Please click on the District Conference you are interested in:
- District I & II Conference in SHORELINE on October 5, 2024
- District IV Conference in CENTRALIA on October 5, 2024
- District VI Conference in PASCO on November 2, 2024
Did you know that some chapters offer members grants to attend district, state, and even national conferences? Check with your chapter to find out if they offer conference fee grants.
DISTRICT I & II CONFERENCE
Saturday, October 5, 2024
9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Prince of Peace Church
in Shoreline
14514 20th Ave. NE
Shoreline, WA 98155
In-person format only.
Lunch and refreshments are provided.
Presenters:
Amora Bussey
Leann Osterkamp
Devin Weckstein
Registration fees:
Register by October 2 to have lunch included with your registration.
Members: $60
Non-Members: $75
Students: $30
Amora Bussey
Adaptive Teaching Techniques for the Neurodivergent Learner
“Adaptive Teaching Techniques for the Neurodivergent Learner” is a presentation focused on empowering teachers to understand the unique development and functionality of the brain in atypical students. This presentation aims to inspire educators to connect with their neurodivergent students effectively to build meaningful bonds and a life-long love of learning.
Bio: Amora Bussey has been a music educator for over 25 years, focusing on piano, flute, and vocal performance. Recognized by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a (BAMT)-trained music therapist, Amora has worked in schools across Western Europe, bringing music to life within communities of special needs children and adults. Now settled in the great Pacific Northwest, Amora offers lessons to local and international students, who seek instruction delivered through the comfort and understanding of adaptive teaching methods. As the president of the Puyallup Valley Chapter of the Washington State Music Teachers Association (WSMTA), she also serves as a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force for the WSMTA. In addition, Amora also serves as Vice Chair City Commissioner for the Puyallup Arts and Culture Commission. Amora was honored by a special invitation and participated as a guest performer at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in Salt Lake City. Amora has also received the Paul Mazzola Best Teacher in Your Area, Puget Sound Award of 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024. She founded the Briar Thomas Conservatory in Puyallup. Recently, Amora presented “Adaptive Teaching Techniques for the Neurodivergent Learner” in 2022 at the WSMTA State Conference. She has most recently joined Tacoma Music Collaborative as a board member, hoping to further her outreach and support in service to the local music community.
Leann Osterkamp
Combating OCD and Perfectionism in the Music Profession
Over time, social media has severely modified the meaning of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in everyday culture to the point where it has been given glorification, instead of being viewed as the devastating disorder that it is. In a similar way, society has also come to value perfectionism, turning it into the expected standard rather than an unrealistic mindset. In a profession that already places high emotional, mental, and physical discipline on its participants, perfectionism and/or OCD are at their pinnacle of complexity. On one hand, the traits and thought patterns of those with OCD can, in part, help make them exceptional musicians, with elements such as heightened intensity of feeling, realistic imagination, scrupulousness, and compulsions leading to the illusion of diligence. Perfectionists will seem to demonstrate the necessary work ethic and detail oriented nature so often praised in the industry. Yet, on the other hand, OCD and perfectionism can lead musicians to depression,
make tasks impossible, cause feelings of worthlessness, and can be devastating to the lives of artists.
In this presentation, we will begin by examining what OCD and perfectionism truly are. From there, we will discuss their complex dual nature in the music industry, capitalizing on the unexpected benefits and giving space to recognize the unneeded issues caused by them. We will explore some helpful guidance on how to recognize and approach the disorder/mind function in students, ourselves and colleagues, understanding how to best support and educate those with the disorder or a tangental related anxiety disorder.
*This presentation is for informative purposes only and should not be seen or utilized as diagnosis or medical advice. If you or someone you know is in need of medical attention,
struggling with a disorder, or having suicidal thoughts please call or text the WA crisis support lifeline at 988 or call 911.*
Bio: Steinway Artist Dr. Leann Osterkamp He is a passionate educator with an impressive performance/recording career. A Presidential Scholar of the Arts (Obama) and an international competition winner, she is a frequent conference presenter. Formerly faculty at Juilliard, she currently owns RioPiano, an international online education company. www.leannosterkamp.
Devin Weckstein
Learning Jazz in the First Term at the Piano: A Fun Way to Promote Inclusivity with Universal Design for Learning
Why should jazz only be available to intermediate-advanced pianists? There are few jazz curriculums that assist teachers in preparing first term students to learn jazz. This workshop will offer suggestions in preparing beginning pianists for success learning jazz as well as demonstrate how incorporating jazz education can help promote inclusivity through UDL. In analyzing successful advanced jazz methods, such as, the Aebersold Play-A-Long Series, I have narrowed down some of the largest differences between jazz and traditional piano pedagogy. Namely, to learn jazz successfully, aural-skills, music-theory, and internalization of pulse are crucial. With my first-term students, I have found success teaching “advanced” jazz concepts in combination with traditionally elementary concepts in the following ways:
• Aural-Skills
• Eurhythmics
• Guided-Listening
• Improvisation
• Rote-Teaching
This presentation will also introduce UDL and contextualize the guidelines with elementary jazz pedagogy. By intertwining more “advanced” jazz theory concepts with traditionally elementary pedagogy using each category listed above, students learn through a variety of representations and can contextualize knowledge successfully through multiple means of engagement and expression. UDL is a teaching paradigm which believes that multiple means of engagement, expression, and representation helps scaffold curriculums to be more inclusive and offer more robust learning for special-needs and traditional students alike. Additional exercises that I have found to be successful will be shared with teaching demonstrations along with research supporting these concepts in renowned intermediate-advanced jazz pedagogic material. Not only is teaching jazz to beginners possible, but it furthers inclusivity in piano education by utilizing UDL.
Bio: Devin Weckstein currently teaches piano out of his privately run LLC in Tallahassee, Florida where he has students of all ages, levels, and abilities. He studied at the University of Oklahoma where he obtained a degree in piano with an emphasis in pedagogy. Completing extracurricular courses in inclusive piano teaching through the Francis Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and independently studying with the special education department at OU, Devin is dedicated to accommodating all learners into his piano studio. In the last few years, he has also been engaged in studying piano technology and has been enjoying sharing this passion with his students by helping introduce concepts that explain how pianos work. When not at the piano, Devin enjoys cooking, reading, meditating, spending time with friends and family, and anything that gets him outdoors.
DISTRICT IV CONFERENCE
Saturday, October 5, 2024
9:30 am to 3:00 pm
Centralia Church of the Nazarene
1119 w 1st St. Centralia, WA
Presenter: Michelle Huang
Schedule:
9:00 – 9:30 am – Check-in
9:30 – 10:30 am – Decoding the Mystery of Pedalling
10:30 – 10:45 am – Break
10:45 – 12:00 noon – Creating Beautiful Tone in Piano Playing
12:00 – 1:15 pm – Lunch**
1:30 – 3:00 pm – Masterclass
REGISTRATION before September 28, 2024:
$50 for non-members
$35 for WSMTA members
$25 for students
* After September 28, 2024, each registration fee will increase by $5.
**Lunch will be provided and will include gluten-free and dairy-free options.
Decoding the Mystery of Pedalling
Frequently in lessons, teachers demand “less pedal, pedal through this, change the pedal here”, which are instructions that baffle the students to some degree. What if we can offer specific guidelines to the students behind our demands so that they have the tools to discern for themselves on how to pedal? In this presentation, we will look into the different types of pedaling that can be useful based on the musical styles. We will talk about how to apply pedal tastefully to Baroque and Classical keyboard works, as well as decoding the mysterious pedal
markings (or the lack of) of Romantic works, leading into the twentieth century and the modern eras.
Creating Beautiful Tone in Piano Playing
It is a lifelong challenge for pianists to make a beautiful cantabile sound on the piano, but it is possible through a general understanding of the mechanism of the instrument as well as the proper technique to make a warm, singing tone in piano playing. In this presentation, we will survey different ways to approach the piano keys through two note and three note slurs, staccatos, tenutos, accents, octaves, chords, voicing, and phrase shaping. Through specific musical examples, we will learn that different composers and styles might require different techniques to bring out certain sounds. By exploring an array of key speeds and attacks, we can bring exciting possibilities in how we can vary our sound and musical ideas.
REGISTER for the District IV Conference in Centralia View the flyer for the District IV Conference in Centralia
Michelle Huang
A native of Taiwan, pianist Michelle Huang has performed and taught extensively throughout the U.S. as well as abroad in the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, andTaiwan. Described as a pianist with much sensibility and nuance, Michelle Huang is equally at home as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. She has played numerous solo recitals, gave workshops and masterclasses, and collaborated frequently with vocalists and instrumentalists in the Mary L’Engle Ensemble, the River City Trio, the chamber group-in-residence at Friday Musicale in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Jacksonville Symphony and Richmond Symphony musicians. In 2017, she received a grant to commission ten paintings by two graduates of Virginia Commonwealth University art students. These paintings were presented alongside the complete performance of Mussorgsky’s piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition during her concert tour in 2018-19.
Deeply committed to community outreach, she launched a concert series during her residency at Edward Waters College, in which high caliber artists performed concerts as well as conducted master classes, workshops, and lectures for the continuing enrichment and exposure of classical music to both the school and the community. She initiated the Mentoring Program as part of the Richmond Music Teachers Association, in which young music teachers can be paired with experienced teachers to help them with aspects of teaching. She is the co-founder of the Online Young Pianist Summer Symposium, which launched in May 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. The Symposium was conducted virtually for pre-college and college students as well as teachers, in which guest speakers were invited to present topics such as the art of practicing, the art of memorization, and Alexander Technique, as well as a masterclass. The Symposium continued to flourish in April 2022, and is expected to have more sessions in 2023.
Michelle Huang holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee, and Doctor of Music in Piano Performance from Florida State University. Her principal teachers include Barbara Rowan, David Northington, and Read Gainsford. Dr. Huang has held teaching positions at Walter State Community College and Lincoln Memorial University. In 2011 – 2014, she served as the Assistant Professor of Piano at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida. Most recently, she was on the piano faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. In the summer, she is on the faculty of East/West International Piano Festival in Seoul, Korea. In addition to teaching in the collegiate setting, Dr. Huang also maintains a private studio, where she works with talented pre-college students both in her Seattle studio and online. She has served as President and First Vice President of Programming for the Richmond Music Teachers Association. She is currently an active member of the Seattle Music Teachers Association and Eastside
Music Teachers Association. Highly demanded as a frequent presenter and adjudicator, she is a Visiting Artist for the Washington State Music Teachers Association. Many of her students have won top awards and successfully pursued studies and careers in music.
DISTRICT VI CONFERENCE
Saturday, November 2
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Columbia Basin College
Performing Arts Center
Pasco
2600 N 20th Ave
Pasco, WA 99301
SCHEDULE
10:00 am – “The Mighty Five: Developing Fingering Strategies for Effective Practice”
11:00 am – Round Table Discussion
Noon – Lunch (included with registration)
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Masterclass
REGISTRATION
Registration ends on October 30, 2024
Members: $25
Non-Members: $30
Students free
Fabio Menchetti
A native of Lucca, Italy, Fabio Menchetti serves as Assistant Professor of Piano at Washington State University, while maintaining an active performance career. He has performed in many Italian cities – Florence, Bologna, Lucca, La Spezia, Parma, Torino – as well as in Poland, France, and in Germany, where he gave a solo recital for the 2011 Liszt bicentenary celebrations in Bayreuth. Dr. Menchetti has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Italy and the US, and he regularly concertizes throughout the United States, both as a soloist and a chamber musician.
For Sheva Collection he recorded Libro di Canti Italiano, a set of solo piano pieces by English composer Peter Seabourne, and Novecento Italiano, featuring music for violin and piano by Italian composers written between the two world wars. He also recorded John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music with the CCM Wind Symphony for Klavier Records. His latest releases include Crossroads (works for tuba and piano by living composers), All Are Welcome (new works for bassoon, oboe, and piano), and two albums featuring music for bassoon and piano by Native American and Maori composers.
Prior to joining Washington State University, Dr. Menchetti has taught piano in many diverse settings, from Italian junior high schools to American colleges. Winner of the College- Conservatory of Music Excellence in Teaching Award for the best doctoral teaching assistant, after completing his doctorate he returned to CCM as a visiting instructor of piano and piano pedagogy.
As an active member of Music Teachers National Association and College of Music Society, he is frequently invited to present at regional, national, and international conferences, offering a broad range of subjects such as teaching strategies, pedagogical piano literature, and preparing students to enter the professional world. A sought-after adjudicator and clinician, he is regularly requested for masterclasses at universities and in private studios. Dr. Menchetti is also the coordinator of the Piano Pedagogy Laboratory School at WSU, where his college students gain teaching experience and through directed mentoring are trained to become the next generation of piano teachers.
Dr. Menchetti received his Bachelor of Music from Boccherini Conservatory in Lucca, and his Master of Music and Music Education from Puccini Conservatory in La Spezia. After moving to the United States, he received his Master of Arts from Houghton College, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from College-Conservatory Music, University of Cincinnati. His primary teachers include Pier Narciso Masi, Enrico Stellini, Pietro De Maria, Andrea
Lucchesini, William John Newbrough, and Michael Chertock.
DISTRICT III CONFERENCE
The next District III Conference will be in the 2025-2026 academic year.
DISTRICT V CONFERENCE
The next District V Conference will be in the 2025-2026 academic year.
DISTRICT VII CONFERENCE
The next District VII Conference will be in the 2025-2026 academic year.