Featuring Peter Mack, and hosted by the Maine MTA.

On October 1st and 2nd I had the privilege of attending the Quad State Conference, this year hosted by the Maine MTA. The Quad State conference happens in conjunction with the Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont MTAs, and takes place every other year.

The 2021 Quad State featured Dr. Peter Mack, a piano teacher, clinician, adjudicator, and performer from Seattle. During our short time together (if only this was a week-long event!) Dr. Mack gave presentations, performed, and held masterclasses.

Dr. Mack’s presentations stood out to me not only because of the content, but also because of the delivery. He was energized and confident, making it fun to learn and engaging to listen to. His first presentation, Marvelous Moderns and their Needlessly Neglected Mid-Level Masterpieces, involved a list of piano pieces for mid-level students. While all of my students currently fall into the “beginner” category, the pieces were fun to listen to and the handout with all the music titles and composers will be very helpful in the years to come. I love being able to collect information that will help me teach in the future, and Dr. Mack provided just that.

His second presentation, Not Only Für Elise: Gorgeous Unknown Compositions by Well-Known Composers, was another source in which I will use later down the road. It gave many different pieces of music by famous composers that were appropriate for the average student. In my early days of studying piano pedagogy I have to admit that finding “classical” piano music for younger students is quite challenging, but now I have a resource and a list of pieces that are suitable.

Dr. Mack’s final presentation of the weekend was titled, Lower the Rear End of the Elephant Slowly onto the Keys, which was about different metaphors and phrases that Mack uses to help his students with technique, articulation, dynamics, etc. For me, this was the most helpful of the three presentations, because having those phrases in my vocabulary is something that is the easiest to implement. Plus, we got to see Dr. Mack implement them himself during the master class.

As this was a meeting of music teachers, the weekend did not go without music. Dr. Peter Mack gave a lovely concert on Friday evening, and Saturday was the Commissioned Composer Concert. The Commissioned Composer Concert featured world premieres of pieces that were commissioned by each state. It was so good to hear freshly composed music, especially as a pianist who has spent a lot of time hearing music composed long ago.

Overall, the Quad State Conference was a great event that I am so glad I was able to attend! Dr. Peter Mack provided information and music that I can use either now in my teaching, or later down the road. The conference was also well-organized, and you could tell that a lot of thought and pride went into making sure things went right. Thank you to the Maine MTA, especially to Guilimina Mahamuti, Christine Kissack, and Jacqui Savage!