2024-2025 Meetings
This year we are piloting two Saturday meetings! All other meetings will still be on Fridays. View our line-up of meeting days and speakers and topics below.
Meeting Location
All meetings are held at WestGate Church – this is a new location for WSMTA. Signs will be posted to help you find your way to the meeting room.
WestGate Church
705 County Rd 101
Plymouth, MN 55447
2024-2025 Program
Each meeting’s schedule is as follows:
- 9:30am-10:00am Social Time
- 10:00-10:30 Informal Business Meeting
- 10:30-11:30 Presentation
SATURDAY September 14, 2024
Missy Strong
“Music, the Brain, & Culturally Responsive Learning: Helping All Students Become Independent Learners”
Neuroscience and culturally responsive practice can inform the decisions we make as music teachers each day, helping us better understand how learning and motivation take place in childhood and early adolescence.
FRIDAY October 11, 2024
Sharon Kaplan
“How to plan ahead and organize, so that students can successfully and happily do more”
“Contest, Exams, MMTA, MMTF, Theory, Federation, Composition. I can’t do it all!” But with planning, you can do more than you think you can. Let’s see how.
FRIDAY December 13, 2024
- 11:30 Mini-presentations by WSMTA members
- 12:30 Salad Luncheon
FRIDAY January 10, 2025
Dr. Jena Root
“Solfege is Power”
By the end of this presentation, you will know how to use solfege to empower you and your students to use solfege in your everyday practice and make the process of understanding music easier and more enriching.
FRIDAY March 7, 2025
Dr. Rebecca Shockley
“Percy Grainger: Pianist, Composer, Eccentric Genius, My Mother’s Close Friend and Mentor”
Percy Grainger conducted the first Monster Concert at the MMTA Convention in 1937. This will be a living history report. Dr. Shockley’s mother had a personal friendship with Percy Grainger. This presentation will include some examples of Grainger’s piano works.
SATURDAY April 5, 2025
Anthony Molinaro
“Music IS Movement – Feeling First with Dalcroze Eurhythmics”
How can this 100 year old method for music and movement be relevant to students in the 21st Century? Join internationally recognized Dalcroze educator Anthony Molinaro as he shares some tips, tools, and techniques to use movement to develop a more natural and free musicianship in students. Be ready to move as Anthony guides you through the principles, philosophies, and experiences associated with Dalcroze Eurhythmics and its modern applications.
FRIDAY May 2, 2025
Dr. David Jenkins
“So, your piano student wants to play the organ? A guide to teachers”
- Guidance and resources for introducing the organ to piano students.
- Trends in organ pedagogy and differences between playing the organ and the piano.
- Basic knowledge about the organ for piano teachers.