Independent Music Teachers Forum: Fall 2023 Update

Don’t you just love the fall? I’m talking crisp mornings, colorful leaves, and getting back to a “normal schedule” after summer vacations.  A few seasonal traditions in my studio include booking recital spaces, creating yearly student action plans, ordering new materials, and a taking photos of each student for the famous “studio door.”  These annual traditions feel comforting and grounding.

At the same time, fall offers us opportunities for new experiences, and challenges. As music teachers, this may mean practicing new repertoire, volunteering for a position in your local chapter, taking a class, attending a workshop, or scaling up your business (no pun intended).  One of my new experiences is stepping into the position of IMTF chair on the heels of the previous chair, RoseMarie Tamburri. I’m speaking on behalf of all of us when I say, thank you, RoseMarie, for entertaining, educating, and inspiring us for the past seven years!

As the new IMTF chair, in the style of the previous chair, I plan on addressing topics that relate to the business and art of teaching music. Throughout the year, I’ll be reaching out to different teachers from around the state to weigh in on a wide variety of topics such as studio policies, online teaching, helpful teaching web sites, 21^st century music, inspiring books, and more. Don’t be surprised if an email shows up in your inbox asking your opinion on a selected topic.

Here’s a little bit about my background: I’ve been teaching piano and voice in the Seattle area since 1995. In addition to teaching in a private studio setting, I’ve also worked as a teaching artist in Montana, Alaska, and Washington – presenting musical programs and workshops for K-12 schools, and small communities. For the past three years, I’ve been delighted to serve as a WSMTA visiting artist.

Originally from a rural community in Montana, I’ve always harbored a fascination with the music of the American West, and in 2022, my first book, Music in the Westward Expansion: Songs of Heart and Place on the American Frontier, was published by McFarland Publishing. The book examines the roles of music in the Westward Expansion and the diverse cultural landscape of the Old West, including northern Cheyenne courtship flute makers, fiddle-playing explorers, dancing fur trappers, hymn-singing missionaries, frontier flutists, girls with guitars, wagon-driving balladeers, poetic cowboys, singing farmers, musical miners, and preaching songsters. For the past year, I’ve been presenting programs featuring live music and narrative from the book.

It is my honor to serve you in this position, and as I mentioned, I’d like to incorporate YOUR ideas and viewpoints. If there is something you’d like me to write about, or dig into, please email me at the address found below.

Warmly,

Laura Dean
M. Music Education, NCTM
lauramusic@comcast.net
www.lauramusic.biz