Meetings held upstairs at Heid Music, 308 E College Ave. in Appleton. Enter through the blue door in the back of the building. Heid has a few parking places, or you can park in the First United Methodist Church lot on Washington Street.
Meeting Schedule:
9:15am - 10:15am: Business Meeting
10:15am - 11:15am: Social Gathering and Program
Children are welcomed!
Meeting Schedule:
9:15am - 10:15am: Business Meeting
10:15am - 11:15am: Social Gathering and Program
Children are welcomed!
FVMTA 2025 - 2026 Programming
Friday, September 12, 2025
KeysFest
Speakers: Lynn Orlando, Shuk-ki Wong and Jody Gawron
Presentation on first ever FVMTA KeysFest that will happen on November 8, 2025.
Friday, October 10, 2025
Functional Skills for Pre-College Piano Students
Speaker: Kirsten Ihde
tbd
Friday, November 14, 2025
TBD
Speaker: Teresa Camilli
Topic: Working with Teens: The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development encourages teachers to consider the importance of both the learning situation and the student's latent predispositions to garner student engagement, positive emotions and a sense of value.
Friday, February 13, 2025
Roundtable Discussion on Contemporary Piano Literature for Intermediate to Advanced Learners
Leader: Shuk-Ki Wong
Please bring your teaching literature to discuss!
Previous Programs
September 8, 2023
Welcome Back! / “Preparing Outstanding Ensemble Performers” - Catherine Walby
Please join us for our first meeting of the year— A great time to check out FVMTA and meet everyone! New and interested teachers in the Fox Valley are always welcomed.
At this meeting: Learn timely tips and teaching techniques for excellent ensembles! Whether your students are preparing to perform in a duet, trio, chamber ensemble, or even if they are following a conductor for the first time in a larger group, fellow music teachers and conductors have some helpful tools to share—These tips can help your students become better listeners, better observers, and better collaborative musicians overall. A great set of resources to help our many students preparing for FVMTA's upcoming Monster Concert, Young Artists Competition and WSMA's Solo-Ensemble Festivals.
October 13, 2023
"Adjusting to a New Instrument” - Diane Shapiro
February 9, 2024
Scores! What are they good for? - Michael Rector, PhD - UWGB
Performance style has changed drastically over the last 100+ years, so much that our 21st-century ears sometimes struggle to understand how the earliest-recorded musicians’ interpretations are related to the composers’ notation. We tend to be exacting about historically appropriate style in composers who died before the age of recording: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin. Yet when faced with early 20th-century composers performing their own music—for example, Debussy, Bartok, Rachmaninoff and Grieg—we accept performances that sound completely different from these undeniably authentic recordings.
Instead of worrying about authenticity, Michael looks at the variety of ways that scores have been realized expressively on record for inspiration. We’ll listen to some authentic but surprising recordings as well as some that are just shockingly creative. Then we’ll explore how a broad range of strategies for realizing notation might be employed in beginner and intermediate repertoire. It’s never too early to start thinking about notation as the basis for creativity!
March 8, 2024
Digitizing Your Sheet Music Library - Margaret Murray
Are you considering going paperless to better organize your music library? Would you like to rehearse and preform with a computer tablet using an app like ForScore, rather than carrying so much sheet music around? How do you turn pages on a tablet? Come join us for an introductory look at hardware and software used by many performers, and explore the advantages of entering the digital age of music reading.
April 19, 2024
Spring Luncheon
Welcome Back! / “Preparing Outstanding Ensemble Performers” - Catherine Walby
Please join us for our first meeting of the year— A great time to check out FVMTA and meet everyone! New and interested teachers in the Fox Valley are always welcomed.
At this meeting: Learn timely tips and teaching techniques for excellent ensembles! Whether your students are preparing to perform in a duet, trio, chamber ensemble, or even if they are following a conductor for the first time in a larger group, fellow music teachers and conductors have some helpful tools to share—These tips can help your students become better listeners, better observers, and better collaborative musicians overall. A great set of resources to help our many students preparing for FVMTA's upcoming Monster Concert, Young Artists Competition and WSMA's Solo-Ensemble Festivals.
October 13, 2023
"Adjusting to a New Instrument” - Diane Shapiro
February 9, 2024
Scores! What are they good for? - Michael Rector, PhD - UWGB
Performance style has changed drastically over the last 100+ years, so much that our 21st-century ears sometimes struggle to understand how the earliest-recorded musicians’ interpretations are related to the composers’ notation. We tend to be exacting about historically appropriate style in composers who died before the age of recording: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin. Yet when faced with early 20th-century composers performing their own music—for example, Debussy, Bartok, Rachmaninoff and Grieg—we accept performances that sound completely different from these undeniably authentic recordings.
Instead of worrying about authenticity, Michael looks at the variety of ways that scores have been realized expressively on record for inspiration. We’ll listen to some authentic but surprising recordings as well as some that are just shockingly creative. Then we’ll explore how a broad range of strategies for realizing notation might be employed in beginner and intermediate repertoire. It’s never too early to start thinking about notation as the basis for creativity!
March 8, 2024
Digitizing Your Sheet Music Library - Margaret Murray
Are you considering going paperless to better organize your music library? Would you like to rehearse and preform with a computer tablet using an app like ForScore, rather than carrying so much sheet music around? How do you turn pages on a tablet? Come join us for an introductory look at hardware and software used by many performers, and explore the advantages of entering the digital age of music reading.
April 19, 2024
Spring Luncheon