2020 Online Election
Carried and Passed
WSMTA held its first online election this year! While we missed seeing each other in person at conference, the online election allowed more people to participate than are usually able to make the General Meeting
Members voted to approve the minutes from the June 2019 meeting, and on nominees for WSMTA Treasurer and Directors for Districts I, III, V, and VII. The newly elected directors and our esteemed Treasurer are described below and in both the April/May and June/July issues of the Clarion.
If you have any questions about the election, please contact WSMTA Administrative Coordinator, Carrie Kahler: WSMTAoffice@gmail.com.
- Voting opened on June 17th and closed on June 20th
- Voting was open to all current WSMTA members
- Members were required to log in to cast their ballots
Thank you for your flexibility as we adapt to the changing conditions!
WSMTA ELECTION RESULTS
FOR THE 2020- 2022 TERM
Our thanks and appreciation to the following members who elected to the following Board of Directors offices:
- WSMTA Treasurer: Mary Foster Grant, NCTM – Kitsap Chapter
- District I Director: Brandi Bassett – Edmonds Chapter
- District III Director: Susan Speicher – Tacoma & Gig Harbor Chapters
- District V Director: Preta Laughlin, NCTM – Moses Lake Chapter
- District VII Director: Dr. Deborah Rambo-Sinn, NCTM – Spokane Chapter
We appreciate respected fellow members and teachers who are willing to contribute ideas, time and energy on behalf of the membership. The District Directors serve a vitally important role, representing their districts on the Board. They personally visit their district chapters, organize their district conferences, and bring insight from the “grass roots” of WSMTA.
In her first two years as WSMTA Treasurer, Mary Grant, NCTM, worked to streamline many aspects of WSMTA’s financial operations. She is keeping a steady hand on the tiller during these uncertain times. The WSMTA Treasurer provides a tremendous service to WSMTA. We are fortunate that Mary has accepted the invitation to continue serving in this position.
Treasurer
Mary Foster Grant, NCTM, Kitsap Chapter
Mary Grant, NCTM, is the youngest of five musical sisters, raised in a household where Bach was king. She learned everything she ever needed to know from her early piano teachers, Vicky Hoffman and Michiko Miyamoto. In addition to her classical training she grew up with a love for traditional music and dance, developing a sense of rhythm, harmony and melody while dancing Greek syrtos and singing Balkan harmonies with her sisters. Since opening her piano studio in 1995 she has served more than a dozen years on the board of the Kitsap Chapter of WSMTA, and five years on the board of WSMTA. She was a charter member of the Bainbridge Community Piano Association and serves as co-Artistic Director of the First Sundays Concert series. When she’s not teaching or playing chamber music with friends, she loves sailing, hiking and camping, gardening and cooking epic meals with friends and family.
Districts & Chapters
| DISTRICT I
Northwest Washington | Bellingham Edmonds Lynden Skagit Valley Snohomish County Whatcom County Whidbey Island |
| DISTRICT III
Tacoma Area | Enumclaw Gig Harbor Kitsap County Mount Rainier Olympic Peninsula Puyallup Valley Tacoma |
| DISTRICT V Central Washington, North | Moses Lake – Central Basin Okanogan County Wenatchee Valley |
| DISTRICT VII Spokane and Eastern Washington | Clarkston-Lewiston Pullman Spokane |
District I
Brandi Bassett, Edmonds Chapter
Brandi Bassett has been teaching piano since 2004. She earned her BA in Music with honors (summa cum laude) from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2009. Brandi currently teaches in Bothell, Washington, where she is passionate about helping students of all ages experience joy through music.
Brandi is actively engaged in the Edmonds Chapter of the Music Teachers National Association. She has served on the EMTA Board of Directors as Secretary, Treasurer, President, and Past President.
District III
Susan Speicher, Tacoma and Gig Harbor Chapters
Susan Speicher is a classically trained violinist and violist with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Business from Washington State University. She teaches a studio of around 30 students violin, viola and cello in Lakewood, and in Gig Harbor. She joined the Tacoma Chapter of WSMTA in 2016, and in 2018 also joined the Gig Harbor Chapter of WSMTA. Since then she has been secretary of the Tacoma Chapter for four years, yearbook and newsletter editor, as well as webmaster in both chapters. She enjoys challenges, both in teaching, and professionally, and is constantly searching for opportunities to grow.
District V
Preta Laughlin, NCTM, Moses Lake Chapter
Preta Laughlin was raised in South Dakota until moving to Auburn, WA during her sophomore year of high school. She began piano lessons in the fourth grade and continued throughout high school, after which she attended Multnomah Bible College where she studied classical piano, hymn improvisation and choir. After leaving
Multnomah, she attended business college in order to put her high school sweetheart and
husband-to-be through college.
Ms. Laughlin is in her thirty-ninth year of teaching and has a studio of fifty students. She has been involved in the National Guild Auditions for over twenty years with 90% or more of her studio participating from year to year. She is also a member of the National Guild Hall of Fame and has been chairperson of the Ephrata Chapter for twenty-five years.
Ms. Laughlin belongs to MENC and MTNA, and ten years ago became nationally certified through MTNA. She is very grateful to her local chapter, WSMTA and MTNA for all they do to assist teachers and students to reach their highest potential.
District VII
Dr. Deborah Rambo Sinn, NCTM
Deborah Rambo Sinn’s diverse career has taken her around the world. She has given concerts and masterclasses on four continents and has taught students from more than 14 different countries. She lived in Hamburg Germany for five years where she played concerts and musicals and operated two music studios for coaching and private instruction.
She holds a doctorate from Indiana University, where she studied with Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio). Before moving to Germany, she served on the music faculty of Angelo State University in Texas and taught one semester at Universität Lüneburg (Germany) as an exchange professor.
In Fall 2020, she will return to Gonzaga University, teaching piano and entrepreneurial courses. She is in high demand as a speaker and has presented at MTNA national, at numerous state conferences, and at the National Keyboard Pedagogy Conference.
Dr. Sinn is the author of Playing Beyond the Notes: A Pianist’s Guide to Musical Interpretation, published by Oxford University Press in 2013 (10th+ printing), widely used in university music programs and independent studios across the US, Canada, and Europe. For more about her career or her books, please see: www.DeborahRamboSinn.com