On August 6, 7, 8, and 9^th the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy was held at the Hyatt Regency in Oakbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Attending from the Central Pa region were Dr. Timothy Shafer, who presented a workshop entitled Intern Evaluation for Pedagogy Teachers on Wednesday evening. Also attending were Laura Amoriello, and Yi-Fen Chen, Piano Performance and Pedagogy students in the Masters program at Penn State; Dephanie Lilite, Director of the Grad Department at Penn State's School of Music; Rachel Snyder, former Penn State Masters in Piano Performance and Pedagogy who currently is a Director of a Music Academy in Chicago; and Phyllis Field, studio teacher and Secretary/Publicist of CPMTA. To find out more about the conference workshops, click on the links below.

The conference had recitals by the MTNA Baldwin Junior High School, Yamaha High School, and Steinway and sons Collegiate Artist Piano Competitions; Performing artist Abbey Simon, and various minis recitals by pre college pianists. Keynote speakers included Brian Chung, Marilyn Neeley, and Dr. Robert Stroker. During the day, conference participants attended workshops, forums on various topics, and technology hubs and poster sessions. In addition, the entire conference was able to observe teachers presenting a lesson to an early elementary, intermediate, high school, and college student. These lessons were then evaluated by Robert Duke, a University Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director of the Center for Music Learning at the University of Texas at Austin.

I personally attended the workshops below as well as some forums and the observed lessons and mini recitals. The quality of teaching in these lessons was tremendous, and videotapes were made. In addition, I was able to speak to teachers from all over the country about their approaches to teaching groups and individual lessons. Most teachers were appreciative of the opportunity to learn about new ideas, particularly in the technology hubs. Some teachers expressed disappointment that the sessions were too short to get deeply into the topics. All of the teachers to whom I spoke were impressed with the quality of the presentations in the workshops, which they had attended, and had their appetites whetted for further exploration in the various subjects. I wished that the poster sessions, technology workshops, and teaching forums were held at different times so that I could attend all of them.

The conference is held every two years. It is a tremendous opportunity for teachers. I recommend that you try it. See you in 2005!