MAME offers events for continuing education. These are open to the public, so please invite your friends, students, and colleagues. Programs may include a half-hour business meeting (included in the 90-minute time slot). Our scheduled programs for your enrichment, along with their descriptions, dates, and locations, are included here.
All Hands On Keys: Strategies for Teaching Students with Small Handspans
September 8, 2023: 10am-12pm (noon)
UW-Madison School of Music, 740 University Ave
Presented by Dr. Jessica Johnson, DMA
The hands of great pianists come in all shapes and sizes. Spending literally thousands of hours at the piano, we develop time-tested, proven strategies for learning repertoire in a way that suits our unique physiology. We know best that which we have experienced within our own bodies. How does this impact our ability to work with students with different hand sizes than our own?
Using videos performed on a Steinbuhler DS Standard 5.5™ (“7/8”) piano keyboard and demonstrations on a conventional-sized piano keyboard, this workshop will investigate effective strategies for teaching students with small handspans and ways to exploit musical and technical choices that maximize artistry and biomechanical ease.
Performers Play Together Information Session
November 10, 2023: 10 am-11:30 am
Heid Music, 7948 Tree Lane, Madison, WI
Presented by Lana Robotewskyj and Shad Wenzlaff
Performers Play Together is back! Lana Robotewskyj and Shad Wenzlaff will share information about PPT and (ensemble) repertoire. They will also explain how to sign up your students and share tentative rehearsal and performance dates.
MTNA Watch Party
February 9, 2024
MAME members will watch an MTNA teacher presentation via Zoom. This watch party will allow MAME members to discuss the presentation over Zoom following the presentation. Zoom link will be made available via Nuances.
Gokhale Method
March, 8, 2024: 10am-11:30am
Heid Music, 7948 Tree Lane, Madison, WI
Presented by Sigrun Franzen
The Gokhale Method is a step by step, effective method of restoring healthy, upright, relaxed posture. Piano teachers need to sit, stand, and bend, for hours at a time. Not only do we want to be comfortable ourselves, our students are also observing and copying. In this session, Sigrun will present the Gokhale Method reasoning, and then show how to sit upright and relaxed, and hinge from the hips with your back in one piece. For anyone with existing chronic back pain or other pain, she will show a therapeutic way to sit that will help prepare for sitting and bending. Sigrun is a local piano teacher and member of MAME, as well as a certified Gokhale Method teacher.
Bird’s-Eye View of Child Development.
April 13, 2024: 10am-11:30am
Location TBA
Presented by Sue Ellen Dubbert
This presentation will explore the importance of music teachers having an informed “bird’s-eye view” of child development. A teacher can move from an intuitive sense for child development to a concrete understanding of the phases of child development. By understanding these phases, teachers can work with children to better reach the student, based on where they are in their development. We will look at several theorists and educators to learn how they conceptualize the phases of child development. Then, we will work as a group to examine several common teaching topics and strategize how best to approach these topics for different ages of students.