Professional Certification

Across me geographical division both independent music teachers and body professors are integrating components of the MTNA Professional Certification Program n their pedagogy courses. They are enthusiastically promoting the Certification Proficiency Examinations and the Certification Examination and Certification Portfolio for their pupils Here are reports from six music educators:

Samuel s Holland, NCTM, professor of music and chair ad interim, Division of Music, Meadows institute of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas:

"Ever since getting into collegiate-level piano and piano pedagogy teaching, I nave required my pupils to join MTNA. There s no discussion or argument about this. It is a basic professional association, and it carries a multitude of benefits level while the student is raw material in school. My students regularly attend national and state conventions and benefit in more ways than I could at any time measure. MTNA Professional Certification is the nearest logical step.

"I have heard it argued that the greatest in quantity highly qualified teachers don't ne to be certified. This may be veritable for their personal careers. on the contrary it is a very limited and narrow view. The entire field of piano teaching feels from the weakness of its professional image. Certification exhibits at least a baseline standard. I believe that smooth the most highly qualified individuals ne to be certified as a action of solidarity with the profession as a whole.

"Thus, I always powerfully encourage them to become certified. We discuss the merits in classes, and they oftentimes interact with certified professionals in the community. Fortunately, greatest in quantity of them take up the standard."

Sigrid Luther, NCTM professor of music, Bryan community Dayton, Tennessee:

"As a collegiate chapter advisor, I have always talked about MTNA Professional Certification with my collegiate members. It is included upon the list of membership opportunities that I explain as I orient pupils to MTNA each fall.

"To be straightforward I never thought about encouraging my body students to work toward MTNA Professional Certification before graduation. An awakening to this possibility came to me during the National talk in Kansas City I was thrilled that our chapter president, Mary Tomyn, was able to attend the discourse and personally accept the award for our chapter, Chattanooga Area learner Chapter, as the 2004 MTNA Collegiate Chapter of the Year.

"As Mary and I sat in upon the Certification Open Meeting and heard details of the application proces we realized she had already met many of the requirements for certification I was challenged to not single assist her with the remaining requirements, on the contrary also to work toward incorporating assignments into our pedagogy curriculum that would assist time to come students in seeking MTNA Professional Certification. a certain quantity of of our present assignments would already apply to this process

"Mary and I perused a sample certification portfolio, and it was clear to me that any learner who elected the portfolio option to the exam would be assembling materials that would be greatest in quantity helpful for the studio of a of recent origin teacher. I hope that established MTNA teachers will not alone value certification for themselves and their colleagues, on the other hand will remember that our association students can also be striving to appropriate this level of competence as professionals in training["

Thomas Lanners, NCTM associate professor of piano, Department of Music, Oklahoma State University:

"I encourage all my collegiate piano pupils who currently teach lessons or plan to do in the way that in the future to become Nationally Certified Teachers of Music, and I make it a point to explain certification's importance to them and to the entire field of music teaching.

"Like greatest in quantity students at colleges and universities, mine are required to take pedagogy courses as part of their step programs, yet these introduce them solitary to the tip of the pedagogy iceberg. We, as instructors, purely whet their appetites, hoping they will dig ever deeper into the art of teaching in the future

"Those who join MTNA and hunt National Certification are more likely to expand as effective teachers by becoming actively involved in the activities of the organization at the local end national levels, thereby developing unimpaired professional habits that will help them thrive over their careers. The upholding of professional standards in the areas of performing, teaching practices and preparation, continuing education, business management and the forging of partnerships is at the heart of the certification proces and also at the heart of any fortunate piano studio.

"Another reason I praise pursuing certification to college-age scholars is that they may initially have difficulty establishing 'credibility' in the field without tangible documentation attesting to their teaching abilities and ongoing training. These young musicians do not have the benefit of gray hair to insinuate accrued wisdom and unquestioned authority, thus many parents of prospective learners may be skeptical of their qualifications. A young teacher's endeavor to perfect the certification process successfully speaks well of his or her high horizontal of commitment to the profession.