A Personal Invitation to An Exciting Conference

Well, it’s official!  I’ll be speaking at this year’s summer SMU Institute for piano teachers!  I’m privileged to be amongst some very distinguished presenters and look forward presenting with them and meeting you!

But, let me tell you a few inside thoughts on this conference and then you can read a personal invitation from Sam Holland.  I was told about this conference by Richard Rejino several years ago, but I got the impression that it was more for teachers with students who were also performing at the conference.  However, I have since personally corresponded with Sam Holland (of SMU and NCKP) and have discovered that this IS a wonderful conference for all teachers and IS NOT  your typical conference this year!

If you are tired of conferences where you just move from lecture to lecture, trying to absorb the ideas and information, only to leave the conference feeling as though you might never apply any of what you learn, then you must read this little letter from Sam about how this conference will be different.  This is a conference where YOU can participate, where YOU can ask questions, and where YOU can be a part of the great ideas presented.  Included will be some mini-sessions similar to the TED talks…”ideas worth sharing” that will inspire you in new ways!

I’ll tell you more about my presentation in the days to come.  Do let me know if you are coming as I’d love to meet you!  Read more from Sam here:

Dear Friends,

Some of you may have received this message by email. If you did, you can skip this long post. But, if you’re a piano teacher and you didn’t get an email, this is your FB invitation to join us July 10-13 for the SMU Institute for Piano Teachers 2012. We have designed the new IPT to give you all the energy and inspiration of a BIG event while preserving the intimate, family feeling of a local workshop that you, as an NPTI attendee, have enjoyed for years.

Our goal is to make these three-and-a-half days different from any piano teacher workshop you have experienced before in the best way possible. We want you to experience more joy and success in every lesson. We want to help enhance your ability to earn a living at the craft you love. We want to help you get ahead and stay ahead of the curve in a fast-changing culture. We want you to leave refreshed, inspired, and ready to take on a new year.

A workshop with a difference . . .

How is SMU-IPT different from workshops for piano teachers you have attended before?

In the traditional workshop, most of the talent and information is on stage and you are in the audience. As a participant, you are expected to sit quietly and receive whatever is being offered. If you’ve been following the Meadows School for the last several years, you’ve noticed the slogan ‘Start a Movement.’ IPT 2012 applies that slogan to piano pedagogy. Get involved. Take a risk. We expect you to ask questions. We expect you to propose solutions. The driving motif of SMU-IPT is participation — YOUR participation.

Our research, conversations, and intuition all tell us that today’s piano teachers are looking for three things—inspiration, practical knowledge, and involvement. Involvement is what differentiates IPT from other workshops.

Don’t get me wrong. We will feature plenty of top talent on stage—brilliant performances, engaging teaching, and thought-provoking lectures. Would you expect less from Scott McBride-Smith, Robert Vandall, Cathy Lysinger, Richard Rejino, and the rest of us? But in addition, we will schedule plenty of unstructured time to interact, discuss, share, evaluate, and apply everything to those big goals listed above. Roll-up-your-sleeves and immerse yourself in an open forum. In peer-to-peer discussion groups, the dialogs are unscripted and the conversations are controlled by you—the participant. Conference guests and leaders will participate daily in roundtable discussions. Where else can you sit next to Robert Vandall at lunch and ask where he got his idea for the Prelude in A minor? Where else can you pick Scott McBride Smith’s brain about technique? You get the picture.

Other highlights of SMU-IPT . . .

• Using the magic of streaming and well-constructed observation guides, we will sit in on private and group lessons with institute teachers and students. This will be followed by an immediate analysis and discussion—live and in person.

• Skype will bring us guest appearances by David Karp, Marvin Blickenstaff, Peter Jutras, and more.

• PEDx2 is a series of mini-talks patterned after NCKP’s PEDxi. PEDx2 is devoted to presenting ideas worth sharing in the field of music and/or human learning. Ideas that will inspire. Ideas that will pique your curiosity. Ideas that will challenge.

• SMU-IPT will feature an iPad and technology sandbox where you can play (with or without supervision) with the latest technology in music learning.

• SMU-IPT will feature daily sessions on both the realities and the opportunities of making a living in this business, in this culture, in this century.

Visit our website for the latest information and registration (online or paper). The final schedule and individual course descriptions will be published in a few days.

The deadline for registration to receive the price of $250 (which you will notice represents no increase over least year) is June 1. After that, it goes up to $295.

I invite you to join the conversation. Come back to campus this summer. We’ll have a great time!

All the best,

Sam

P.S. If you have questions or comments, please write or call me (Sam).

Samuel S. Holland, Ph.D., NCTM
Professor of Music and Director
Division of Music
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas 75275-0356
USA
Office (214) 768-2544
sholland@smu.edu