Greetings from Mary Kaye Owen, NCTM, MTNA Northwest Division Director

It has been a joy to be on the MTNA Board of Directors! My favorite aspect of being Northwest Division Director is the added friendships I’ve made around the country and the Northwest. My least favorite thing is being in the Pacific Time Zone while most of the others on the board and in the division are in other time zones – but that is not an insurmountable problem, and I do not spend a lot of time stressing about it!

The 14-member BOD consists of seven Directors, President, President-Elect, Immediate Past President, Vice President of Diversity-Equity-Inclusion, Vice President of Membership, Secretary, Treasurer, as well as the MTNA Chief Executive Officer, who is non-voting. We meet in-person for a full day twice a year. When we are not in-person at the annual Leadership Summit in Cincinnati, or the national conference, the BOD meets together on Zoom every month for one hour so that the national business gets taken care of in a timely manner.

Once a quarter, I meet via Zoom with our six Northwest Division State Presidents (from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming), and our Northwest Division Director-Elect (Steven Hesla from Montana). Because we also have other national leaders from the Northwest Division (MTNA President Peter Mack, and MTNA Vice President of DEI William Chapman Nyaho – both from Washington State), I invite them to join us. It’s a time of sharing what’s going on in our division’s states, as well as discussion and advice-sharing if a state president requests our help. How does a person get invited to be nominated for a BOD position? It probably helps to have been an officer in your state. And to be an officer in your state, it probably helps to have been a leader in your local association. My advice is to say “YES!” if possible, to every opportunity to serve.

My personal MTNA Origin story may or may not be as boring as the previous paragraph. I’d never heard of MTNA until in college 40+ years ago, (Multnomah University in Portland, OR), my Piano Pedagogy professor quickly mentioned many professional associations, including MTNA. But it wasn’t until I was given my pastor’s wife’s piano studio in Atlanta, GA five years later that I joined MTNA, and that was because she said, “Mary Kaye, you should join MTNA, because that will get your name out there and potential students might call you. All you have to do is pay your dues – you never have to go to meetings or anything like that!” With that recommendation and advice, I sent in my application and dues. Easy-peasy, just like she said!

About two years later, I moved back to Washington State and again was given a piano studio from a retiring teacher I’d met at church. I transferred my MTNA membership from Georgia to Washington – again, very easy. I kept paying my dues. I would get the national and state magazines, but rarely read them – I was very busy with my 9-to-5 job at the heavy construction office that transferred me around the country.

And then, I met Dan-the-Man. After a lovely courtship, we married. He had a great job, and we decided I could quit the construction job and get my masters degree at the University of Washington! What fun!! I kept paying my MTNA dues. I had a nice little piano studio, and was able to earn my MA in Music Education, with an emphasis on Piano Pedagogy. After graduation, I thought, “Maybe I should check out an MTNA local association meeting.” I’ll always remember the elegant home of that first meeting experience. The attending teachers were welcoming, and I kept going back to the meetings.

I soon met other piano teachers my age with the same life situations – babies and toddlers, enough that the chapter hired a babysitter during our meetings! (My kids still remember Mrs. Manny 25 years later!) Since the students of those two studios I was given grew up, I admit all of my students came to me because of my membership in MTNA! It’s been a financially beneficial, educational, and socially wonderful experience to be a member of Music Teachers National Association!