My road to certification

I graduated with a step in medical technology and a minor in chemistry. After working as a toxicologist for a brace years, I left the profession to raise my family. (I now have four son ages 3-13) I had taught piano tasks during high school under the tutelage of my piano teacher, Virginia Hawley Buhn NCTM and knew teaching piano would work well with my family responsibilities and was a career I already place both enjoyable and fulfilling. I have benefited greatly from the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association since joining in 1991

lately I decided it was time to become certified. I would like to share the paces I took in hopes it will inspire others who might be upon a similar nontraditional track to certification with MTNA.

It took me about sum of two units years to go through the proces of becoming a nationally certified teacher of music. Here are a certain quantity of hints for your endeavor to become certified.

* Financial assistance is available. I was fortunate to receive a grant from Jordan Kitt's Music Store that helped overlay my tuition for lessons as I prepared for my solo recital. Sometimes local music organizations have Professional unravelling Funds from which you can borrow standard of value if needed. Grants may be available at the local or state horizontal See www.mtna.org for a list of grants tendered at the national level.

* Participate in facts sponsored by your local organization--now. hold fast records of your studio participation in festivals, controverts and local events to ease documentation. I have participated in several local festivals (contemporary music, baroque and theory testing). These incidents help me motivate my scholars to obtain a higher horizontal of musicianship.

* Attend local meetings and become friends with the teachers. offer to work with them and help at meetings and circumstances The associations are valuable to all. Attend master classes, participate in local pedagogy programs and have luncheon with your colleagues. The single way to obtain recommendations is to realize to know other teachers.

* In preparation for my solo recital, I chose my program carefully using the repertoire guide provided by means of MTNA. I used several pieces I already knew and learned a certain number of new pieces. I selected an of the first water teacher, Nancy O'Neill Breth, who provided surprising suggestions. It was so enjoyable to me to take exercise s again. She was kind enough to teach early morning exercise s so I could fit them into my family life.

* Use studio class exercise s to reinforce music history. Play games; use Internet sites. The preparation in truth will benefit you. Some commended sites for music history and theory are http://library.thinkquest.org/ 15413/history/music-history.htm and www.musictheory.net.

I reviewed music history sites the night before my proficiency exam. It was actual helpful to have those general [i]or[/i] abstract notions fresh in my mind.

* Make a thorough self-evaluation of your studio, exploring all areas. What could you do better? What do you do to teach sight reading, technique, theory, music history, composition, periodical emphasis and so forth? What are more [i]or[/i] less new ways to teach these conceptions to your students? How do you introduce a of recent origin piece? (This evaluation is valuable upon a regular basis, even after becoming certified.)

* Review the repertoire you publicly are teaching. What are the hard parts in each piece? Where do pupils stumble? How can you creatively help them master those sections?

* Finally, parcel your time wisely as you take the certification exam. expend a couple minutes looking from one side the entire test, choose the questions you will answer and then packet your time for each section. Give more time to questions worth more points. a certain quantity of people have suggested doing the analysis piece first in like manner there is plenty of time to work end it thoroughly. I took a hardly any minutes at the beginning and wrote down what time I would begin each fresh question. I stayed on schedule and was able to finish all the parts of the test

The proces of becoming certified has refined my skills, increased my expectations of my pupils clarified my approaches to teaching music, made my studio more professional as a business and made me more responsible to the organization that has given me a professional status.

The road to certification is not easy, on the contrary it is worthwhile and obtainable. If it were easy, it would not provide the distinction that the title NCTM carries with it.

I am grateful to have NCTM after my name. As I maintain my certification, I anticipate level more professional growth in the years to approach and look forward to sharing the value of certification with my colleagues and the community.

Rene Wolthuis Johnson NCTM maintains a piano studio in Arlington, Virginia, for all ages and abilities. She participates actively in Northern Virginia MTA and is co-chair of the NVMTA Theory Mastery Day. She accompanies many musicians and participates in a local orchestra.

BONUS BYTE

For a listing of works Rene Johnson found helpful while studying for the Certification Proficiency Exams, move to www.mtna.org, click on "American Music Teacher" and "Tell Me More About Bonus Bytes."

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