2022 NSMTA Members of the Year
Donna Fortney
It was way back in 1977 that I joined NSMTA. I thought twice or more before joining because it is a 45 minute drive to the Music Institute of Chicago in Winnetka where the monthly meetings were held. I hesitated too because I was already the chairman for the Lake County chapter of the National Piano Guild (for 36 years) which provided judging of students annually. The students could choose to play any number of memorized pieces (1 to 20) along with their theory requirements. My daughter Maren chose to do 20, and soon other students heard about it and wanted to do it too, including Nathan Laube whom some of you have judged for AIM or the competitions. When Nathan told me he was accepted at Curtis, and he would be expected to learn, polish and memorize a major work every week, he didn't think he could do it...to which I said, that's what you've been doing. There came a time, though, when the parents, students and I agreed to do both AIM and Guild was too much, and I must say I like the MTA program better. I have learned so much from being a member of NSMTA for 44 years, even from holding offices: secretary, Score editor, Sonata-sonatina chair, and president in 1996-98. Best of all is what I have learned from NS members. Thank you one and all. Donna
Jia-Yee Tang
Jia-Yee Tang received her M.M. in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and a B.A. from UC San Diego in Music (Piano) and Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts (ICAM). She has had a multi-faceted music career working as a dedicated piano teacher, a collaborative pianist/accompanist in the Chicagoland area, and early childhood music educator (Kindermusik classes). She has been on the piano faculty at Northwestern Music Academy and the Music Institute of Chicago since 2006, teaching private and group piano lessons to students of all ages and levels. As an active member of MTNA, she holds multiple positions of leadership. She has served as the local AIM co-coordinator for the North Shore Music Teachers Association, coordinating and running AIM exams for the Northwestern University area since 2008. She has been the NSMTA website chair since 2019 and is currently working together with her husband, Jason Craft, to build a new NSMTA website and robust event portal. Most recently, she joined the ISMTA AIM committee in 2020, providing technical assistance in formatting the Theory exam and collaborating with the committee on the AIM Syllabus revision.