Studio Makeover: Technology "Addition", is a set of tools and best practices that help you construct a studio technology lab from the ground up.

Written by two piano teachers, Michelle Gordon and Michelle Sisler, this book includes information on setting up a lab in your studio with ideas on what to charge, how to communicate your lab to parents and answer common questions, equipment and software recommendations, software content and carefully planned correlation charts for Alfred, Bastien, Faber/FJH Piano Adventures and Hal Leonard method books at all levels. This easy-to-read format is perfect for teachers and a must have reference in any studio interested in using technology, or already using technology.

This book comes in a three-ring binder so you can customize it to your needs and add to it as new levels, pages and information are available.

Click here for more information about "Studio Makeover."

Click here to visit Michelle Sislers' Keys to Imagination website.

Harmonic Vision, developers and publishers of the Music Ace family of music education software, has created a 16-page, “Guide to Using Technology in the Piano Studio.”  You can download this guide AT NO COST from Harmonic Vision's piano teacher resource page.

Leading homeschool publication, "This Old Schoolhouse" has released the findings of a reader survey that indicated that more than 92% of home school families incorporate music participation and/or education into their home-based curriculum. In addition, the reader survey also indicated that 47% of the families reported that a family member studied piano.

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Hal Leonard Corp. announced in October that it had had formed a joint venture with People's Music Publishing House in Beijing. People’s Music Publishing is the largest music publisher in China.

The newly formed company will translate Hal Leonard flagship publications into Mandarin and create new publications specifically geared to Chinese music makers. Sales, marketing and distribution will be managed by People's Music.

Founded in 1954, People's Music publications cover music education, professional titles and mass market periodicals.

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The first NTDTV (New Tang Dynasty Television) Chinese International Piano Competition saw 18-year-old Juilliard student Steven Lin win the top Gold Award. After the finals round, which lasted all Sunday morning and afternoon, finalists returned to the stage one last time in the “Future Star Performance,” where they displayed their outstanding talents and enthralled the audience with their renditions of Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Chopin.

The competition was held at the Town Hall in New York and ended November 2.

NTDTV awarded Lin a $10,000 check for his Gold Award, and three other finalists won monetary prizes. The Silver Award—and $3,000—went to 18-year-old Lian Na of Fei Tian Academy of the Arts and two third-place Bronze Awards—and $1,000—were awarded to Wei Chen from Baden-Württemberg, Germany and Weiwen Ma, who studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

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In August, thieves stole an 1,100-pound. Steinway grand piano from the lobby of the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane, WA. No one was sure of the piano’s exact age, but hotel officials said it is at least 100 years old.

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The on-line archives of Faber's Piano Adventures Newsletter offer lesson material cross-references between the various levels of the Piano Adventures method and several music education software programs, including Music Ace and Alfred's Essentials of Music. Past issues of the Piano Adventures Newsletter can be viewed by clicking here.

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The "Teaching Tips" section of the MTNA website offers members an opportunity to hear how colleagues across the country have addressed various areas of music study. Teaching Tips shared are the opinions of the writer and are offered only as ideas.  If you have a teaching tip that you would like to share, please send it to Rachel Kramer, MTNA member liaison, at rkramer@mtna.org. Click here to review MTNA's "Teaching Tips" section.

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