I hope you have been enjoying this series so far! I know that I have enjoyed thinking through the specifics of why I love the Pensacola Music Teachers Association so much!
In this post I will be addressing what I feel is possibly the biggest benefit of membership in the PMTA, the member meetings. Unfortunately, this aspect of membership is often the most neglected by many members. I truly believe the quality of our association as a whole would improve by leaps and bounds if the majority of our members regularly attended our member meetings.
Every association does their meetings a little differently. Ours is split up basically in four parts: the overture, the business meeting, the intermezzo, and the topic.
The Overture: This is an approximately 5 minute performance given by one of our PMTA members of a piece (or pieces) of their choosing. I love seeing the talent that we have around us everyday! It's a great performance opportunity for busy teachers who want to keep playing for others but don't have enough time to prepare a complete recital. It's also a great way for new teachers to put themselves out there and get to know the membership better. It's a super safe and fun venue to play in.
The Business Meeting: This isn't necessarily a formal meeting with motions and everything, but rather a time to make sure that everyone know what is coming up for our association and is prepared to make deadlines for students events, etc. A lot of important information is shared here, and we also get to hear from activity chair persons and see their visions for different events.
The Intermezzo: This is a 10-15 minute performance given by a guest artist. Often these are local artists from Pensacola or Mobile, and occasionally these are performed by the guest presenter of the evening. These are some of highest quality performances that you will see for free. We also try to get performances on instruments that you don't get to hear everyday like classical guitar, vibraphone, and harp. I find this segment of the meeting to be so fun and inspiring!
The Topic: The meeting ends with a member or special guest speaking on a specific topic for us, and this is what gets the bulk of the meeting time. We try to keep a wide variety of topics including pedagogy, performance practice, technique, musicality, and many many others! These make each and every meeting invaluable! I have learned so much from each and every presenter that I've heard since I joined the PMTA in 2010. Even when it seems that a meeting will not apply to my teaching, I find that the presenter often is excellent at making their presentation valuable to all disciplines.
If you do not regularly attend the meetings at your local association, can I challenge you to attend as many as you can this coming year, regardless of your feelings about them? I firmly believe that if you attend them often and with an open mind, you will find ideas that will change your teaching for the better whether you've been teaching 1 year or 50 years. And if you have ideas that you think will make the meetings better for you association, speak to a member of you board. I know that the board of the PMTA are always looking for ways to make things better for our membership and we are always open to new ideas. So please, please, please jump in and get your feet wet this year. You will be glad you did!
Read previous posts in this series:
Why a Music Teachers Association: My Musical Family
Why a Music Teachers Association: Student Events