and mentors is yielding a spring of musical beauty through performances and experiences.  I witnessed a rapid showcase of beauty and success with several focused days as a Visiting Artist, then guided both home and college students through their MAP experience, and completed several intensive days of rehearsal and performance in collaboration with high school students at their solo/ensemble event.  Several days later along with other attendees, I heard our Washington State and Division winners perform spectacularly in the national competition at the MTNA Conference in Atlanta, GA.  Kudos to our students and teachers!

Representing our membership as a Foundation Fellow, Cherie Felts was honored at the MTNA Conference Gala and we cheered for her as she represents years of experience, dedication, service, and positive enthusiasm and collaboration in our Washington State Music Teachers.  Like flowers blooming, the monies raised in her honor pay it forward in scholarships for students and teachers.  In addition, the legacies of two more Washington teachers were honored:  the Michiko Miyamoto Endowment and the Helen Taverniti Fellow.  Many members will remember them fondly and give testimony to their teaching and influence.

The beauty keeps coming!  Join me in registering for the WSMTA Conference, June 27-29, 2024 on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.  We will hear our state and national winners, hear our chapter representatives in the Honors Recitals, hear from Connor Chee, our guest artist, and from two outstanding ensembles, The Sapphire Trio and Tango Volcado, as well as, many fabulous colleagues presenting an array of interesting and captivating topics.  An array of splendid color and tapestries of sound, sight, and senses!

You inspire! Thank you!

Colleen Hunter, NCTM
WSMTA President

Thoughts From Your President: March 2024

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Colleen Hunter, WSMTA President

Every new year – and every new month – presents such a unique perspective on time. It’s a pivotal place: to look back – to remember and reflect; to see the present – to renew and refresh; to view the future – to purpose and plan. Taking time for thoughtful contemplation and deliberation of our possibilities and potential is rewarding, but requires our intention and attention. It will uncover joys and blessings as well as challenges, losses, perhaps sorrows and longings, in any of the directions. It will also remind us of our value and worth, of friendships that sustain and colleagues with whom we collaborate and learn, and of connections with students and families and communities whose lives we touch and who touch our lives blending our journeys of life if for even a short time.

In December, I mentioned how thankful I was for you, the over 800 members of WSMTA. I look forward to working with you and meeting more of you this coming year. In November we had a successful MTNA-WSMTA State Competition and now have 12 participants representing Washington State at the national competition in March in Atlanta, GA. I look forward, as our state president, to representing WSMTA at the 2024 National Conference, supporting our performers and meeting colleagues from across the nation.

This spring we have students, teachers, and visiting artists preparing for our largest event, MAP, Musical Artistry Program. Many kudos to the many members who kindly give and serve to see that each event is a smooth educational highlight.

Our State Conference is June 27-29, 2024 at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Connor Chee, pianist and composer from Arizona, is our guest artist. Plans are in process for a stellar three days of presentations, performances, and collegial visiting and dining. Registration will begin in February.

In January, we held our annual Winter Board Meetings where we reviewed the reports of our board members and chairs.

I look forward to additional chapter visits and email conversations. To you – as you read this right now – thank you for all you do – whether for WSMTA, your local chapter, your studio, your community, your family! You really do matter! Thank you for working together from the grass roots level (from home to chapter) to a broader field of boards and community. We matter together! This is how music works best!

Wishing you a wonderful MAP season!

Colleen Hunter
WSMTA President

Thoughts From Your President: December 2023

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Colleen Hunter, WSMTA President

The season of Thanks and Thanksgiving is spilling into the Celebrations of December! I have over 800 reasons to be thankful! I am grateful for you – each member of WSMTA. I think of you so very often. You are the living force behind our association. You lead with confidence, you embrace goodness, you inspire hope, you encourage, youteach and mentor with excellence, you volunteer and share and give. You surround yourselves with creativity and ideas, resources that renew and reenergize, and with friends that motivate and with whom you collaborate. You negotiate the challenges and respond generously when colleagues need assistance. Thank you!

And 800 plus individuals means an influence thousands of times over – add in students, parents, family members, colleagues, playing partners, and more. You make a world of difference – every day!

I witnessed it live at the WSMTA Performance Competition and the Outstanding Artist Piano Competition in November. Thank you to Julie Swienty, Amanda Harris and Cherie Felts for coordinating a fabulous weekend of competition. The judges were impressed with the outstanding performances. Thank you to teachers for your excellence and commitment in teaching. Thank you to the volunteers from WSMTA and CWU who assisted throughout the weekend. Thank you also to Nathan Campbell for coordinating the MTNA Composition Competition. And thank you to Greg Presley, NCTM for a successful District VII Conference in Spokane in November.

Looking ahead, registration is still open for 2024 Atlanta – MTNA National Conference, March 16-20, 2024. The latest AMT provides a review and schedule for each day. Our WSMTA Foundation Fellow, Cherie Felts, will be honored at the Gala Banquet along with other Foundation Fellows from across the nation. If you are attending the Gala Banquet, purchase your banquet ticket when you register for the conference. Then contact me by email (colleenhunterpiano@gmail.com) if you wish to save a seat and sit at the reserved tables for the Washingtoncolleagues. WSMTA will be reserving some tables at the banquet for a separate fee.

By the way, when looking through the AMT December 2023/January 2024 issue, read our MTNA President, Peter Mack’s column in Dear Reader: The Value of Music Teachers.

As we finish out the year, may we all reflect on the beauty we share, not only in making and sharing music, but in the gift of friendship our music brings. You are each a gift in my life.

Colleen Hunter, NCTM, WSMTA President

President’s Corner: November 2023

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Colleen Hunter, NCTM, WSMTA President

Thoughts From Your President

It is amazing that the colors and changes inherent in nature have been in place, waiting for the right time to deliver. It reminds me that the fall events in our studios, chapters, state association and lives have been worked out through weeks and months of planning, details prepared, ready for the right time to deliver.

And we have enjoyed some terrific fall events! First and second monthly chapter meetings have taken place. I have had the privilege of meeting with three chapters so far — absolutely wonderful members — engaged, hard-working, generous, compassionate for their members, students, communities.

Registrations for the Music Literacy Program (MLP) are in. District Conference I/II recently took place thanks to the leadership of District Director Kay Zavislak. District VII Conference is coming up in mid-November in Spokane, thanks to District Director Greg Presley.

The WSMTA MTNA Competition and Outstanding Artist Piano Competition are in high gear for the weekend of November 11 at CWU. The Leadership Seminar in September was superbly handled by President-elect Kira Miller. Not only did we hear from and meet with our local leadership, but had opportunity to hear from our MTNA Executive Director and CEO, Gary Ingle, as well as, our MTNA President, Peter Mack.

In September, I represented WSMTA at the MTNA Summit, a leadership weekend similar to our leadership seminar.  The 2023 Local Leadership Seminar, an online summary of the MTNA Summit, is available here.

As we continue with our fall activities, here are a couple of take-aways from our leadership events: What is a change you would love to see in your life? What activities give you joy?

Enjoy the beauty of the season and the wonder of our music opportunities!

Colleen Hunter, NCTM

President’s Corner: September 2023

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Colleen Hunter, WSMTA President

Greetings! My name is Colleen Hunter and I look forward to being your WSMTA President! Thank you for joining me on this journey and engaging in conversation and action.  I look forward to our chapter visits over the next two years and meeting you, the members.

With each June conference comes a rotation of some WSMTA board positions. Thank you to the on-going dedication of these officers:  Karen Hollenback, NCTM, Immediate Past President, now joining the Education Board; Kathy Mortensen, Immediate Past President; Kira Miller, NCTM, President-Elect; Amanda Harris, NCTM, Vice-President; Krista Seely, completed term as Education Board Chair; Michelle Mielke, NCTM, Education Board Chair; District II Director: Katie Levine; District VI Director: Ben Walley.  Thank you to Amanda Harris and Margo Cox who served as District II and VI Directors, respectively. Mary Foster Grant, NCTM, continues as WSMTA Treasurer for another term.

It is a pleasure having Kirsten Carlson back with us as Administrative Coordinator.  Working remotely from Canada, but joining us annually in June, she brings a global association vibe!

Our 2023 June conference, chaired by Carol Cross and Lois Rhoads, was a splendid success. Their team worked diligently throughout the year planning for “Collaboration in the Cascades” at Sun Mountain Lodge. A host of volunteers, helpers, student and professional performers, and presenters made the three days a refreshing and informative time for our membership. Our 2024 conference, chaired by Lois Rhoads and Dorothy Bauer, will be at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Ask them how to be a part of the “dream team!”

While I am not new to WSMTA, I am new to this particular role. I am guessing some of you feel the same way with your roles as they have shifted with the start of a new season.  Something in every interaction with WSMTA or connection with someone a part of WSMTA has helped me in my journey to this point.  Now our collaboration will inform, enrich, and inspire us individually and collectively. I look forward to meeting you, the members who make this organization what it is. From the youngest to the oldest, the smallest chapter to the largest, the most remote or the closest chapter or member, I look forward to a dialogue about what gives you purpose and vision and how our association can come alongside our efforts to bring beauty to our lives, to our students, and to the families and communities we touch.

Keep moving forward!

Colleen Hunter, NCTM
WSMTA President

Announcement/Reminder:

As part of your planning for this school year, log in to the WSMTA website.  Check your profile to make sure it is up-to-date, (add NCTM if you are nationally certified), reset your password.  You will be ready to register your students for MAP and other WSMTA events.

President’s Corner: February 2023

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Kathy Mortensen, WSMTA President

Let’s try something new.

We are looking forward to our state conference at Sun Mountain Lodge. Having the conference at a destination resort is an idea we started planning a few years ago. We thought it would be an attractive get-away to end a busy teaching and school year. Thanks to the WSMTA Board and good financial planning, the room rates are less than you would expect at an all inclusive resort. We probably won’t hold another state conference at a place off the beaten track, so if you’ve always wanted to visit the beautiful Winthrop area of our state during the gorgeous month of June, now is your chance. 

Planning state conferences is challenging. Where to hold them? Universities and colleges cannot put us on their schedules until they have worked out their own calendars for their faculty and classes. This means we can’t sign a contract with them until a few months before the conference and we cannot book a guest artist with any certainty.

If we book a hotel or conference event center, we must bring in the pianos. Perhaps the sound is not concert-hall quality. But these places can be booked years ahead.

We used to hold our state conferences in a different district every year, with a local chapter hosting and doing the bulk of the work. This tradition became unsustainable. In 2016 we moved to a state-wide conference Chair. Now we are trying a Co-chair approach. Laura Curtis co-chaired the 2022 conference with Carol Cross. Carol is co-chairing the 2023 conference with Lois Rhoads. Lois will co-chair the 2024 conference with . . . you? 

We used to have a conference from Monday to Friday. Then reduced the number of days. The conference dates are determined based on several factors including when the facility is available, and somewhat on when school is out. When we included a Saturday, more students participated in Honors Recitals. When we included a Sunday, more teachers left early to get to their church jobs. 

As many of our chapters have discovered, our members have less time to give to programs and events. Members are building their career and business. They have family commitments. They have revised their priorities. The state and chapter must reconsider the value of programs and events. Perhaps it is time to let a particular event go off the calendar. Some chapters are teaming up and holding joint meetings and presentations.

Let’s support efforts to try something new. If there’s an interested, enthusiastic volunteer, let them work on their idea. Maybe it was tried in the 20th century, didn’t last, but now it’s time to bring back the idea. 

Maybe it’s a different problem. There are few volunteers, but the program is important to members and to the organization. Consider hiring a part time assistant or project manager. Try a different type of venue. Limit the number of events that require hands-on, in person volunteers.

Teachers are life-long learners. We know that life is a journey, not a race. We can try something new, learn from our mistakes, and do things differently and better.

Yours in service,
Kathy Mortensen