Music Educators Association of New Jersey

Serving teachers and students since 1927

Welcome to the Music Educators Association of New Jersey Website!

Celebrating 90 Years of Music Excellence

The Music Educators Association of NJ is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization of private piano teachers founded in 1927. Our mission is to raise the standards of private music teaching throughout New Jersey, while encouraging musical excellence and instilling a love of music in our students. To achieve these goals, we provide continuing education opportunities for our member teachers through monthly lectures, workshops, recitals and master classes. For our students, we offer auditions, competitions, recitals, scholarships and master classes given by artist teachers. Our current President is Yudit Terry, 2019-2021. Click here to read Messages from the President. (These can also be found under Membership on the main menu.)

We invite you to browse our website and discover the exciting world of music MEA offers.

Please note that hyperlinks are noted in Bold Red and when clicked will bring you directly to related pages or forms.

MEA presents on March 18th 

Visual Aspect in Musical Creativity - Producing Visuals for Classical Music

Mr. Elliott Forrest 

9:45 A.M.

 

For over 15 years Mr. Forrest has been adding visuals and stage elements to symphony orchestra concerts and for classical artists. The long list includes working with Itzhak Perlman, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Houston Symphony, The Little Orchestra Society and The New Haven Symphony and more. Elliott will talk about his work producing for the stage. To read more about Mr. Forrest's impressive careeer visit his website Here.

2020 Honors Recitals
Ready for Viewing! 

 
MEA is proud to present three gorgeous video recitals, showcasing the outstanding performances of the 2020 Honors Recital winners. Out of 70 submissions (140 videos), the judges awarded Honors to 61 talented soloists! Seventeen MEA teachers participated and the videos have been arranged so that all students of a particular teacher are featured in one video recital. 
 
The three video recitals are now available on YouTube for all to view and enjoy. To print out the Programs and to view the Recitals, please click HERE.
 
Thank you to Charlene Step and Ruth Pasquariello for their dedication and endless hours of work that went into running the Honors Recital Auditions remotely and then creating these amazing videos of the talented winners!

2021 Eric Steiner Original Composition Competition
Registration is now open!
EXTENDED DEADLINE TO MARCH 22nd

Registration is now open for the 2021 Eric Steiner Original Composition Competition. The deadline to enter has been extended to March 22nd..  Because of the nature of the competition, late submissions cannot be accepted.

Please be sure to check the Print Version PDF, linked from the Eric Steiner Original Composition Competition webpage  for the latest updates. You will find the link in the upper right hand corner of the webpage. Thank you!

Kathy Knittel, Chair:  compositioncompetition@mea-nj.org

ANNUAL PIANO AUDITIONS
2021

Registration Opens March 15

If you did not get an email blast on Feb 28th with the 2021 Audition Guidelines, email: Auditions@mea-nj.org

Important Dates: 

Registration opens: March 15th

Registration closes: May 1st

Deadline to submit grades: June 21st

Like 2020, the good news is that the 2021 Annual Piano Auditions will go on. However, because the state has not changed the status of the pandemic level, it is looking more and more like we will have to have remote auditions like last year.

Therefore, we are delaying the opening of the registration period until March 15th.  When we finalize our plans, you will be sent an email blast. Also, be sure to check back here for regular updates.

Continue preparing your students and be sure to refer to the latest version of the Annual Piano Audition Syllabus which is posted from your Member Homepage.

We are all in this together and your support and understanding are paramount. Thank you, Joan Bujacich, auditions@mea-nj.org

2021 Annual Piano Competition Update
Join us on “A Musical Journey to Vienna!”

Click Here for the Interactive Syllabus

 
The 2021 Annual Piano Competition is fast approaching. The theme is “A Musical Journey to Vienna”, and what a wonderful journey it is! You can find the interactive syllabus Here. Due to Covid concerns, the Annual Piano Competition will be taking place at a later date than usual in the hopes of holding it as an in-person event. However, a decision will be made in early April if it needs to be changed to a video entry format.
 
Here are the important dates:
April 1
– APC registration deadline.
Note: March 15 determines the age of the student.
May 16
– APC held at the County College of Morris in Randolph.
Note: If Covid restrictions still apply, this will be changed to a virtual event with the same deadline for video submissions. A decision on this will be made in early April.
May 23
– APC Winners’ Recital, 3:00 p.m., Leshowitz Hall, Montclair State University.
Note: If Covid restrictions still apply, this will be changed to a virtual event.
Registration forms are available through your member portal on this website.
 
 
 
 
 
MARCH IS MEA THEORY REGISTRATION MONTH!

Please register your students anytime between March 1 and 21 for theory tests. You can receive them via email or hard copy via snail mail and administer them at your leisure. You can register students online using the interactive registration form listed under Member Documents on your Member Homepage or you can  mail in a downloadable registration form which can be be found under the link Forms/Downloads from our MEA Homepage Here.

The registration fee is only $5 per test.  Feel free to register students for multiple level tests at once.

For more info contact Marcia Maull, MEA Theory Chair:  Theory@mea-nj.org

 

 General Meeting 
February 18th
Aaron Wunsch
Learning from Beethoven the Pianist: The Sonatas in His Own Hands
Please Note Special Time 11:30

Beethoven's Piano Sonatas are central to our repertoire - but they were even more central to his. This presentation selectively explores how the Sonatas fit Beethoven's own way of playing; how they fit his shifting musical and career goals; and how these works might be seen as one great musical autobiography. 

To learn more about Mr. Wunsch visit his website Here. 

MEA GENERAL MEETING
January 21, 2021
Magdalena Baczewska

Debussy’s Many Worlds of Sound

 How to revolutionize music while respecting the tradition? Claude Debussy’s musical innovations and expansion of the musical language go hand in hand with the composer’s close attention to the compositional techniques of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In his cycles for solo piano, Estampes and Images, Debussy creates a revolution.
You can visit Ms. Baczewska's website here: https://www.magdalenanyc.com

Members will be sent the Zoom link to this meeting in an email blast.

The Glissando, January 2021
Start off the New Year with another great issue of The Glissando!

Richard Allaway, and his staff, bring us another great issue of The Glissando  with Opus 93, No. 2! If you are not getting your e-letters via email blast, contact Lisa@mea-nj.org.  The Glissando is also posted under: Forms /Downloads.

General meeting: Thursday November 19, 2020 
Paul Roberts — Reading Liszt: Performing the Petrarch Sonnets

Read the Highlights HERE

If you missed this wonderful meeting, no worries!

The Zoom link to view the recorded version was sent via email to our membership. If you missed that email blast and want to watch, reach out to Lisa@mea-nj.org.

Concert pianist, writer, lecturer and inspiring teacher Paul Roberts performed the three Petrarch Sonnets from Liszt's Italian book of the Années de pèlerinage, with readings from the poems, and explored how an understanding of the literary context can aid interpretation. 

Paul Roberts Website

September 17, 2020
Beatrice Long Presented
A Musical Journey to Vienna
Read The Highlights Here.

In connection to the MEA Annual Piano Competition 2021, Beatrice Long presented a lecture on the music scenes in Vienna from 1750-1899, and the lives of nine Viennese composers whose works are featured in the 2021 competition’s syllabus:  Haydn, Mozart, Diabelli, Schubert, Beethoven, Czerny, Hummel, Johann Strauss II and Brahms.

This presentation was held via Zoom. Beatrice did a wonderful job with the technology and topic! All the guests fortunate enough to attend were inspired by the joy shared through the music, her live performances and the many interesting stories told. Be sure to read the highlights written by Bertha Mandel Here.

2020 COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED

The Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that James Bally, student of Sondra
Tammam, has been awarded an MEA-MJN scholarship to William Paterson University for the fall 2020 semester. A jazz performance major, James enjoys composing and performed two of his original jazz compositions at recent Honors Recitals. In addition, he performed during the “virtual” jazz class conducted by Dan Crisci at the 9th Taubman Festival in June 2020. To read more about this talented student, please click
 
The MEA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations to the MEA-MJN Scholarship Fund are fully tax-deductible. The scholarship fund relies solely on generous individual donations, matching contributions from employers, and music sales at the monthly MEA General Meetings (when they are held in person). Making a contribution to this fund is a meaningful way to honor a person with congratulations (birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc.), get well wishes, or in memoriam. An announcement of your tribute, including your personal message, will be sent to the honoree. Please donate generously so that MEA can maintain and expand this supportive program!
Charlene Step & Sondra Tammam
Scholarship Committee Co-chairs

THE ANNUAL PIANO COMPETITION 2020
WINNERS' RECITAL
THE BEST OF YESTERYEAR
APPLAUSE!!!!

We are pleased to present the MEA-NJ Annual Piano Competition Winners' Recital in video this year! A special thanks to Youn-Hee Kim, a competition committee member, for  taking on this huge project. The recital is presented in three separate video clips from Youtube. To start enjoying these wonderful performances, click on one of the following links. We hope you of course watch all three segments!
 
 
 
 Congratulations to Barbara Landi Hause and Anna Katznelson, Co-chairs, and their entire committee for holding the competition under such challenging circumstances. BRAVO!!!

2019-20  MEA MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY 

The 2019-20 Membership Directory can be found on your Member Homepage. Log on and take a look. It is listed under Downloadable Documents. You can view or Download. 

The new 2020-21 Directory should be ready by early November.