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MTNA-Print Version
MTNA President, Ann M. Gipson, NCTM, is associate professor of music and director of piano pedagogy studies at Texas Christian University. She has held faculty positions at Baylor University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Delta State University and the University of Kentucky, teaching applied piano, class piano and piano pedagogy. Gipson holds a bachelor of music degree from Eastern Illinois University and both an M.M. in piano performance and pedagogy and a Ph.D. in music education/piano pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. A frequent adjudicator and clinician, she has presented sessions at MTNA national conferences, the National Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy Forum, and various state and local venues. Her articles have appeared in AMT, Clavier, Keyboard Companion and Piano Pedagogy Forum. Gipson has been an active member of MTNA since joining as a collegiate member in 1978, while attending Eastern Illinois University. She has actively supported collegiate members by serving as faculty advisor of MTNA Collegiate Chapters at Oklahoma Baptist University and Baylor University. As a member of the Oklahoma MTA, she became active at the state level holding offices of president, vice president of membership and certification/president-elect, and vice president of local associations and collegiate chapters. She has held positions in local MTAs and currently serves as a director on the Fort Worth MTA board. Nationally, she was Conference Program chair for both the 2004 and 2005 MTNA National Conferences and currently serves on the task force for Collegiate Certification and as chair of a program sub-committee for the 2007 Conference.
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Benjamin
D. Caton, NCTM, president-elect, holds a Ph.D. degree from the Ohio
State University and a pedagogy/musicianship certificate from the
Kodály Musical Training Institute. He studied at the Sixteenth
International Music Workshop (piano pedagogy) in Exeter, England, and
at the International Kodály Symposium in Kecskemet, Hungary.
He
is professor of music at East Tennessee State University, where he
teaches aural skills, piano and piano pedagogy. His teaching
experiences range from first-grade public school music classes to
graduate music courses. Caton is a former chair of the ETSU Music
Department. He maintains a studio of pre-college piano students.
Caton’s
belief in the importance of MTNA’s local associations has led him to
serve as president of his local Music Teachers Association for three
biennia over a period of 20 years. Positions in the Tennessee MTA
include recording secretary and president. He served as editor and
co-author of the Tennessee MTA Musicianship Manual. In MTNA’s Southern
Division, he served as president, president-elect, secretary and
collegiate competitions chair. At the national level, Caton has served
as a member of the MTNA Board of Directors and FOUNDATION Board of
Trustees (2000–2002) and MTNA Secretary/Treasurer (2003–2005).
In
2004, Caton was named the first recipient of the Distinguished Service
Award given by Tennessee MTA. Other honors include the Ohio Federation
of Music Clubs Foundation for the Advancement of Music Award for
Excellence, the John Phillip Sousa Award (while playing trombone in
high school band), and being named an MTNA FOUNDATION Fellow. He served
two terms as member of the Music Advisory Panel for the Tennessee Arts
Commission.
His articles have appeared in Clavier, Music
Educators Journal, American Music Teacher and The Tennessee Musician.
He has presented numerous sessions at local and state associations. His
most memorable performance was accompanying the ETSU Men’s Ensemble in
the Chicago Symphony’s Orchestra Hall at the American Choral Directors
Association national convention.
“I am so grateful to the many
MTNA members who give so much of themselves to their profession, to
their students and to MTNA. Our society is indebted to them more than
we can ever imagine. It is an honor to be a candidate for this office,
and if elected, I promise my very best as MTNA continues to advance the
cause of music and music education for the profession, for our students
and for the general public. MTNA plays a crucial role in preserving our
cultural heritage and leading the profession as we face the demands and
challenges of an ever-changing society,” he says.
| Sigrid Luther, NCTM, vice president, is professor of music at Bryan College, teaching piano, piano-related courses and music theory. She holds a D.M.A. degree from Louisiana State University and has studied with Adelaide Banaszynski, Laurence Morton, Peggy Ramsey and Daniel Sher. She is active as recitalist, collaborative pianist, adjudicator and lecturer on keyboard skills. She also accompanies the Bryan Chorale and serves as pianist at First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga. Luther developed the piano pedagogy major at Bryan College, organized and advises the Chattanooga Area Collegiate Chapter of MTNA (2004 Chapter of the Year) and founded the Bryan College Community Music School. She has received outstanding teaching awards from Bryan College, the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, the Chattanooga Music Teachers Association and the Tennessee MTA. Luther’s students have won numerous state competitions and area concerto contests, and have gone on to private, conservatory and university teaching positions as well as church appointments. In addition to being on the MTNA Board of Directors and chair of the Code of Ethics revision committee, Luther’s past MTNA services include Southern Division president, state president, local president and various offices at the state and local level. She is currently the national MTNA Senior Performance Competition coordinator.
“MTNA is people serving others. It is thousands of music teachers sharing ideas and supporting one another. It is experienced members mentoring new recruits and certification applicants. It is pedagogy experts informing and inspiring members through meeting presentations, conference sessions and AMT articles. It is local associations reaching out to music teachers debilitated by hurricane Katrina. It is collegiate members raising funds to purchase musical instruments needed in their communities. It is a skilled national staff facilitating MTNA programs on every level of the association. It is volunteer leaders carrying out their duties and then training their successors. It is guest artists or competition winners performing at a conference and elementary students performing on a first recital. Above all, it is professional music teachers enriching the lives of students with the lifelong gift of music. During my nearly 30 years as an MTNA member, I have enjoyed countless benefits and lasting friendships. MTNA has truly helped me to become a better teacher. I am pleased to serve an association that has given so much to me,” she says.
| Cheryl Pachak-Brooks, NCTM, secretary/treasurer, is an instructor of music and coordinator of the freshman seminar/learning communities program at Eastern New Mexico University. Joining the faculty in 1985, she teaches applied piano, class piano, freshman seminar and coordinated the piano preparatory department for 19 years. She holds degrees from the University of Southern Colorado and Eastern New Mexico University in piano performance and pedagogy. She is active as an adjudicator in the New Mexico/Texas/Colorado region and as an accompanist for faculty and students at ENMU. Pachak-Brooks is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi.
Pachak-Brooks has been an active member of MTNA since joining as a collegiate member in 1980 while attending ENMU as a graduate student. She has been very involved in MTNA leadership serving on the MTNA Board of Directors, the MTNA Finance Committee, as division president-elect, division president and the Southwest Division Certification commissioner. Pachak-Brooks has also been a member of the MTNA nominating committee and Collegiate Chapter Taskforce. She has been nationally certified since 1986.
Her extensive service record at the state level includes president, vice president, district vice president, state newsletter editor/advertising manager, collegiate competition chair, college student chapter chair and co-chairing several state conferences. She was selected as the 2005 Professional Music Teacher of New Mexico (PMTNM) Teacher of the Year. She currently serves as the webmaster for PMTNM.
“MTNA has had a major impact on both my personal and professional life through the many continuing education opportunities, the programs for my students and the association with so many wonderful teachers from across the country. The members are the heart of MTNA. The elected officers of MTNA have a duty to ensure that our organization meets the needs of the members and keeps the direction of the organization moving forward. They need to stay connected to the membership at every level to be able to respond to the changing needs of our association. It is a great honor to be nominated as secretary/treasurer of MTNA and I would embrace the challenges that come with this position if elected,” she says.  |
Gail Berenson is Professor of Piano at Ohio University, Athens, and Co-Chair of the Keyboard Division. She was awarded the "Distinguished Teacher of the Year" Award in 2000. Prior to coming to Ohio, she was on the faculty of the University of Illinois, Urbana. An active performer and passionate chamber music collaborator, she performs with flutist, Alison Brown Sincoff, as a member of the Ohio University Lyric Duo. As a result of her distinguished work as a piano pedagogue, along with her reputation as an expert on musician wellness issues, she is much in demand as a performer, clinician, master class artist, adjudicator, author, reviewer and pedagogy consultant. She has performed and lectured in over thirty states, as well as Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, Portugal, Taiwan and Canada. She was a presenter at the European Piano Teachers Conference in Manchester, England in 2005 and in Funchal, Madeira in 2006. In July 2010, Professor Berenson will travel to Beijing, China to represent the United States and the area of piano as a member of the International Society of Music Education's newly established Forum on Instrumental and Vocal Studio Performance Teaching.
Ms. Berenson began to build a reputation as a performing artist early when at age eleven she began accompanying the forty-member male chorus conducted by her piano teacher, appearing in concert throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. A native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, she continued her education at Northwestern University, completing degrees in piano performance, studying piano with Louis Crowder and Guy Duckworth. She also performed in master classes with world-renowned accompanist Gerald Moore, baritone Pierre Bernac, duo-pianists Vronsky and Babin and, at the Lucerne International Music Festival, with pianist and accomplished chamber musician, Mieczyslaw Horszowski.
Ms. Berenson is one of the co-authors of A Symposium for Pianists and Teachers: Strategies to Develop Mind and Body for Optimal Performance and, as a member of the Lorenz Advisory Board she contributed to the innovative piano method, Piano Discoveries, and is co-author of "Ask the Professor". She also authored a chapter entitled, "Music Medicine and Today's Piano Teachers," for the third edition of James Lyke's book, Creative Piano Teaching. A frequent author for Keyboard Companion, she has also written for the on-line journal, Piano Pedagogy Forum and served as a contributing editor to Piano & Keyboard.
She is the Immediate Past President of Music Teachers National Association, an association of 24,000 members. She has also held the position of President-Elect and President, Vice President, Chair of the 2002 and 2003 MTNA National Conference Committees, has served on the 1996 and 1997 Conference Committees and was one of the founding members of the MTNA Pedagogy Committee. She has held several national posts with the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and has chaired National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy's Wellness for Pianists Committee. A past president of the Ohio Music Teachers Association, she holds MTNA's Master Certificate in piano and piano pedagogy and was the recipient of the 1999 OMTA "Certified Teacher of the Year" award and the 2004 OMTA "Collegiate Teacher of the Year" award. In recognition of her significant contributions to the music world and the music teaching profession, she was awarded an MTNA Foundation Fellow Award in 2007.
Her students are performing and teaching in independent studios and on college faculties throughout the world. More information is available on her website: http://www.gailberenson.com
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Gary
L. Ingle is Executive Director and CEO of Music Teacheras National
Association (MTNA), the oldest music teacher association in the United States.
Founded in 1876, MTNA is a professional association of 24,000 studio music
teachers who teach in independent and collegiate settings nationwide. MTNA’s
mission is to advance the value of music teaching and music making to society
and to support the professionalism of music teachers.
Dr. Ingle is a career professional in association management
and academia. Prior to his December 1996 appointment to MTNA, he was executive
director of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity in Evansville, Indiana.
At Phi Mu Alpha, he oversaw the fraternity’s work with more than 200 collegiate
chapters across the country, as well as the activities of the Sinfonia
Foundation.
Dr. Ingle’s academic career spanned 10 years with Southwest Baptist University
in Bolivar, Missouri.
During his tenure, he attained the rank of full professor of music and served
as Chair of the department of music, as Dean of the Casebolt School of Fine
Arts, and ultimately as Vice President for Enrollment Management. As a
conductor, he directed his choirs on four international tours: to continental
Europe, to Great Britain,
and two to the Far East. While in Asia, his
choirs sang for the Far East Broadcasting Company and in Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South
Korea.
A native of Birmingham,
Alabama, Dr. Ingle holds the
doctor of musical arts degree with emphases in conducting, voice, and higher
education administration from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music at Samford University
in Birmingham.
Additional studies include the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham.
Dr. Ingle currently serves as the president of the National
Music Council of the United States,
which represents the U.S.
to the International Music Council (established by the United Nations and a
part of UNESCO). Since April 2008 he has served on the Board of Directors of the
International Music Council. In October 2007 he was elected to the Finance
Commission of the International Music Council at its biennial General Assembly
in Beijing, China. He also served on the
Steering Committee for the IMC’s first World Forum on Music held in Los Angeles, California
in 2005.
Dr. Ingle is a member of the advisory board of From the
Top, the public radio program dedicated to encouraging, supporting and
celebrating the commitment of young people to music and the arts. He is also is
a member of the editorial advisory board for the magazine, Making Music:
Better Living Through Recreational Music Making, a magazine devoted to the
health and wellness benefits of music making. Since 1998, he has served on the
Board of Trustees of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, serving as
secretary of the board from 2000–2003 and currently as the chair of the
Professional Organizations Advisory Council.
A frequent speaker and panelist, he has given addresses in
44 states as well as to music associations in Canada, the United Kingdom,
China, Eastern and Western Europe, and South America, including the International
Society for Music Education, the European Music Teachers Association, the
International Music Council, the National Association of Schools of Music,
NAMM: The International Music Products Association, the College Music Society,
Piano Technicians Guild, Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Associations, the
Global Summit of the Music Products Industry, the Music Publishers Association,
and the Music Council for the Three Americas.
Dr. Ingle is listed in the International Who’s Who in Music,
Who’s Who in America,
Outstanding Young Men of America, Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans,
the Dictionary of International Biography and other prominent biographical
resources.
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Diane Birr is associate professor of piano at Ithaca College. She has served as official accompanist for MTNA national competitions, Eastern Division Collegiate Competitions coordinator and local association chair, as well as New York State MTA president, conference co-coordinator and vice president of professional activities.
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Marianne Bryan, NCTM, Minnesota MTA immediate past president, holds a D.M.A. degree in collaborative piano performance from the University of Minnesota. She is a member of the 2008 MTNA Conference Program Committee. Currently an independent piano teacher, she previously taught 20 years at the University of St. Thomas. Bryan created, The Heart of Teaching/The Art of Teaching for independent music teachers.
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Amy Rose Immerman teaches private piano and composition. In 1997, she founded the Cincinnati Music Academy. Immerman holds degrees from Ohio University and is a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s College of Examiners. She has held many positions at the local and state levels including Ohio MTA president. She is a frequent presenter and she has written for AMT and Keyboard Companion. Immerman is on the National Music Certificate Program’s steering committee.
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Ethel Iwasaki is the immediate past president of the Hawaii MTA and previously served as state president, first vice president, second vice president and parliamentarian. She is an officer on the boards of the Honolulu Piano Teachers Association and the Friends of the Royal Hawaiian Band. Iwasaki teaches piano and voice and serves as a church pianist. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education.
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Charles Jones, NCTM, is immediate past president of Louisiana MTA and was president-elect of MTNA’s South Central Division from 2004–2006. He previously served LMTA as president-elect and coordinator of junior competitions. He teaches piano at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts. Jones holds M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from the University of Texas and a B.M. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
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Peter Mack is an Irish pianist who has won many international piano competitions. He has performed 25 concertos with orchestras. Equally in demand as a performer, clinician, convention artist and teacher, Mack’s pupils are frequent winners of local, national and international competitions. He is professor of piano performance at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
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Richard Scott, NCTM, is the Kentucky MTA immediate past president and has been competitions and MTNA Foundation chairs. He holds a B.M. degree from the University of the Pacific, an M.M. degree from the University of Washington and a D.M.A. degree from the University Wisconsin-Madison. He is associate professor at Murray State University, where he teaches studio/class piano, pedagogy and history. Scott received the MSU Regents Award for Teaching Excellence in 1995. |
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