As we approach MTNA’s 150th year anniversary, I want to share with ALL MMTA members the experience I had at my (last ever for now!) Summit for Leadership, held this past weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Posing with MTNA’s Immediate Past President Peter Mack

This year, I had the great joy of sharing the Summit with brilliant colleague and friend - President-Elect Ranko Konishi-Houston, who shared in the excitement and energy of our connection to a forward-looking, financially stable, and service-driven national organization, one that is recognized as the premier music teaching professional organization in the world. Please see Ranko’s report elsewhere in this newsletter!

Welcome Reception
Board Meetings with Day of Strategic Planning
Division Meetings
State-by-Size Meetings
State President’s Advisory Council
Tour of MTNA Headquarters in Cincinnati
Lightning Talks, including “Music Lessons for Everyone – Developing a Program Inspired by MMTA’s Music Connect”
Financial Overview and Accounting Reports/Fiduciary Responsibility Awareness Training
Banquet Extraordinaire with Jazz provided by the Phil DeGreg Trio
Q & A – President Kevin Chance and CEO Brian Shephard

Plus, there was amazing interaction with my fellow MTNA Board Members, State Affiliate Presidents from all over the country, and a lovely walk down to the Ohio River with my New England colleagues.

Please, please remember to SIGN UP to attend MTNA National Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on March 21 - 25, 2025. It will change your life, plus MMTA’s very own professionally produced video honoring Eben Tourjee, first President of MTNA and founder of New England Conservatory, will have a special recognition and airing!

I am proud and honored to serve as your Eastern Division Director until March of 2026. I will be sad, but fulfilled, to pass the gavel at that time!

Alison S. Barr, NCTM, MMTA’s Music Connect Program Chair

MTNA’s Eastern Division Director

MTNA Leadership Summit 2025

MTNA 2025 Leadership Summit: President-Elect Ranko Konishi-Houston