After getting my first taste of a national conference as a college student, I made a commitment early on in my career to always ensure I was making enough income to be able to afford professional development opportunities like these. There’s nothing like investing in yourself — you’re your greatest asset! Experiences like conferences can reap long-lasting benefits for improving your teaching, improving your business, and keeping yourself fresh and motivated in your career as a piano teacher.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic might still be putting a “pause” in larges in-person events, but we can still connect virtually! I am pretty excited about TWO upcoming music teacher conferences that are going virtual for 2021.
The first conference is the MTNA annual conference. I haven’t heard much buzz about this year’s conference yet, but I assume it will be as awesome as usual! The dates are March 13-17, 2021. You can read more and register for MTNA’s 2021 Virtual Conference here. Early bird registration rates are available until February 16, 2021.
The second conference opportunity is NCKP 2021: The Piano Conference Virtual. From what I hear, they’ll be using an innovative platform for the conference and they’ve expanded the Preconference activities (normally, a single day with multiple tracks to choose from) into a series of thirteen days. The Preconference will take place July 13-27, 2021 and the main Conference is July 28-31, 2021. I have a feeling this conference is not to be missed!
A proposal I submitted was accepted for NCKP’s conference — hooray! My presentation is titled Music is Child’s Play: Lessons Learned from My Youngest Student. I won’t spoil the presentation, but I’ll just say that yes, it’s about my daughter, Aria, and that I hope you’ll find it a fascinating session! My presentation is to take place on July 16, during the Preconference “Young Musicians: Birth to Age 9.”
I will also appear as a panelist alongside a handful of colleagues on a session entitled, Teaching Students to Fish: Developing Independent Learners From the First Lesson. This session has not yet been scheduled, but it will occur at some point during the main conference. I’ll share more details as the dates grows nearer.
You can read more and register for NCKP 2021 here. Early bird registration rates are available until May 4, 2021.
I hope you’ll consider registering for one or both of these conferences! National-level conferences like these are so worthwhile!
Your turn: How have YOU invested in yourself recently?
Yes! Recently, I’ve investing more into my audiation-based learning through the Music Learning Academy. For me, investing the time, as well as the money, can be tough, but worth it!
I agree, investing in yourself is definitely challenging — financially, logistically, etc! But worthwhile, as you said, Marissa! 🙂
congratulations Joy !!!
Thank you!