Summer 2009

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the 29th year of Piano Teachers Forum of Central New Jersey! We approach the 2009-2010 forum season with great expectations. Officers and committees have already been hard at work preparing a year filled with professional enrichment, as well as performance opportunities for our students.

We are pleased to announce that Catherine Rollin will be our November speaker. Also, for the first time, Piano Teachers Forum will be partnering with Jacobs Music to sponsor a Master Class for our students. We hope you will consider having a student participate in this great activity as well as plan to attend. Other newsworthy items include now having TWO performance groups for teachers; our video library being updated and transferred to DVD format; plans for activating Outreach activities involving our students; a new, updated brochure for our organization; and the added benefit of being covered under PTF’s liability insurance policy for your own personal recitals. (Please see Russell McTague for the insurance contact information)

For those who are new to our group, we are an organization of professional piano teachers who meet the first Friday morning of every month at Jacob’s Music on Route 1 in Lawrence Township to hear programs from renowned speakers and clinicians. In addition, we sponsor an annual Piano Festival, featuring a syllabus with a theme and student recitals. Opportunities are available to become involved in the leadership of PTF by working on one of our many committees or taking an officer position as part of the Executive Board.

To become a member, please fill out the Membership Application and mail it along with your check. (Applications cannot be processed without payment.) In order to receive future mailings and be listed in our membership book, you must get your application to us by October 15. Members who join after the deadline will not be eligible to enter students in Festival 2010. Guests may attend out meetings for $10 per meeting.

There are so many creative and generous people who give much time to make PTF the great professional organization that it is. We extend many thanks to all of those who contribute time and talents. We greatly value each and every member and hope that everyone will plan to participate in as many of our activities as he or she is able.

PROGRAMS: Vice President Barbara Duffy has put together a remarkable program year for us! Please take note of some special information Barbara would like us to know:

Some of you have indicated interest in the classical radio station, WWFM. We were not able to obtain a speaker from the station this year; however, Heidi Jamieson, station manager, is happy to give us a private tour. If you are interested in the tour, please contact Barbara Duffy so that plans can be made for a visit. How about having lunch out as well?

FESTIVAL 2010: Our theme this year is Playful Pleasures. Carol Zeh and her syllabus committee have included music from all four periods of music and encompassing many styles to represent music that denotes fun and enjoyment. Nancy Merkel is chairman of Festival 2010, which will take place at TCNJ on Saturday, March 13, 2010, and she has already begun planning and working with advance details. We do need a Festival Recital Chairman; please contact Nancy if you are able to help with this Festival job. It is one of the few jobs that does not require you be at the Festival on Festival day!

SCHOLARSHIP: This past Spring, Lisa Ball and Brandon Eldredge, Music Education majors at TCNJ, were presented with our PTF scholarships. They are invited to attend our meetings this coming year. Beryl Kutrieb will be working with the TCNJ Music Department to select our next scholarship student. She is also working on redefining the parameters for this award.

VIDEO LIBRARY: Helen Wang will be organizing our video collection, which will now all be available on DVD! Many thanks to Russell McTague for taking on the monumental task of transferring the old VCR tapes to DVD. We are expecting these to be ready for the Fall. Please stay tuned for more information from Helen.

PERFORMANCE GROUPS: And now there are two… A wonderful problem developed last season when there were so many people interested in the performance group, the need arose to form a second group! Many thanks to Rita Asch and Russell McTague for hosting the two groups each month. Both groups meet at 10 AM; Rita hosts her group on the 3rd Friday of the month; Russell hosts his group on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Plan to attend as a performer or an interested member of the audience – but do plan to attend!

WEBSITE: Thank you Susan Spevak for taking on the job of keeping our website up-to-date and staying in contact with Handmade Designs, our website designer. Remember that all our pertinent information is out on the website for your use and reference. All members will have access to everything with the password. If you don’t know what this is, please contact Susan.

OUTREACH: Yelena Masotti will be planning community outreach activities this season. We will look to Yelena for more information as our year gets rolling along.

NEW PTF BROCHURE: Jean Parsons has agreed to update our PTF brochure. She will be working on this project in the coming year. Talk to Jean if you can help in any way and be on the lookout for our new leaflet.

FIRST MEETING: As is our custom, the first meeting of the year is devoted to playing the music of the syllabus. The October 2nd meeting will begin 9 AM sharp, with coffee at 8:30 AM. Carol Zeh is organizing all the performers, as well as having Plainfield Music on hand to make music available for purchase.

I look forward to seeing everyone in October!

Kathy Toth, President