Simon Toyne
President
Executive Director of Music, David Ross Education Trust (DRET)
Conference Postponed
Sadly, it will come as no surprise that our annual Music Teachers’ Conference at St Paul’s School, London this coming May has had to be postponed. We hope to rearrange the conference for late September/early October in due course – as soon as we are in a position to do so, we will let you know.
If ever there is a need for us music teachers to feel part of one big music department, it is now. These are unprecedented times for our profession and considerable challenges lie ahead. Some of these, of course, are opportunities; equally, there are some very real and urgent concerns, particularly regarding visiting music teachers and their employment, which we need to help resolve.
Supporting Music Teachers
We will be supporting each other in the coming weeks through the following actions:
- The launch of MTA Staff Room on Facebook has been brought forward to start with immediate effect. https://www.facebook.com/groups/MTAStaffroom. This is a closed group for MTA members only, with members of the committee as administrators. Please join this, and use the Staff Room to ask any question or to request support. The more of us who use it, the more powerful this will become.
- An e-bulletin will be sent to all members each Friday, containing up-to-date and relevant resources. Our aim is for all the up-to-date advice concerning music education to be on each e-bulletin – a useful ‘one stop shop’ correspondence.
- Through the e-bulletins and MTA Staff Room, we will communicate ways in which one-to-one instrumental and vocal tuition can continue using online resources during this period.
- A special podcast is being produced at the moment about remote working, and we will increase the regularity of our podcasts.
- We will be creating some Facebook Live sessions, some for teachers and others for students, on topics such as composing, songwriting, listening to music, and so on. Please use the Staff Room as a way of suggesting topics – similarly, if you would like to lead a session, let us know!
- We will use the website to provide a selection of resources for teachers, regardless of their membership status
- Ensemble will continue to go out in May/June, full of articles that are relevant to the current situation
It is highly likely that schools will close at some point shortly, and that most of us will be working from home. People are going to need music more than ever. What we are able to do together as music teachers over the coming weeks could impact so many people’s lives in profound and unexpected ways.
Our very best wishes to you and those close to you in these difficult times – we hope that, together, we can support each other and the children in our collective care.
Simon Toyne, MTA President
Keith Ayling, MTA Media and Publications Manager
Carol Hawkins, MTA Conference Manager
Sophie Kirk, MTA Membership Secretary
