Our next annual VMTA Spring Festival will be held on Saturday, March 16th, at Trinity Baptist Church in Williston. 

To register students, please email Lilly Ramsey, Spring Festival Chair at cldkramsey@comcast.net to receive an electronic registration. The registration deadline is Friday, February 23rd at 6 p.m. 

-Lilly Ramsey

Fourth Annual Ensemble Festival – Enjoyment for All

The fourth annual Ensemble Festival was held on November 12, 2023 at the Richmond Library. It was well attended and a fun event for the twenty performers.

A variety of combinations participated: twins, dads and daughters, moms and daughters, brothers and sisters, and friends. There were twelve different ensembles. A large crowd gave the performers a standing ovation at the end. Participating teachers were Patty Bergeron, Lisa Goodrich and Marie Johnson.

Plan to join us next year in the fall of 2024.

Marie Johnson

Ensemble Festival Chair

"The goal of the Choose to Teach initiative is to help educators connect with the impact they have on their students, schools, and community, as well as reconnect with why they decided to become an educator. It's brought to you by the Music Achievement Council. Educators can receive more free content, just like this, and tips to recruit and retain more students at www.msfq.org/guide. "

If you have any questions or topics you’d like to hear more about, please contact me at abby@forteperformancept.com.

Noteflight Learn Enrollment and Resources

One of the perks of VMTA membership is access to the Noteflight Learn online program for teachers to

develop lesson content for composition, performance, and theory (for example), and for students to

explore composing, sharing, and collaborating as part of their music study. More details and links can

be found on the VMTA website under Teacher Resources. In addition, many interesting articles from

the Noteflight BLOG (no login required) are available here. The most recent article is called “How

Backward Chaining Can Help Novice Composers.”

Look for details and resources at the following links:

Contact Sarah Williams or complete and send the Enrollment Form on the VMTA website page.

VMTA members Laurel Ann Maurer and Michael Sitton will perform a flute and piano recital presented by the Eleva Chamber Players. Laurel and Michael will perform the Schubert “Arpeggione “ Sonata, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and The History of the Tango by Astor Piazzolla as well other works for flute and piano. Also on the program will be the world premiere of “The Fourth Highway” for alto flute and piano by David Gunn. 

The VMTA held a play-a-thon at the University Mall on January 27 & 28.

Performers played solo piano, piano duets, ukelele and guitar. Ninety nine students from nine studios played music for eleven hours!

Participating teachers were Lesely Becker, Patty Bergeron, Ed Darling, Lisa Goodrich, Marie Johnson, Emily Mott, Holly Raiche, Lilly Ramsey, and Jina Smith. The event was co-chaired by Ed Darling and Patty Bergeron.

Thank you to Emily and Justin Rose of the Piano Gallery for providing a wonderful piano for the event and to Joshua and Michelle Merryfield of Northern Piano movers for getting it to us.

The first play-a-thon was held in 2011, and has been held biannually since 2012. We have donated almost $18,000 to organizations that help kids (our goal has been kids helping kids). Past recipients have been Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, Ronald McDonald House and UVM Children’s Oncology Unit.

This year students raised funds to benefit the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington. The Ronald McDonald House provides the comforts of home while their children are receiving treatment at the University of VT Medical Center. Just over $4700 has been raised this year (so far….).

Donations are still being accepted. They can be mailed to Patty Bergeron, 166 West Street, Essex Jct., VT 05452. Donations can also be made on the VMTA website. (VMTA 2024 Play-a-Thon - Vermont Music Teachers Assoc INC (square.site).

The next play-a-thon is planned for January 2026.

We’re gearing up to be together for the conference in Atlanta and would love to have you join us at the Eastern Division Dinner immediately following the Division meeting on Sunday, March 17, 2024.

Our informal dinner/reception will be held at Tin Lizzy’s Cantina in Peachtree Center. Tin Lizzy’s is about a 10-minute indoor walk from the conference hotel, where our Division meeting will be from 5–6 P.M. The informal dinner/reception style will allow us to easily mingle and party together!

Your Eastern Division states have generously agreed to help subsidize this event to keep your price at $35/person.

Attendance is limited, so be sure to make your reservation early by clicking the link below BEFORE March 1. 

RESERVE YOUR SPOTJacqueline Herbein, Eastern Division Director

As noted elsewhere in the Newsletter, my recent attendance representing Vermont at the annual MTNA Leadership Summit brought to my attention a growing trend in some other states toward the formation of “virtual” local chapters, something that has gained interest especially in states like ours where a dispersed rural population makes local chapters outside urban areas very challenging.

The MTNA Summit included an exciting presentation by Victoria Fischer Faw from North Carolina, who has led the way in creating the “VLMTA” (Virtual Local Music Teacher Association) of Western North Carolina. Victoria and some of her colleagues noticed that, while North Carolina has a number of very active local associations in and around its urban areas, there was no opportunity within a long travel distance for teachers in the mountainous and mostly rural western region of the state. So she and a small group of leaders worked to create what is now a way for teachers in the region to meet virtually,

enjoy professional development sessions, connect with each other, and provide mutual support. This chapter, now in its second year, is up to 26 members, exceeding all expectations. The MTNA national office has worked supportively with them and is making it easier for this new kind of local association to form and affiliate.

Perhaps in some ways this is a lucky outgrowth of the potential we all realized during the pandemic for virtual connections, but its goals go beyond that, helping to connect teachers who are separated by geography but still would benefit from things that local groups traditionally offer. The Western NC

group has been able to engage nationally-known presenters for workshops with members at a fraction of what it would cost to bring them to a session in person, for example, and regular meetings offer the member teachers the chance to share ideas and questions with each other.

In another session at the Summit where states with small populations met together, I learned that this idea is either in place or being explored by other states. Wyoming, as you likely know, has the lowest state population after Vermont in the country, and shares with us a predominantly rural population

(although over a much, much larger geography). That state is now exploring the idea of a virtual chapter to better serve teachers separated by long distances.

All this made me wonder if there might be interest in a virtual chapter for Vermont teachers who live outside the one area currently served by a very active local chapter, Burlington. I wanted to share this with you, and invite you to contact Laurel or me if you have an interest in exploring the idea further, or if

you have questions. I can also tell you that Victoria Fischer Faw, whom I heard at the summit, offered generously to be in touch should there be interest in learning more from her experience, and I know that the MTNA national organization is willing to be helpful as well. Please consider this and let me know!

Allan H. Day, R.P.T. Piano Service