North Shore Music Teachers Association

Connecting the Chicago North Shore community to music educators since 1974.

The North Shore Music Teachers Association (NSMTA) is a group of teachers from the Chicago suburbs who love music and love to teach! We gather for meetings each month to network, exchange ideas, and gain inspiration. We organize events for our students including competitions, recitals, and non-competitive festivals and exams.

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NSMTA News and Announcements

Monthly Meeting

Join us on the 4th Monday of the month as we gather for our monthly member meetings!

The next monthly meeting is on April 22, 2024.

  • 9:30-10:00 Pre-Meeting Presentation

  • 10:00-11:00 Business Meeting & Refreshments

  • 11:00-12:00 Program

Meetings will take place in-person at Northfield Community Church (400 Wagner Road, Northfield, IL 60093).

Those who wish to attend remotely may view the meeting live via Zoom. The Zoom link will be emailed to members a few days prior to the meeting.

Head over to the Calendar of Events (or click on each presenter’s picture) for more meeting information.

Fellow MTNA Members are Invited!

In the collegial spirit and to engage a wider audience for our esteemed program speakers, members of other MTNA chapters are invited to join our monthly meetings on Zoom. If you are interested, submit your request for the Zoom link.

April Pre-Meeting Presenter:
Jennifer Merry

Program: Bruce Berr’s Frontier Sonatina and Eight Sound Poems

Bruce Berr was a beloved member of NSMTA for over 30 years, and during that time he composed and published a number of delightful educational pieces at the elementary and intermediate levels.  In this pre-meeting presentation, Jennifer will play and discuss his Frontier Sonatina, an intermediate level piece in three movements, published by FJH in 2015, as well as selections from Eight Sound Poems, a collection of intermediate to late-intermediate pieces published in 2013 by Opus Music.  Bruce’s thoughtful craftsmanship, pedagogy and personality are well represented in these pieces, which deserve to be taught and performed more often!

Read Jennifer Merry’s biography here

April Program Presenter:
Dr. Matthew Hagle

Program: Creating A World of Colors from Black and White: Techniques and Approaches to Voicing

Voicing is one of the most subtle and powerful tools we have for unlocking the variety of sounds the piano can provide, and for providing each pianist and composer with an individual voice. This presentation will examine pianistic techniques and approaches to thinking about voicing, with examples and solutions from a variety of repertoire.

Read Dr. Matthew Hagle’s biography here.